As mental health care continues to shift toward recovery-oriented approaches, it is important to understand what young people say they need and what supports are most meaningful to them. Our team set out to explore these needs and listen directly to youth. Last year, we gathered insights from clinicians and youth outpatient waitlist data to better understand what young people are facing. Early findings point to concerns about social problems, emotional regulation and trauma. Clinicians also emphasized that youth want practical, skills-based support, including interpersonal and social skills, dialectical behaviour therapy strategies, and tools that help them understand themselves and grow.
To explore this further, we built a new approach shaped directly by their voices. In November 2025, Ontario Shores launched Recovery High School, the first program in Canada to bring the Recovery College model into a local high school and Ontario Shores, with in-person and virtual access for the community. The program supports students aged 12–18 who are experiencing mental health challenges and want to build skills for daily life and make connections.
Youth were active partners in this work; they helped shape course topics and activities through the process of co-design with clinicians. Sessions were led by a peer support specialist, someone with lived experience, and youth participants who earned volunteer hours for contributing their insights.
Jordan, 14, took part in the co-design process and reflected: “I liked hearing other’s opinions. Some things other people said I didn’t even think about. I also heard things that I could relate to”.
Co-development made a clear impact: among the 36 youth involved, 67 per cent found the experience meaningful and 70 per cent felt their contributions were important to building Recovery High School. Their voices helped ensure the program is grounded in lived experience, not assumptions.
Access to mental health services remains a challenge for many young people. Long waitlists and limited age-appropriate programs often delay support. Recovery High School aims to reduce these barriers by offering a free, early mental health intervention that is easy to access and grounded in evidence-based approaches.
Mental health challenges are not unique to youth; most parents also report feelings of anxiety and stress when their children experience mental health challenges. Parents and caregivers need a supportive space to connect with each other, share experiences and ask questions about how to interact with and support their children through these challenges. To help meet this need, Recovery High School launched Caregiving the Caregivers of Adolescents, a free virtual course for parents and caregivers. It covers the emotional, social and developmental changes youth face and offers practical tools to support caregiver wellbeing. So far, 20 caregivers have taken the course, with a 100 per cent recommendation rate.
This Mental Health Month, we encourage youth and caregivers to take an active role in their mental health. Our research shows that when youth and families help shape their care, the supports become more meaningful, more accessible and more effective. With 1 in 5 youth—more than 1.2 million young people in Canada—experiencing mental health challenges, early and collaborative approaches like these are essential.
Note: The author is a Research Scientist at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. She is the Managing Editor of the Journal of Recovery in Mental Health. She also holds Assistant Professor Status at the University of Toronto Scarborough.