Grant: CIHR Fellowship - Priority Announcement: Patient Oriented Research - General

Only 1 in 4 youth (aged 14-24 years old) with complex mental health needs have access to appropriate services in Canada. "Complexity" in youth mental health care is a term used to describe how clinical and environmental factors interact and accumulate in cases of severe mental illness that impact functioning (ex. having co-occurring mental and physical health conditions, unstable housing, poor social support). To better support youth with complex mental health needs, clear referral pathways and specialized multi-modal services are needed. However, there is a lack of clarity on what qualifies as "complexity" in youth mental health, which risks leaving current services fragmented and inaccessible. The proposed patient-oriented research project will collaborate with youth and family partners to better understand how to bridge this gap in care. Study 1 will explore what factors contribute to mental health complexity among youth and how this relates to their functional recovery over time to develop a data-driven model. Study 2 will then apply and test this model of complexity within a newly implemented intervention, Specialty Care for Youth Wellness (SCY-Well), specifically designed for youth with complex mental health needs. Survey data and patient interviews will be used to understand how different types of mental health complexity impact intervention outcomes and youth's experiences engaging in this service. Taken together, this research will provide a deeper understanding of what constitutes complexity among youth, as well as who benefits from specialized services and how. Results can be used to inform service standards for youth with complex mental health needs, who are often under-served. This knowledge is essential for improving equitable access to specialized, early intervention services - which has been identified as a key strategy for addressing Canada's youth mental health crisis.