Lived Experience Initiatives
August Highlights
August was a month of continued growth and collaboration for our Lived Experience Network. Council members contributed to new learning and co-design activities, while the Lived Experience Initiatives team continued developing new resources, partnerships, and opportunities to strengthen the integration of lived experience across youth mental health research.
Co-designing a Visual on Mental and Physical Health
Council members have been working alongside Dr. Léa Perret and Cat Lau, graphic designer, visual science communicator and knowledge mobilizer to co-design a visual resource exploring the relationship between mental and physical health.
Members brought their lived experience perspectives throughout the development process, helping shape both the content of the resource and how the information is communicated. The visual is currently in development and will be shared soon.
Expanding Our Lived Experience Network
This month, the Lived Experience Initiatives team held an important internal planning meeting to reflect on the development of the initiative and identify priorities for its next phase.
The team is working on new resources, processes, and approaches that will support the continued growth of the network and strengthen how we collaborate with council members and research teams. We are excited to share more about these developments as the initiative continues to expand.
Building Connections Across Montréal
We have also been developing new connections with hospitals and research teams across Montréal to broaden the reach of the Lived Experience Network.
By building relationships across institutions, we hope to create more opportunities for lived experience knowledge to inform a wider range of research projects and strengthen collaboration around meaningful lived experience engagement in youth mental health research.
Sharing External Research Opportunities
Throughout August, we continued sharing external research and engagement opportunities with council members. The Lived Experience Initiatives team does not recruit council members on behalf of external research projects. Instead, when relevant opportunities arise, we share them with members of our network so they can independently decide whether they would like to learn more or participate.
This approach allows members to access opportunities beyond council activities while ensuring that participation remains entirely voluntary and separate from their involvement in the Network.
Youth Mental Health Podcast
Dr. Marjolaine Rivest-Beauregard met with CEYMH Teen Council members involved in the FRQ funded, co-created youth mental health podcast La Minute mentale for a final feedback session. Teens listened to the episodes and shared their thoughts on what they liked, what could be improved, the pacing and tone, the music and sound effects, and how easy they were to understand. They also gave suggestions on how the podcast should be promoted and distributed to best reach young people.
The podcast involves youth meeting with mental health experts to create a space where youths experiences and questions can meet scientific knowledge. Each of the 6 episodes explores a different mental health topic such as explore topics, such as depression and suicide, social media and mental health, world events, sport and substance use, gender and sexual identity, and relationships and loneliness. There is a focus on reducing stigma, recognizing distress, supporting others, and ways to better understand mental health.
The podcast episodes are set to begin releasing on September 10th 2026. Stay tuned for more information on where to listen!