Transforming children and youth mental health support through a digital platform

Children and youth have been facing growing mental health challenges, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s been an increase in hospitalizations for children and youth mental health (CYMH) issues. However, families and caregivers are often challenged and confused navigating the mental health system.

CYMH crises frequently require assistance from multiple sectors, such as the education, housing and health-care systems. However, co-ordination between sectors can be time-consuming.

To investigate how to support families and caregivers, Telfer professor Lysanne Lessard, in partnership with Michelle Crogie,  executive director of Pleo — Parents’ Lifeline, has received a SMRG Research Development Grant for a project titled “Towards a digital platform for EMPOWERing families to navigate their mental health journey.

Pleo — Parents’ Lifeline is a non-profit organization that supports families facing CYMH challenges, including  connecting families with community resources, creating and delivering support groups and offering a helpline and mobile support. Pleo will enable researchers’ access to individuals with lived experience of the system.

Understanding need

The goal of this study is to understand how families and caregivers can be supported through the development of a digital platform called EMPOWER (Evidence for child and youth Mental health Promotion, advOcacy, Wellbeing, system changE and improved caRe). This study is the first phase in the creation of this platform.

Through data collection from caregivers and families, the study aims to understand their specific needs and the challenges. Additionally, it seeks to identify digital services that could help these individuals to navigate, co-ordinate and advocate within the system.

Results of this study could help inform policy makers’ decisions and enhance co-ordination between systems. Additionally, researchers could create clear, targeted guidelines.