It’s time for a “full scale-up” of integrated approaches to support youth, writes Ian Boeckh, who believes we can build a more connected and responsive mental health system for the next generation.
Canada is home to many effective youth mental health programs, dedicated practitioners, and growing investment – yet the country’s youth mental health systems still have large gaps and shortcomings. Moreover, youth in Canada are experiencing a measurable decline in mental health with a corresponding increased demand for services. Statistics Canada shares that the number of youth reporting poor mental health more than doubled between 2019 and 2023, from 12% to 26%.
Meaningful progress has been made across the country through the integrated youth services (IYS) model, which supports young people aged 12 to 25 during a critical period when many mental health challenges first emerge.
IYS allows youth and young adults to rapidly access a range of services in one location through integrated service hubs. Available supports include mental health care, substance-use services, primary care, social services, and youth and parental peer support, along with help related to school, work, and relationships. Essentially, IYS is designed as a “one-stop shop” with “no wrong door.”
But an IYS community site goes beyond a physical hub. It also includes a network of youth-serving organizations that collaborate to provide services within the hub and coordinate support across the broader community. The model itself has been co-designed through collaboration among governments, service providers, researchers, communities, and youth themselves.
Today, IYS includes close to 165 community sites across Canada, with 12 provincial and territorial initiatives underway. This collaborative approach has allowed the model to adapt to a wide range of youth populations, communities, and jurisdictions, including Indigenous, rural, and inner-city contexts. The growth of IYS demonstrates what is possible when partners align their efforts and build trust across sectors while signalling a broader shift toward more coordinated, system-level approaches to youth mental health.
However, to truly meet youth needs, we must build stronger connections across the full continuum of care – from prevention and early intervention to specialized services. This should include a full scale-up of integrated community-based services such as IYS, an organized and integrated approach to prevention programs, and specialized services for youth with more complex challenges, such as serious mental illness. This will require strengthened partnership across sectors, along with centring the voices and experiences of young people when shaping the systems intended to support them.
The Graham Boeckh Foundation has been helping to foster the development of IYS over the past 15 years and is now working across the whole continuum of youth mental health. The foundation and our partners recently released a discussion paper that sets out a vision for an integrated approach to child and youth resilience. For specialized services, our work is initially focusing on early psychosis intervention, and we recently released a granting opportunity to develop a pan-Canadian approach to learning health systems for early psychosis.
Meaningful progress requires alignment of funding and collaboration across sectors so that efforts are connected and sustained.
In philanthropy, the focus can be on increasing resources by funding individual programs, expanding service capacity, and supporting new ideas. But experience shows that resources or innovations alone may not create lasting impact. Meaningful progress requires alignment of funding and collaboration across sectors so that efforts are connected and sustained.
In our work, this realization has been central. As a relatively small foundation, we recognize that meaningful progress depends on how effectively organizations work together across the mental health sector.
The progress made in youth mental health over the past decade reflects the dedication of many partners across Canada – including youth and families, community organizations, service providers, researchers, governments, and funders. Integrated youth services have shown what is possible when people come together around a shared goal and commit to working across sectors and systems.
There is still much more to do, but there is also strong reason for optimism. By continuing to collaborate, align efforts, and centre the needs and experiences of young people, we can build a more connected and responsive mental health system for the next generation.
