Community support to allow popular mental health literacy program to expand to younger students

With construction of the new Centre for Child & Adolescent Mental Health ramping up, we continue to support efforts to help families reduce the need for it in the first place. Thanks to a pilot project funded by the community through the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, our specialists have become national leaders in providing mental health literacy programs in junior high and high schools. The programs were so well received by students and teachers that AHS agreed to fund the project over the long term and expand it beyond Calgary to schools across the province.

With that program well underway, teachers in elementary schools have expressed a keen interest in providing the same kind of support to their younger students. Donations to the #BuildThemUp campaign will enable the team to address that demand by developing and tailoring materials for use in grade four, five and six classrooms. The work on this project is just beginning and will be developed jointly with education partners, parents, youth and mental health professionals.

Given Alberta’s leadership in developing and delivering a provincial program, the award-winning psychiatrist and author of the mental health literacy curriculum has now chosen to gift the intellectual property of his broader work to Alberta Health Services. Dr. Stan Kutcher has entrusted the team who led the pilot with the honour and responsibility of carrying on his professional legacy, much of which can be accessed here. This website receives more than five million hits every year internationally, evidence of mental health as a global issue. The site will serve as the perfect avenue through which the new mental health knowledge and resources — including the elementary school curriculum —can be shared free of charge to help young people and families around the world.

Construction looms as community rallies behind #BuildThemUp in big way

We are so grateful to our community for helping to create Calgary’s first Centre for Child & Adolescent Mental Health through our Build Them Up campaign.

Since the project was announced last year, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Donations for the centre have now reached $18 million!

Support for this crucial initiative extends far beyond the bricks and mortar of a new building. Those who donate are making an investment in the long-term health and happiness of generations of young people in our community.

Work on the new centre continues with preliminary preparations for construction now underway in Hounsfield Heights.

Stuart Olson has moved their trailers on site and they're ready to ramp up construction activity.

Development permit now in hand

The City of Calgary approved the development permit in mid-September, formally greenlighting the commencement of construction. In order for this to begin, the decommissioned detention centre on the far south side of the property needs to be removed. Abatement began in August, with demolition and construction planned for this fall. Deep services work for water and sewer across the site will begin soon as well.

What will the Centre look like on the inside?

The design development process is well underway with the project team and architects adding detail to the schematic designs, including room configurations and interior and exterior finishes. An important part of this planning involves consulting with people who have insight and experience with delivering and accessing mental health services. Staff, youth and family advisors are all pleased to be engaged in this process and are helping to shape the final product.

Members of the Youth Advisory Council provide hands-on feedback around options for interior and exterior finishes.

New program will allow young peers to help each other on road to better mental health

Youth and family advisors are also playing an important role in designing new programs and research for the Centre for Child & Adolescent Mental Health.

They are particularly pleased with plans to embed Peer Support within the new specialized services as a component of patient and family-centred care. Since this will be the first time Alberta Health Services will be introducing Peer Support to the child and adolescent population, the advisors are being consulted on how best to do so.

Research shows that peer support workers can serve as important role models to help patients in their recovery and to navigate the range of community supports available to individuals with chronic mental illness. Peer support has been shown to result in improved outcomes for clients, decreased visits to the emergency department, and increased engagement with primary care support.

The #BuildThemUp campaign is making possible a pilot project which will begin even before the centre opens. In September, in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association, specialists and researchers will be introducing Peer Support within the Emergency Department at Alberta Children’s Hospital. Young people needing care for their mental health concerns will benefit from the new service and will be invited to evaluate its effectiveness. The goal is to incorporate their valuable feedback and other knowledge gained from the pilot into the new Peer Support program for the centre, ensuring that families will receive the best support possible.