Background

In the Fall of 2018, members of the MINDS of London-Middlesex team conducted a series of interviews with youth and caregivers of youth who in the past or present had made use of either community or hospital-based mental health services in the London-Middlesex area. Interview participants were asked about their experiences interacting with the mental health care system in London-Middlesex and about positive and negative contributors to youth mental health.

From these interviews, two key findings were extracted that: 

• Youth and their caregivers reported feeling that some health care professionals were disingenuous and felt that some members of their care team did not hear their voices. 

• Child and youth care workers (CYC) were identified as allies to the youth in their journey through the mental health care system. Youth reported their relationship with the CYC’s as contributing positively to their mental health.  

It was concluded that both youth and their families preferred a “whole person” or youth-centred approach when interacting with service providers. This conclusion brought up two different questions that required further exploration. What is youth-centred practice? Furthermore, why are the majority of service providers not trained to be youth-centred? 

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