About the Project

This project focused on improving support for youth in Ontario who were experiencing mental health, substance use, and addiction challenges. It responded to gaps in service access and coordination in Northern Ontario communities, where families often faced delays and fragmented care pathways.

The main purpose of the project was to strengthen the capacity of frontline service providers who work with youth and children through training and skill development. This included improving early identification of mental health concerns, supporting more consistent referral pathways across services, and building a shared understanding of youth addiction and mental health, including current research on neuroscience. The ultimate goal was to improve coordination across services and lead to better outcomes for youth and their families.

Methodology

The project was developed through a collaborative planning process involving a steering group of professionals working with children and youth in Northern Ontario, along with a person with lived experience. Together, they identified priority training areas to strengthen support for youth with concurrent mental health, substance use, and addiction needs, including trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, and harm reduction.

The project delivered two in-person launch sessions in North Bay and Parry Sound, followed by a series of virtual training sessions to increase accessibility across Northern Ontario. Across sessions, 99 participants completed pre- and post-training surveys measuring self-reported knowledge and attitudes using standardized tools aligned with training objectives.

Additional follow-up interviews were conducted with participants who attended multiple training sessions to capture comparative perspectives across topics. Interviews were also completed with participants with lived experience recruited through existing networks. All qualitative and survey data were then reviewed and summarized for analysis.

Findings

• Participants expressed an increase in knowledge post-training, going from an average of 5 out of 7 of knowledge to an average of 6 out of 7. These findings suggested that the training strengthened understanding of concurrent disorders and improved confidence in applying related approaches to care.

• Participants believed that topics of “Trauma-informed care” and harm reduction were the most valuable for the work they do with youth. People with lived experience involved in the project saw the value in providing this training for staff, and mentioned that they needed decreased wait times and more accessible services for children and youth the most.

• The project highlighted the potential for similar training models to strengthen mental health and concurrent disorder supports in other regions across Canada.

Project Outreach

The project remained focused on building capacity in communities across Northern Ontario and does not have plans for further expansion. However, project findings and lessons learned were shared through the Lead Agency Consortium, which may help inform future projects and training initiatives.

Resources Created

Project funding supported the creation of several knowledge-sharing resources, including:

• 1 manuscript,

• 1 infographic,

• 1 mapping document,

• Multiple news articles,

• 1 media release:

  • https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario/article/nipissing-university-partners-on-youth-mental-health-research-project/

• The final manuscript is pending formal acceptance at the time of reporting.

• Preliminary findings were shared at an in-person knowledge mobilization symposium, which included a presentation and panel discussion with researchers, practitioners, and participants.

• Knowledge translation activities continue through conference submissions.

• A regional service mapping exercise was also completed by an external consultant, with validation activities planned.