Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact of the mental health and/or addictions of young people, what services or supports are available to them, and the ways they can access services and support. Webinars and 'peer experiences' as valuable strategies to improve the sharing of information and may help young people become more aware of when, how or where to get help. Putting the needs and perspectives of young people and caregivers first, we will organize and conduct a set of virtual meetings with diverse partners to plan for an open access, national webinar series to promote young Canadians' awareness and access to mental health and/or addiction services since the COVID-19 pandemic. Aims and activities: We will bring together various perspectives and the best available evidence from research, lived experience, and existing services and resources to plan this webinar series. Aims of the meeting will be to build relationships for planning the national webinar series, identify webinar topics and presenters and create a schedule for the webinars, and prepare for a future funding application to support the launch of the webinar series. Significance: The changes in young people's mental health and/or addiction since the pandemic, and the services that support them, are widespread and significant. Despite longstanding issues with services users' awareness and access to mental health and/or addiction care, now is an essential time to bring the public 'up to speed' on the services for young Canadians as reflected in their current state. This webinar series is an important pathway for scaling young people's confidence, ability and awareness to promote their own health, interact effectively with services, and be active partners in managing their own mental health and/or addictions.