Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) is a system change initiative working with local service providers to deliver Integrated Youth Services (IYS) including mental health, substance use health, primary care, social services and recreation. A core component to the YWHO model is meaningful youth and family engagement. In 2023, the YWHO Provincial Office undertook a strategic planning process to guide the system building priorities over the next three years.
In this workshop, youth leaders and YWHO Provincial Office team members will lead activities describing steps taken in YWHO’s Provincial strategic planning process and youth co-leadership including:
- Process to meaningfully co-develop the strategic plan with youth
- Supports provided to youth to meaningfully participate
- Process to identify and develop the skills that youth wanted to build through the process
- Challenges, lessons learned and approaches to addressing barriers
- Positive impact of youth co-leadership versus advisory/engagement
Learning Objectives
- Increase knowledge of approaches to effectively partnering with youth in strategic planning for system improvement.
- Increase understanding of common barriers to meaningful co-leadership with youth and strategies to overcome them.
- Identify opportunities to more meaningfully engage youth in local system building and strategic leadership.
Presenters:
Lee Cameron (Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario)
Lee Cameron (they/she) is a passionate collaborator in community-engaged and community-embedded research & advocacy. In their current role as Engagement Coordinator at YWHO, Lee supports the initiatives’ ongoing co-development with youth and families who have been historically underrepresented in systems-level leadership in mental health services across Ontario.
Ravneet Kaur (Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario)
Ravneet Kaur (she/her) is a youth mental health advocate who takes inspiration and motivation from personal lived experiences to bring forth meaningful change. She is passionate about making the mental health care system more accessible and equitable. She serves as a youth advisor on the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario provincial youth advisory council and has supported other projects such as the organization’s strategic planning.
Ariana Prom (Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario)
Ariana Prom (She/Her) is a mental health youth advisor for Windsor Youth Wellness Hub and for the YWHO Provincial Youth Advisory Council. She is currently in her first year at the University of Windsor Studying Law and Politics. Her goal is to utilize her passion for policy-making within government and her passion for helping youth to create an improved form of the mental health system.
Corinne Rose (Youth Advisor)
Hannah Bull (Youth Advisor)
Jennifer Leighton (Family Advisor)
Melody Recollet (Youth Advisor)
Samara Mascarenhas (Youth Advisor)
Mary Hannah (Project Manager, Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario)
Maria Talotta (Director of Strategy and Transformation, Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario)
