Sometimes youth and the adults in their lives need help. The following section of YouThrive includes resources and links to services for early intervention, support, and treatment.
Resources for Youth
Kids Help Phone is a free, anonymous, and confidential phone and on-line professional counselling service for youth. Youth can call with big or small concerns. Available 24/7, all year round.
Telephone: 1-800-668-6868
Leave the Pack Behind has youth-friendly tools to help young people who are occasional and regular smokers to quit.
Telephone: 905-688-5550 x4992
The Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line is a toll-free service by youth and for youth 26 and under living anywhere in Ontario. Callers are connected with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, two-spirit, or queer youth. They are trained to offer support, information, and referrals tailored to the caller’s concerns. Sex-positive and non-judgmental.
Telephone: 1-800-268-9688
Mental Health and High School, A Guide for Students, a Canadian Mental Health Association resource, has tools for youth who are having mental health problems. They can use these tools to help them get through high school and go on to work or further studies at college or university.
Mind Your Mind is an online space for youth and emerging adults to get information and resources during tough times. It’s a space for young people to find help for themselves and for others. It’s also a space to share what they live and know.
The Youth Advocacy Training Institute (YATI), a program of the Ontario Lung Association, supports youth and youth-serving organizations in Ontario. It does so by providing exciting and interactive learning experiences for youth and adults alike on a variety of topics that help adults and youth work together to improve the health of their communities through advocacy, education, and positive youth development. YATI is made possible through funding by the Government of Ontario.
Resources for Adults who work with youth
Mental health problems and mental illness
It has been estimated that one in five young people live with mental health problems or mental illness. The earlier we can address arising problems, the greater the likelihood that we can prevent or reduce the severity of the problems. There are many programs and resources to help, including:
- ConnexOntario: Health Services Information
- Mental Health Helpline
- Knowledge Exchange Podcasts: Teens & Tweens Series, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
- Mental Health and Addictions 101 Online Tutorials, CAMH
- Resources for Professionals, Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO)
Substance Misuse
Some young people need help with their substance use. There are many programs and resources to help, including:
- ConnexOntario: Health Services Information
- Drug and Alcohol Helpline
- Knowledge Exchange Podcasts: Teens & Tweens Series,
- Teen Risk Taking, What Parents Need to Know,
- Mental Health and Addictions 101 Online Tutorials,
- Information for Professionals, Parent Action on Drugs (PAD)
- Take Action in Seconday Schools: An Educator’s Guide to Substance Use Prevention, Ophea
Tobacco Use
There are many programs, supports, and resources to help young people quit using tobacco including: :
- Training Enhancement in Applied Cessation Counselling and Health (TEACH), CAMH
- Teen Risk Taking, What Parents Need to Know,
- Leave the Pack Behind, Smoke-Free Ontario
- Quit 4 Life, Health Canada
- Ontario Lung Association
These resources bring an Aboriginal perspective to youth tobacco use and how to quit:
- My Journey with Tobacco: Youth Tobacco Cessation Toolkit and Facilitator’s Guide, National Association of Friendship Centres & Health Canada
- It’s Time: Indigenous Tools and Strategies on Tobacco Interventions, Medicines and Education, Canadian Action Network for the Advancement, Dissemination and Adoption of Practice-informed Tobacco Treatment (CAN-ADAPTT)
