Making Change Happen

Making change happen

As you learned in Section Two, teamwork is the foundation of the YWC Program success.  In particular, there are four integral roles in the program:

Think of these roles as different spokes on a wheel: to ensure sustainability, each of the roles come with specific responsibilities that complement and support each other.

For the best chance of success, ensure that that each role has at least one lead assigned to manage the role’s responsibilities; for Youth Champions the responsibilities can be split among a group of youth and young adults as long as one person oversees the tasks.

Training material & resources

We’ve developed a comprehensive training and orientation package that aims to support all staff implementing the YMHAC Initiative, including Public Health Leads, School Staff Leads and Mental Health Leads.

Training orientation goals:    

It is expected that all staff involved in implementing the Initiative, regardless of role, receive all training materials and accompanying materials. Staff who may be involved can include health-care providers and nurses at the schools or community, teachers, parents and/or volunteers.

School endorsement

It is essential that principals endorse this Initiative in order to ensure teacher involvement, and extracurricular support by other staff and parents/guardians. Mental Health Leads can assist in messaging superintendents and principals about this important school/student/staff leadership opportunity.

Training materials and resources

We created the training materials in partnership with youth, health-care providers, nurses and educators. They include:

You can adapt the delivery format to support and accommodate schedules of individuals involved, availability of work space, etc. Your site may also consider setting up a date and time where those involved can come together to determine gaps in knowledge, conduct training and debrief and plan for next steps.

Adult Leads must be aware of the importance of developing an Evaluation Plan for when the program’s complete.

Orientation and Training Goals

Your Youth Champions training program should meet these objectives.

• Help raise student awareness of the mental health continuum (i.e., what is the difference between mental health and mental illness) and reduce stigma.
• Help students increase their confidence and develop advocacy and leadership skills.
• Help improve the health and well-being of children and youth through a focus on mental health promotion, acceptance of mental illness, reduction of related stigma and substance use prevention.

Recruiting Youth Champions

Reach out to a range of school personnel including principals and guidance counsellors.  Aim to include:

• youth from diverse communities and ethnic backgrounds within the school community
• gender-diverse and/ or queer youth
• at-risk youth who may be unengaged and/or struggling at the school or community level

Obtaining consent

You will need the formal consent of parents of youth who are interested in participating as Youth Champions.

Also, check with your participating school board for consent requirements and possible documentation materials.

Implementing a psychological safety plan

Given that mental health and mental illness can be a sensitive topic, organizers need to consider how to support the psychological safety of student and adult participants. The YWC Program recommends developing a psychological safety plan that entails appointing an “adult safety lead” and a “student safety lead”, along with key intervention steps to support youth who experience psychological distress during training. Additional safety considerations include:

• flagging sensitive topics
• establishing a relaxation space or “chill zone” for students who may be triggered by content
• enlisting the support of a school board mental health professional to participate in the Champions training/workshop as well as offer counselling support if the need arises
• allowing students to opt out of participating in various activities
• being aware of locally based resources for support, including calling them to notify them of the training
• being aware of provincially based resources such as Connexx Ontario or Kids Help Phone, and including resources on all documents.

Each community should lend a local context to the YWC Program and network of  Champions. A key opportunity for this: The Youth Champions Network Training and Workshop held in each local community. Dedicate the time you need to ensure a well-coordinated, effective day.

Pre-training considerations

Setting up your workshop

Planning the event

The small details can make or break a successful Youth Champions Network Training and Workshop day. Here are some useful things to consider when planning your training session.

For help identifying an ideal venue location, see Hosting a Workshop at Your Site. 

Supporting youth when participating in workshop delivery

Ensure School Staff Leads and Public Health Staff set aside adequate time to meet with Youth prior to Champion Training/Workshop to:

• help students prepare for their part of the workshop
• link to main workshop organizers (Public Health and/or Mental Health Leads) for additional information
• make sure to provide any additional orientation before the event

Ensuring psychological safety of student participants

Given that mental health and mental illness can be a sensitive topic for some, organizers need to consider how to support the psychological safety of student and adult participants.

The YWC Program recommends developing a Psychological Safety Plan that entails appointing an Adult Safety Lead and a Student Safety Lead, along with following key intervention steps to support youth who experience psychological distress during YWC training.

Psychological safety considerations include:

• flagging sensitive topics
• establishing a relaxation space or “chill zone” for students who may be triggered by content
• enlisting the support of school board mental health professionals and public health nurses to participate in the Champions training/workshop as well as offer counselling support if the need arises
• allowing students to opt out of participating in various activities
• be aware of locally based resources for support, including calling them to notify them of the training
• be aware of provincially based resources, such as Connexx Ontario and Kids Help Phone, and including resources on all documents

Communicating about your training workshop

Make sure you share event details with everyone, including sending out frequent reminders of upcoming meetings and sessions to increase attendance.

Creating content for your workshop

Once you have carried out necessary planning arrangements for the Youth Champion training/workshop, you will need to focus on providing quality, impactful content. Focusing on engaging and involving Youth Leads in as many components and decisions regarding the workshop as possible will improve outcomes.

Supporting champions for participation in implementation activities

Youth engaged in the YWC Program will use knowledge and skills gained from their training to help support the implementation activities in their school alongside Public  Health Staff and School Staff Leads.

Consider meeting with youth to start planning potential implementation activities.

Sample youth-led initiatives

The YWC Program aims to engage youth, help them understand what works and what doesn’t work, so they can problem solve and find solutions that support mental health promotion among peers. That’s why the Initiatives ultimately developed by youth during the training/ workshop are such an important aspect of the program.

As part of the YWC Program, youth have developed a broad array of meaningful activities that promote awareness of mental health and substance use among peers and worked towards building resilient and supportive school. environments and communities.