Deadline: 22-Jan-2025
The Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF), announced by the federal government aims to improve the mental health of youth and their families, and to enhance access to, and navigation of, mental health services with a particular focus on equity-deserving groups.
The fund would contribute to long-term improvements in mental health outcomes for youth and to advance the creation of a strengthened, integrated and accessible youth mental health system that addresses the needs of equity-deserving and underserved youth populations.
Specifically, the fund seeks to improve the availability, accessibility and quality of mental health supports and services for youth by:
- building capacity, or supporting the expansion of Integrated Youth Services (IYS) networks and hubs
- building capacity in community organizations providing mental health services and supports to diverse youth populations
- building capacity of mental wellness supports in Indigenous communities or in organizations that support First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth
Priority
- For this funding opportunity, Health Canada is seeking proposals for projects under the following Youth Mental Health Fund priority:
- Building capacity in and supporting community-based organizations that provide mental health services to youth with the goal of facilitating and strengthening linkages to the broader mental health care system, such as IYS networks to expand their reach and serve more youth.
- All proposals should demonstrate how the project will:
- improve youth mental health
- improve access to care in community settings
- prioritize highest unmet needs
- include evaluation and measurement
Funding Information
- The Youth Mental Health Fund is looking to fund projects of up to $500,000 per fiscal year for projects that may be up to 48 months in length.
Outcomes
- Immediate outcome: Strengthened capacity of community organizations outside IYS networks and hubs to provide effective, integrated, timely, equitable and culturally appropriate/safe mental health care to youth and their families.
- Indicators:
- Number of new mental health human resources hired in community organizations
- Number and percentage of mental health human resources employed in community trained in youth mental health care
- Percentage of mental health human resources employed in community organizations reporting feeling better equipped (knowledge, tools, skills and abilities) to provide effective, integrated, timely, equitable and culturally appropriate/safe mental health care to youth and their families
- Intermediate outcome: Community organizations are using the strategies, knowledge, tools, skills and abilities gained from YMHF projects to improve the effectiveness, timeliness, and cultural appropriateness of integrated mental health care provided to youth and their families.
- Indicators:
- Number of youth provided with mental health care from community organizations outside IYS networks and hubs
- Percentage of community organizations reporting an increase in number of youth accessing their mental health care
- Percentage of mental health human resources employed in community organizations reporting that they made individual practice changes, or an organizational policy or program change to improve the effectiveness, timeliness, and cultural appropriateness/safety of integrated mental health care provided to youth and their families as a result of new knowledge, tools, skills and abilities
Eligibility Criteria
- The following types of Canadian applicants are eligible for funding for this opportunity:
- Not-for-profit organizations
- Public post-secondary education institutions
- Note that applicants from Quebec are not eligible, as the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux is managing funds for Quebec.
For more information, visit Government of Canada.