A goal of the Service Collaborative initiative is to meaningfully involve youth with lived experience in implementing system change. In London, youth are occupying a particularly integral role. Centre for Addictions and Mental Health has partnered wiith mindyourmind to develop a key component of the Service Collaborative’s intervention – the “Toolkit,” an educational resource and support package designed to help youth with mental health and addiction needs develop crisis plans and help guide decision-making relating to appropriate use of the Emergency Department and other community services.  

The London Service Collaborative is working to address a need for improved support and continuity of care for youth with mental health and addiction needs as they transition between the Emergency Department and community services. 

Early in 2013, the Service Collaborative Implementation Team (SCIT) mapped out the evidence-informed intervention, and defined two critical components:

·         Procedures to share essential information between agencies involved with a youth’s care, and
·         Continuity of care procedures, ensuring that contact with youths and their families is maintained during the transition between agencies.

However, something was missing. Realizing that youth and their families would benefit from knowing which community services would be most appropriate to use under different circumstances, the SCIT decided to build an educational component into the intervention.  

Learn more about how mindyourmind's youth engagement and Youth-Adult partnership model helped inform processes on this project.