After delivering a variety of successful trainings over the last six months, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Ontario’s Working for Children and Youth with Complex Mental Health Needs has come to an end. The project helped direct service providers enhance skills in key areas of targeted prevention, brief services, family skill building and supporting the capacity to practice within a health equity lens. The project had an impressive reach, engaging more than 5,000 direct service providers in online and in-person trainings from as far away as the Yukon and Newfoundland in Canada as well as from across the United States. In addition, the project website has had more than 10,000 users with more than 75,000 page views.
The project has also received excellent feedback from participants, with the vast majority reporting that the trainings were useful for their work. Check out the project infographic for some additional project highlights, or see the summary below:
Webinar Series: The project delivered a total of 11 webinars (nine in the English and two in French) focused on systemic and social conditions that impact the mental health of children and youth and increase the complexity of their care.
- More than 1,100 people participated in these webinars and, an additional 3,200 have subsequently watched the recordings.
- 86 percent of participants agreed or highly agreed that the webinars had practical value for their work and 77 percent will use the learnings from the webinars to affect change with children, youth and families.
Regional Workshops: The project delivered four, two-day, in-person workshops focused on trauma-informed frameworks and strategies for working with children and youth with complex mental health issues in Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Toronto and London.
- A total of 392 people participated in the four workshops.
- 88 percent of workshop participants had an improved understanding of trauma as it relates to children and youth.
- Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Children and Youth Services, and Camille Quenneville, CEO of CMHA Ontario, were present to kick off the Toronto workshop.
Online Course: The project developed a self-paced e-learning course focused on “Brief Services,” one of the eight core services identified by MCYS’s Moving on Mental Health. Participants can learn the foundational principles of brief service interventions, which are quick, culturally responsive, focus on the client’s strengths and promote shared decision-making with clients.
- The six-module course is available online in English and in French.
- To date, more than 400 people have signed up to take the course.
Training inventory: The project created an online training inventory, which lists existing training opportunities across Canada available to child and youth mental health professionals seeking to gain more knowledge or capacity in their work.
- Since the beginning of the project, the inventory has grown by 47 percent.
The webinars, online course and inventory continue to be available on the project website so, if you missed out, you can still take advantage of the training opportunities. For more information about the project visit www.complexneeds.ca