centre of excellence in youth mental health centre d'excellence en santé mentale des jeunes

Youth, Teen and Loved Ones Council: 3-Month Meeting Review

lived experience initiatives centre of excellence in youth mental health

Over the past three months, the Youth, Teen, and Loved Ones Councils have played a vital role in shaping mental health research through lived experience, community engagement, and collaborative feedback. Across multiple council meetings, members contributed valuable insights to projects focused on youth mental health, suicide prevention, early psychosis care, brain health, workplace well-being, and caregiver experiences. These discussions have helped research teams strengthen knowledge translation, improve digital health innovation, and ensure that mental health initiatives remain inclusive, relevant, and responsive to the real needs of young people, teens, and families.

Youth, Teen & Loved Ones Council Meeting

Axel Constant presented his project to teen, youth, and loved ones councils. It aims to create improved actigraphy-based digital biomarkers by incorporating their lived experiences, which will help refine the models that translate movement data into biomarkers.

Youth and Teen Council Meeting

Dr. Massimiliano Orri , Dr. Léa Perret, and MSc student Zoey Chapman presented two youth health projects on links between physical conditions and suicide risk, and on co-occurring challenges. Youth feedback highlighted factors like surgical scars affecting body image and distress. The team will use this input to refine communication and is developing a social media knowledge translation project.

 

Teen Council
Meeting

Dr. Mallar Chakravarty consulted the teen council on a proposed CIHR-funded project on how gender shapes brain health and development in youth. He gathered input on everyday factors like screen time, friendships, activities, and stress, as well as perspectives on gender traits and their impact on health.

Youth Council Meetings

Dr. Ridha Joober and Dr. Elissa Zavaglia presented a CIHR-funded project using a digital app for continuous clinical monitoring to improve care for youth with first-episode psychosis. It focuses on measurement-based care, shared decision-making, and real-time symptom tracking. Youth discussed ways to contribute, including co-designing clinician training and testing the service.

Dr. Geneviève Sauvé and Marthiale Ngombé continued consulting the Youth Council on their “Carewashing in the Workplace” project and are currently recruiting participants for a pilot study.

Loved ones Meeting

LEI team members Chelsea, Tosh, and Raven met with the Loved Ones Council to reflect on members’ experiences as caregivers in the mental health system and as council members. A co-created abstract was submitted for presentation at the 2026 International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) Conference in Dublin.

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