GBF, through the Bell-GBF partnership, has joined with the New Brunswick government and United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern NB region to fund the Regional Strategic Coordinator Project in Kent County and Miramichi. GBF has been working closely with the New Brunswick Government, Department of Health, Addictions and Mental Health Branch, over the past two years to make this project a reality.

The Regional Strategic Coordinators will work alongside community organizations to ensure young people aged 13-21 facing mental health and addiction challenges can access the supports that they need. See the press release here.

The Regional Strategic Coordinators are advancing the kind of profound collaboration that is required to improve outcomes for young people. The hope is to scale the approach to other communities across New Brunswick after a two-year demonstration period. At the heart of this project is an understanding that we are all responsible for the success of our children and youth: educators, counsellors, parents, caregivers, coaches, nurses, police officers, neighbours, and friends. We need everyone to be all in for children and youth!
 

The Ontario government has announced the expansion of Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) to four new sites: Wellington-Guelph, Timmins, Renfrew and Windsor-Essex. This expansion will help to fill critical gaps in services in rural communities, allowing many more youth to have timely access to high-quality and youth-focused services, including for mental health and substance use. See the news release here.

This represents a significant milestone as it is the first commitment by the Ontario government to scale YWHO beyond the original 10 community sites. Ontario now joins the provinces of BC and Quebec which are scaling up their IYS initiatives known as Foundry and Aire ouverte.
 

In recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day, Bell Let’s Talk interviewed four youth from the ACCESS Open Minds site in Eskasoni First Nation, Nova Scotia, which provides youth-friendly and culturally relevant mental health and related services for young people aged 11 to 25. In the interview, youth discuss the role that culture plays in their mental health and well-being, as well as what it means to have a youth hub in their own community. Read the blog post here.
 
 

In honour of Dr. Samarthji Lal, the Graham Boeckh Foundation presents a $25,000 award each year to a mid-career researcher who is making an outstanding contribution to the field of mental health.

The Foundation is delighted to announce that the eleventh winner of the Dr. Samarthji Lal Award is Dr. Rudolf Uher of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. We invite you to watch this short video in which he explains the significance of his work.

Dr. Uher’s research focuses on early interventions to prevent severe mental illness and the use of clinical assessment and biomarkers to personalize treatment for depression. Dr. Uher’s biography can be found here.

We congratulate Dr. Uher for his exceptional contribution to mental health research that offers significant promise for improving the lives of those suffering from severe mental illness.
 

On May 19, 2021, GBF hosted a webinar on virtual mental health services post COVID-19. The webinar featured Canadian and international speakers, including:

• Dr. Shalini Lal, Canada Research Chair in Innovation and Technology for Youth Mental Health Services, University of Montreal
• Dr. David M. Clark, Chair of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, National Clinical and Informatics Advisor, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)
• Dr. Steve Mathias, Executive Director, Foundry BC, Integrated Youth Services
• Daphne Hutt-MacLeod, Director of Mental Health, Eskasoni First Nation, Nova Scotia

Thank you to the four panelists on the webinar who provided valuable insights and discussed key issues such as:

• Delivery of mental health services in Canada and abroad during the pandemic
• The importance of integration and choice for virtual services
• What post-pandemic mental health care could look like
• The need to develop strategies and action plans for equitable virtual mental health services

A recording of the webinar can be viewed on GBF’s YouTube channel here. Please note that the audio quality of the webinar improves after the welcome introductions. GBF’s YouTube channel has over 20 videos, including webinars on key mental health policy issues and videos on integrated youth services across Canada.