About the Project

The research project evaluated how effectively The Grove Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) reached and supported youth aged 12 to 26 in the Guelph-North Wellington region. It focused on three main areas: how many youths were accessing services (reach), whether those services met their needs and were delivered as intended (delivery), and whether The Grove was making progress on its early goals, such as building brand recognition and creating safe and integrated spaces for youth (early outcomes). Youth played a vital role throughout the project - they helped shape the evaluation process, contributed to interpretation of the findings, and helped share what was learned in meaningful ways.

Methodology

This project used a mixed methods approach, which combined quantitative (surveys and census data) and qualitative (interviews and focus groups) information. This allowed the research team to explore how well The Grove was reaching and supporting youth. To explore the reach, delivery, and early outcomes of The Grove, the team used the following methods:

• Electronic Surveys: 51 youth from The Grove sites and 54 youth from nearby communities completed online surveys. These asked about demographics, what helped or got in the way of accessing services, whether current programs met their needs, and how familiar youth were with The Grove’s brand.

• Document Review: The team reviewed internal documents like training manuals, service guidelines, and site records to understand how The Grove operated and whether it was making progress on goals like building partnerships and offering integrated services.

• Focus Groups with Youth: A total of 6 sessions were held across four Grove sites with small groups of youth aged 16 to 26. A trained facilitator and Youth Ambassador led the discussions, which lasted one hour. Youth received a $25 e-gift card for their participation.

• Staff Interviews: One-on-one interviews lasted about 75 minutes and included 19 team members in a range of roles - from Youth Ambassadors to mental health clinicians and leadership staff. The goal was to better understand how services were being delivered and how well they supported youth.

Together, these methods provided both broad and in-depth insights into how The Grove is serving youth in the Guelph-North Wellington region.

Findings

Key findings examining the reach, delivery, and early outcomes include:

1. Reaching the Target Audience, with Gaps to Address: The Grove successfully reached its target audience, particularly younger youth who frequently accessed drop-in programs. However, both youth and staff noted that older youth were less engaged. Suggestions to improve this included refining outreach strategies, developing more age-relevant programming, and enhancing communication to increase awareness of The Grove’s services among both current users and the wider community.

2. Strong Program Delivery, with Room for Improvement: The Grove delivered a diverse range of programs that aligned with YWHO’s Core Competencies and The Grove’s Guiding Principles, while also reflecting the unique needs of each community. Still, there was room to strengthen mental health and substance use support. Staff highlighted the need for additional training, greater mental health literacy among youth, and more resources to meet the demand for substance use services.

3. Promising Early Outcomes and Positive Momentum: The Grove made notable progress in a short period, especially in building partnerships with local health and social service organizations. While areas like brand recognition and staff role clarity still needed attention, the organization had already begun addressing these gaps. The evaluation also found clear evidence of expanded supportive spaces, including the launch of the Woolwich site and plans for additional locations.

Key recommendations proposed by youth and team members include:

1. Strengthen the evidence base for Integrated Youth Services: youth and staff recommended continued use of the My Wellness Passport platform to collect youth data, with an expansion to include clinical outcomes over time. They suggested that this would help determine whether youth were truly benefiting from services and how individual needs and engagement levels influenced outcomes.

2. Revisit and update the evaluation framework: Given the significant growth of The Grove, the original models should be reviewed and revised to ensure long-term outcomes remain relevant and measurable at both the provincial and local levels.

3. Establish Regular Feedback Opportunities: To support The Grove’s development as a learning health system, the evaluation encouraged the creation of structured opportunities for youth and staff to provide input—such as biannual focus groups tailored to each site. These sessions would support the collection of deeper insights and enabled real-time service improvements.

Project Outreach

The Grove YWHO Wellington Guelph developed its own Integrated Youth Services (IYS) model, building on the broader YWHO framework established in Ontario. Throughout the project, The Grove shared its learnings with other communities across Canada - both those in the early stages of developing youth hubs and those with more advanced models - to support mutual learning and collaboration. The findings from this evaluation are expected to benefit not only The Grove but also other YWHO sites and IYS initiatives more broadly.

Resources Created

• 1 presentation of the results of the first phase of the Data Collection and Analyses Stage to the Core Team and the Community Research Working Group (CRWG) in January 2024.

• An interim report was developed summarizing preliminary findings from the first phase of the project and shared internally with the Core Team and CRWG.