Blog
Kids Can’t Wait: Laura’s Story
Ontario is facing a kids' mental health crisis. To raise awareness, we are sharing stories from families who are a part of our Parents for Children's Mental Health peer support chapters. These are real parents, real children - and real issues. Our kids can't wait anymore for mental health care. Families should be able to access kids' mental health treatments wherever they are, when they need it....
Black Mental Health Week 2022
Black Mental Health Week raises awareness about the historical and ongoing impact that systemic, anti-Black racism has on the mental health and wellness of Black communities. Within the child and youth mental health sector, Black children, youth, and families continue to face systemic barriers to accessing safe and culturally appropriate mental health services that are created with an...
Skyrocketing Demands for Kids Mental Health Services
The pandemic has pushed demand for children and youth mental health services through the roof in Ontario. Even before COVID-19, kids struggled to get access to timely care for mental health issues. Today, child and youth mental health centres are overwhelmed by the sheer number of young people needing help for serious and complex problems like eating disorders, self-harm and suicide attempts. As...
More Severe Mental Health Issues Reported in Kids
Last year, Toronto mother, Lianne, noticed her 15-year-old daughter, Hadley, was hardly eating. Ever since the pandemic had cut her off from friends at school and karate class, the teen had become increasingly focused inward on her appearance. Lianne took Hadley for a medical examination. Her doctor discovered Hadley’s heart rate was so low that she was rushed to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick...
Schools are open, but kids’ mental health is still in crisis
Ontario schools have reopened, but the kids—and their mental health–are still in crisis. While in-person learning is critical to a young person’s development, reopening schools does not magically solve the long-standing problems in kids’ mental health care. Children and youth mental health is in a state of emergency in Ontario. Prior to the pandemic, 28,000 kids were on wait lists across...
Responding to Omicron, CMHO Update
As we start the new year, our province finds itself in a very stressful phase of the pandemic. For many of us, it’s been overwhelming trying to keep up with rapidly changing news and policies that directly impact us, particularly when it comes to information about schools. For the last 20 months, children and their families have repeatedly tried to make the best of these difficult situations. ...
Ask an Expert: Managing Mood Disorders
For nearly two years, we have shared the experience of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. We weathered the same storm, but in different sized boats. We know that children and youth have been affected by the pandemic through the transition to virtual learning, the loss of extracurricular activities, and for some – missing out on major milestones like graduation and prom. These missed moments and...
Recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
On September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Children's Mental Health Ontario is taking the opportunity to acknowledge the history of residential schools – to honour their survivors, mourn the lives of children lost and to acknowledge the ongoing intergenerational trauma and impact that the residential school system continues to have on the lives of Indigenous peoples across...
Back to School Tips with Parents for Children’s Mental Health
We know it’s been a busy and challenging week for some as families get back into a school routine. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our School Mental Health Backpack for updated tips and resources. We checked in with parents/caregivers from our peer support group, Parents for Children’s Mental Health, to hear how families are doing with the start of the school year and to ask for tips to...
Mourning the children of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
The uncovering of 215 unmarked bodies of children buried at the site of a former residential school has rippled across the country. We are in a collective moment of mourning, sorrow, shame, anger, grief and condolence. Our thoughts are with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community and all Indigenous communities as they mourn this heartbreaking loss and re-live this trauma. Many children, youth and...