Youth Peer Support: Changing Lives

On December 8, 2022, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released new data that shows that more then half of children and youth (age 12 to 24) who accessed community based mental health services during the 6 months previous, said that those services were not easy to access.

In August 2022 the Mental Health Commission of Canada released data from their Lockdown Life Headstrong Youth Survey. Data showed that 48% of survey participants felt isolated or lonely. 17% didn’t know where to turn for help.

In February 2023 the Canadian Mental Health Association wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau entitled: There’s a Mental Health Crisis for Children and Youth and They Need Your Help. In this letter it is stated, “Children need upfront and ongoing care, and it must be covered by public health insurance and available at the community level, not just in hospitals and doctors’ offices.”

These are just some of the many pieces of data that have been released recently. Bottom line, our youth are in crisis, and we need to start listening. Youth across Canada have repeatedly reported that they have a difficult time talking about how they are feeling. This is increased in boys who feel they have to “be a man” and “suck it up”. The narrative needs to change.

Here is what youth are saying they need:

1. Creative ways for youth to connect socially.

2. Coping strategies that can be built into their daily routines.

3. Adults to be open and honest about what is going on at school, in the home etc. that might be affecting youth mental health.

4. Trustworthy sources of information.

5. Adults to be up front with how young people can access support when they need it.

6. 53% of youth surveyed are turning to online mental health resources for support. 25% are turning to their families.

These are the two main ways that youth identified accessing mental health support. While both have positive aspects, there are challenges. Challenges with online support is the uncertainty of it being trustworthy.

Challenges with family support are lack of knowledge of what is available and/or family members not being comfortable with talking about their feelings.

When youth are given the opportunity to be an active participant in their mental health care and use their voice to say what they need, success happens. The need to be understood and feel we belong is something we all have in common.

This is why formal peer support groups for youth have gained in popularity over the past 5 years. Peer support is peer driven, and strength based. Youth in the same age group and demographic come together to share their lived experiences with their own mental health journeys. Peer to peer conversations meet people where they are at without judgment.

Peer Support Canada refers to peer support as:

Emotional and practical support between two people (or in a group) who share a common experience, such as a mental health challenge or illness.

“Youth Peer Support is peer driven, and strength based. It focuses on the strong not the wrong. This support is community and heart based. Youth Peer Support is making a positive impact that is having a ripple affect and changing lives for the better.”

For more information, please contact Christina Henderson at Peerspectives Consulting and Facilitation. Together we can make a bigger impact.