Youth and Family Engagement
Engaging youth and families means providing meaningful opportunities for youth and families to be active contributors to positive system change. When service providers and community partners are committed to working alongside youth and families, the possibilities are endless!
Youth and Families as Experts
Youth and families living with mental health challenges see our system from perspectives that are unique. Lived experience with one or more services – often across multiple sectors – means youth and families can see what is working well, what isn’t and ways we can do better.Their knowledge and expertise make them vital partners in improving child and youth mental health services in Hamilton.
YOU can make a difference.
The voices of young people are needed for local opportunities such as:
- Co-developing content for a youth mindfulness group.
- Getting trained in youth engagement and helping train others.
- Sharing ways that programs and services can do better.
- Being part of hiring interviews for agency staff.
- Helping create better questions on a feedback survey.
The voices of family members are needed for local opportunities such as:
- Helping an agency develop new vision, mission and value statements.
- Co-developing a program brochure for families.
- Helping staff learn about engagement and why it matters.
- Bringing a family perspective to planning programs.
- Helping agencies make their services easier to access.
Interested in learning more about our network of youth and families and how you can make a difference?
Get in Touch!
Contact our Engagement Leads: [email protected]
Our Engagement Leads support our system by:
- Providing opportunities for youth and families to learn about engagement and our child and youth mental health system
- Connecting youth and families to meaningful and relevant engagement opportunities
- Supporting youth and families who are working with service providers
- Bringing the perspectives of youth and families to community tables and processes
- Working in partnership with individual service providers and community partners
- Building our community’s capacity to meaningfully engage children, youth and families through ongoing learning opportunities
- Linking youth, families, providers and partners with evidence and literature related to engagement