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ONTARIO Budget 2024 💵⚕️ Ontario Connecting Youth in Peel Region to Mental Health Services

Saturday, 15 June 2024 02:35.PM

- New Youth Wellness Hub in Brampton will provide support closer to home -

The Ontario government is making it faster and easier for young people to connect to mental health and substance use services by launching a new Youth Wellness Hub in Brampton to serve Peel Region. This is one of the 10 new hubs that the government is adding to the network of 22 hubs already opened since 2020, bringing the total to 32 across the province.

“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is continuing to take action to improve mental health and addictions services in communities across Ontario, and support people and their families living with mental health and substance use challenges,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “As we expand the number of Youth Wellness Hubs across the province, young people in Peel Region can connect to the mental health and addictions care they need, in one convenient location, closer to home.”

The new hub will open in 2025 and will connect youth aged 12 to 25 and their families across Peel Region to convenient and free mental health, substance use and primary care services in a safe, youth-friendly space, making it easier for youth to drop in for in-person counselling or peer support close to their home.

Other services provided through the hub will deliver culturally appropriate care, including vocational supports, education, employment, housing, access to community programs, and supports for children and youth in need of child welfare services while in care or transitioning out of care.

Peel Children’s Aid Society is leading the co-design of the new hub with youth and community partners across the region, ensuring diverse youth voices and unique needs of Indigenous, First Nations and Black youth are at the centre of the design and planning for the hub model.

“By continuing to expand our network of Youth Wellness Hubs, our government is ensuring youth across the province have convenient access to the highest-quality mental health and addictions supports, when and where they need them,” said Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “Peel Region’s new Youth Wellness Hub will be a place for young people to feel safe and connected to a community that supports them and helps equip them with the tools they need to face life’s challenges.”

With Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the government has significantly expanded the number of Youth Wellness Hubs across the province to make it faster and easier for young people to connect to mental health and substance use support, primary care, social services, and more.

Quick Facts

• Between 2020 and 2023, Ontario established a provincial network of 22 Youth Wellness Hubs that have connected 43,000 youth and their families to mental health, substance use, and wellness services, accounting for over 168,000 visits.
• Reflecting on this success, Ontario is adding 10 more hubs to the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario program: five new hubs will be located in Port Hope, Thunder Bay, Oxford County, Vaughan and Peel Region, with another five hubs to be funded through Budget 2024 with an investment of $8.3 million over three years, with locations to be announced.
• The 22 Youth Wellness Hubs currently operating across the province are serving over 31 communities: Algoma, Central Toronto, Chatham Kent, Eastern Champlain (Cornwall & SDG and Rockland & Prescott Russell), Haliburton County, Kenora, KFLA Region, London-Middlesex, Malton (includes Peel Region and Mississauga), Niagara Region, North Simcoe, Renfrew County, Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, Sarnia-Lambton, Scarborough, Sudbury, Thorncliffe Park, Timmins, Toronto East, Wellington-Guelph, West Toronto and Windsor-Essex.
• Ontario is investing $3.8 billion over 10 years to fill gaps in mental health and addictions care, create new services and expand programs through Roadmap to Wellness.
• As part of Budget 2024, Building a Better Ontario, the government is building on its work through the Roadmap by investing an additional $396 million over three years to improve access and expand existing mental health and addictions services and programs.

SOURCE: Ontario Ministry of Health

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