GUELPH POLITICAST #338 - The Quest for Healthy Young Minds

Young people across the country are heading back to school this week, and there’s going to be a lot of pressure; pressure to get back to normal, pressure to catch up on lessons after pandemic hiccups, pressure to succeed in a world full of uncertainty… It’s no wonder that four out of five local young people between the ages of 12 and 26 say they’re in need of mental health assistance.

The Grove has quickly emerged as an authoritative voice for advocacy and support in the growing realm of youth mental health. According to the Grove, as of June 2022, the demand for child psychology services has increased 96 per cent, the need for counselling and treatment services has increased 146 per cent, and family support has increased 56 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

You can’t really ignore those numbers, right? Our young people are still living in a pandemic world, there’s also issues of equity from economic concerns to social justice, and there’s the pending existential crisis of climate change, which is definitely going to change their world. Clearly, young people across our region need a hand, and sometimes it’s not a clinical hand, but that’s where the Grove comes in. They're trying to catch mental health crises before they become full blown emergencies.

With all that in mind, Cyndy Moffat Forsyth, the executive director of the Grove youth wellness hub, joins us to talk about the outreach the Grove is doing right now, how they’re trying to make mental health an important issue in this election with the #GetReal campaign, and what she hopes to get out of the youth mental health forum next week. She will also talk about the growth of the Grove, their track record for success, and how people of all ages can help out with the Grove and its initiatives.

So let's dig into the concerns around youth mental health on this week's Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about the Grove at its website. The Grove will also be taking part in the Youth Mental Health Forum on Tuesday September 13 at 8 am at the Frank Hasenfratz Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing and you can buy tickets at Eventbrite, and you can learn more about the #GetReal campaign here.

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