Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ontario and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recently partnered to deliver the third webinar in the nine-part series of the Working with Children and Youth with Complex Mental Health Needs Project. The webinar was presented on October 30, 2014 by CMHA Ontario’s Policy Analyst and Justice Portfolio Lead, Dorina Simeonov and Tania Breton, CAMH’s Regional Implementation Coordinator for the Champlain Youth Justice Collaborative.
The webinar covered important federal and provincial legislation including the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the Children and Family Services Act. The interactive presentation also explored the pathways through the youth criminal justice and mental health systems by walking participants through this map (The French version is also available).
The webinar had more than 170 participants, many of which were from the child and youth (34 percent) and youth justice (25 percent) sectors. As many participants expressed, navigating one system is daunting enough and so, navigating two simultaneously can be extremely confusing. As per the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the presentation focused on youth aged 12 to 17 and 67 percent of the audience indicated that this is the age range of the population they work with.
The presentation concluded with a lively discussion about police education about interacting with youth with complex needs, how to support client transitions into adult services and several other topics at the intersection of youth mental health and criminal justice.
To view to webinar recording, visit the Complex Needs website.
To learn more about the project, visit the project website. The next webinar, “Bridging Social Media and Mental Health Support for Youth”, will be on November 6, 2014.