Supporting IYS Provider Response to Youth with Complex Mental Health and Interconnected Needs (Pan-Canadian)

PROGRAM GOALS

The program aims to strengthen the practice capacity of Integrated Youth Services (IYS) and other youth service providers delivering clinical services to address complex mental health and intersecting youth needs within their broader social, relational and environmental contexts.

By the end of this ECHO program, participants will be able to:

      1. Explain how social and structural determinants of health and intersecting social, developmental, cultural, and mental health factors shape youth experiences and well-being.
      2. Apply evidence-informed (incorporating research, practice expertise, and lived/living experience) approaches to support youth with complex presentations.
      3. Integrate trauma-informed, culturally safe, and equity-centred practices into engagement, assessment, intervention, and care planning with youth with complex presentations.
      4. Describe how collaborative and integrated care approaches can support diverse youth populations and communities.
      5. Discuss how to apply a holistic approach to navigate and respond to complex and intersecting challenges experienced by youth.

This program also offers participants the opportunity to earn a completion certificate while learning from experts and connecting with peers across the country.

More IYS Learning!

PROGRAM INFO

Location: Zoom Videoconferencing

Time: 
2:00PM – 3:30PM ET

Length: 10 Sessions (October 7, 2026 – December 9, 2026)

When: Wednesday Afternoons (Weekly)

Target Audience: Youth mental health and other service providers

To view curriculum content, please click on the toggle button below.

**Please note topics are tentative as the order and titles may shift

  1. Understanding and Responding to Complex and Interconnected Needs of
    Youth in the Context of Social and Structural Determinants of Health
  2. Where to Start? Navigating Priorities in Supporting Youth with Complex Mental Health and Interconnected Needs
  3.  Addressing Concurrent Mental Health and Substance Use Health Concerns in
    Youth
  4.  Mental Health and Substance Use Health with Youth with Neurodivergence
    and/or Certain Disabilities
  5. Pharmacological Treatment Supporting Youth with Complex Mental Health
    Presentations: Importance of Context, Curiosity and Caring
  6.  Disordered Eating in Youth in the Context of Concurrent Challenges
  7. Supporting Youth in Sexual and Physical Health Care: Consent, Privacy
    and Chosen Supports
  8. Talking with Youth about Suicide: Risk, Loss and Supporting Others
  9. Recognizing Trauma and Gender-Based Violence: Asking, Understanding and
    Responding
  10.  Medical concerns in the Context of Youth Mental Health, Substance Use,
    and Other Challenges 

HOW DO I SIGN UP?

Registration is now OPEN! 
You can register here until September 30th.
Contact Us

SESSION STRUCTURE

Welcome, Introduction, and Announcements 

– 5 minutes

Didactic Presentation, Community Member Educator and Equity Integration Specialist Comments and Q&A 

– 30 minutes

*Youth Care Scenario/Practice Challenge Discussion 

– 35 minutes

Addressing Outstanding Questions and Session Wrap-Up 

– 5 minutes

*We highly encourage participants to bring forward youth-related scenarios or clinical challenges for discussion as a central part of each ECHO session. This is a great opportunity to have an open conversation and seek recommendations from fellow providers and the expert HUB team.

WHAT'S THE COMMITMENT?

Attend 60% of program sessions

Optionally submit and present an anonymized Youth Care Scenario/Practice Challenge

Participate in group discussions

Provide feedback through evaluation activities

WHO'S RUNNING THESE SESSIONS?

Our program sessions are run by a cross-sectoral Hub Team from multiple youth mental health and other organizations across Canada. 

Please click on the toggle buttons below to see who will be facilitating these sessions.

  1. Alex Porthukaran (Psychologist)
  2. Alexa Bagnell (Psychiatrist)
  3. Allison Crawford (Psychiatrist)
  4. Cathy Fournier (Scientific Associate/Indigenous Health and Care Approaches)
  5. Danya Fast (Medical Anthropologist)
  6. Daphnée A (Youth Community Member Educator)
  7. Darren Courtney (Psychiatrist)
  8. Gina Dimitropoulos (Social Worker)
  9. Janis Wolfe (Psychologist)
  10. Jo Henderson (Psychologist/Senior Scientist)
  11. Laurence Katz (Psychiatrist)
  12. Lee Cameron (Program Manager, Youth & Family Engagement, IYS Data Platform and IYS Collaboration Centre)
  13. Mack Hilton (Librarian)
  14. Michelle Peralta (Nurse Practitioner)
  15. Mike Franklyn (Physician)
  16. Stephanie Coombes (Registered Nurse)