A Brock-led research team has created a new toolkit to help youth overcome barriers to accessing mental health supports at school and in the community.

Brock University Associate Professor of Health Sciences Karen Patte and her research team will be discussing their work on teen mental health as well as their new package of resources — called North Star Mental Health — during an upcoming public webinar.

“Elevating Youth Voices: Facilitating Access to Mental Health Resources in Schools” takes place Tuesday, June 4 from noon to 1 p.m. The webinar is free, but registration is required.  

Patte, Brock’s Canada Research Chair in Child Health Equity and Inclusion, co-leads the national COMPASS study, which has been gathering data from high school students since 2012.

In 2020, Patte and her team received a grant from SickKids Hospital and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on the mental health of youth attending high school.

The team interviewed 30 high school students from four provinces about their mental health experiences during the pandemic.

Surprisingly, many of the answers the team got transcended pandemic impacts.

“Students told us that they and their peers lacked knowledge about what mental health support was available to them, how to access it, and how and where to find accurate information on available resources,” says Negin Riazi, a former Brock postdoctoral researcher and Co-Lead on the project.

“When we asked how best to reach youth with this information, they said loud and clear: social media and in schools,” she says.

In response, Patte, Riazi and their team created the North Star Mental Health package of resources for both schools and students to increase access to mental health resources. The resources were co-developed with youth and in consultation with educators.

The package includes a mental health resource guide, social media suite and mental health database.

“Our goals were to amplify youth’s experiences and to make it as easy as possible for schools to support students’ access to mental health support,” says Patte. “We know schools are under resourced and busy with many competing priorities.”

“We chose the name North Star because Polaris has been a guiding light for navigators, astronomers and those trying to find their way in the wilderness for millennia,” says Riazi. “Trying to find the right mental health support can feel a lot like being lost without a guide.’”

Under Patte and Riazi’s leadership, the research team includes Brock PhD Health Sciences student Jessica Goddard (MSc ’23), longtime COMPASS Youth Engagement group member Salony Sharma, Assistant Professor at McMaster University Emily Belita, former Brock postdoctoral researcher Markus Duncan, Professor Scott Leatherdale from the University of Waterloo, and partner Jack.Org

Sharma, Goddard, Riazi and Patte will be presenting details of the North Star Mental Health resource during the June 4 webinar.

To register or learn more about the event, visit the event web page or contact Research Impact Manager Jayne Morrish at jmorrish@brocku.ca