The Youth Engagement Initiative (YEI) at the McCain Centre serves to amplify the voices of young people in mental health and substance use research, programming and policy. Composed of Youth Advisors, Youth Engagement Specialists, and Youth Engagement Coordinators, all with lived/living experience of mental health and substance use challenges, the goal of the YEI is to facilitate collaboration between young people and clinicians, researchers, and other decision-makers at CAMH and beyond.
In the YEI, young people participate in various ways, from active project partners to providing consultation and advice to guide work within CAMH and our partners. Youth on our team play a key role in system and service planning, education, and research activities. Collaborating with youth can help guide program goals and activities to better reflect the needs of youth and create more relevant project outcomes.
The work that we do is supported by the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health and the Child, Youth and Emerging Adult Program. Our practices are guided by the McCain Model of Youth Engagement, an evidence-based model co-created by youth developed to support youth-adult partnerships in mental health-care spaces.
