The growing success of 2017/18 Bell Let’s Talk Grant in support of Gateways to Youth Mental Health!
On October 26, 2017, Simon Dwyer and Kristine Wilson from Bell Canada joined Yorktown Family Services President, Scarlett Swain, and Executive Director, Suzette Arruda-Santos, at our Annual General Meeting to announce a $20,000 grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund. The Bell Let’s Talk initiative aims to promote mental health awareness and end the stigma associated with mental illness; Yorktown’s Gateways to Youth Mental Health project helps us to bridge youth, who would otherwise not get the support they need, to critical and timely mental health services.
Bell Let’s Talk
The Bell Let’s Talk grant supports the enhancement of youth development programs that engage at-risk and high-risk youth. The goal of our Gateways to Youth Mental Health project is to supports capacity building for youth program workers who deliver existing skills-building and engagement programs to high-risk youth enabling them to quickly identify those in need of mental health supports and bridge them to the appropriate services. Many youth who are high-risk for mental health issues do not have the skills to self-identify and do not have the support system in place that can help them to connect to the mental health services they require. The project was initially applied to a series of workshops anticipating that 165 new youth would participate. In fact, 260 young people participated – 58% more than expected!
Gateways To Youth Mental Health
One year after receiving the Bell grant, we were able to apply the Gateways to Youth Mental Health approach to all programs offered at the West Toronto Youth Hub! Moving forward, we can connect over 900 youth each year to the mental health support that they need, preventing them from slipping through the cracks.
We are looking forward to participating in this year’s Bell Let’s Talk Day taking place on Wednesday, January 30th. To learn more about how you can participate please visit https://letstalk.bell.ca