Grant: DRA : Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral Program (CGRS D)

Majority of mental illness will present by age 24. As such, many youth aged 16 to 24 will require mental health care. In addition to needing mental health care, this period is often challenging as youth transition from child to adult mental health services. During this transition period, many youth will experience the 'missing middle' phenomenon in which they are deemed too unwell to be supported by primary care services and too well for hospital and specialist services. Such transition-aged youth seek mental health care through crisis-oriented services, such as emergency departments but do not receive consistent follow-up in the community. This gap in care can lead to worsening of their mental health symptoms and a distrust of the healthcare system with negative impacts on their quality of life. Importantly, these experiences disproportionately impact youth who experience structural inequities including systemic racism. For example, racialized youth are almost 50% less likely to receive needed mental health care compared to non-racialized youth. To address these gaps, researchers in British Columbia (BC) are in partnership with the Provincial Health Services Authority in leading the Missing Middle Project, which aims to engage youth, families, and healthcare providers in a qualitative study to understand barriers and opportunities to mental health care for transition-aged youth. As a sub-study within this project, this research will focus on the experiences and needs of racialized transition-aged youth to explore challenges and opportunities to improve access to mental health care in the context of systemic racism and intersecting inequities. This research will use visual images alongside qualitative interviews with 30 racialized transition-aged youth to centre their voices and experiences in accessing mental health care. Results from this sub-study will be used to strengthen mental health care for racialized transition-aged youth in BC and beyond.