Sudbury's youth wellness hub inching closer to reality

Sudbury's "one stop shop" for youth services is closer to becoming a reality, as organizers solidify plans for the direction of the city's first wellness hub.

Ontario's youth wellness hubs are facilities where people aged 12 to 25 can access employment resources, addictions counselling, and co-ordinate housing, among other services.

In May, the Ministry of Health announced it would be funding eight new wellness hubs across the province three in northern Ontario in addition to the 14 already established.

And considering the rising number of people struggling with mental health challenges, the time is "now" to set up a model of centralized service delivery for the city's 20,000-plus youth, Nicole Gauthier, manager with Public Health Sudbury and Districts told CBC News.

"Essentially, youth have long faced systemic challenges to accessing services in our community," Gauthier said. "There is evidence and best practice now demonstrating that the youthwellness hub model offers a solution for a number of communities, including Greater Sudbury."

"Really, what we know is the status quo is not sufficient, and so through strategic investments the province and our community are looking to make improvements to the system," she said.

"Greater Sudbury has an identified need, and we now have a comprehensive plan to assist youth,and through the Youth Wellness Hub, we are starting to make that difference."

Compass, a Sudbury-based lead agency for child mental health and wellness, is also one of the community groups entrusted to set up a hub in the nickel city.

"When a youth accesses those services, they will be met with a case co-ordinator," Mark Fraser, Compass' director of clinical services said.

"That case co-ordinator is instrumental in assessing the needs of the client, as well as servicing the clients to what they perceive their needs are, so that we in turn can address the right service to the right person at the right time."

These days, those needs appear more anxiety-based, Fraser said.

According to a report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Healthalmost half of Ontario students (47 per cent) surveyed in 2021 indicated moderate to severe levels of psychological distress.

An added concern is the large number of students (42 per cent) with unmet mental health needs who said they wanted to seek help but did not know where to turn.

That represents concerns that Fraser said the hubs hope to address.

"If we talk from a purely mental health perspective, We see a lot of children and youth presenting with anxiety," Fraser said. "We suspect that of course that's related to COVID, and the pandemic over the last two years."

"We're also seeing an increase in addictions issues in youth, and for us addressing those issues includes our health partners."

Nothing is decided about them, without them.- Mark Fraser

That includes the services offered by addictions specialists from Health Sciences North.

"We work very closely with HSN(Health Sciences North) and their team to address addiction issues in youth, as well as many children and youth presenting with comorbidities," he said. "These could be children with mental health and other intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). The other clinical presentation that complicates our treatment of mental health and addictions."

The next step, Fraser said, is to set up a youth advisory committee before picking a location for the hub, or setting priorities on those services delivered.

The input of the region's kids is key, Fraser said.

"Nothing is decided about them, without them," he said. "That's the motto and we're going to stick to that."