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Themes of Youth Wellbeing

Health & Wellness

Ontario wants all young people to be happy, physically healthy, emotionally resilient and able to make positive life choices. Healthy young people are better equipped to learn, develop and build the skills they need to succeed as adults. They also have a lower risk of chronic disease and illness, which can reduce demands on health care. Through early identification of illness and by giving support, the long-term health and wellness of young people can be enhanced.

Outcomes #1, 2, 3

Ontario wants youth to:

• Be physically healthy
• Feel mentally well
• Make choices that support healthy and safe development

This year, Ontario encouraged young people to be healthy and well by focusing on getting kids active, expanding mental health supports and reducing unhealthy choices. Its programs and policies have made progress in the following areas:

• Increasing opportunities for kids to get active
• Expanding access to mental health services
• Promoting well-being and healthy eating
• Protecting young people and helping families make healthier choices

New in 2014–2015

This year, Ontario continued to create opportunities for young people to get active and form healthy habits. Supporting youth health and well-being also involves recognizing that some young people need more assistance than others.

• Ontario invested $13.5 million in the After-School Program. This program helps more than 130 service providers give more than 21,000 children and youth the opportunity to participate in sport and recreation activities and learn about healthy habits.
• The 60 Minutes of Physical Activity Initiative helps children and youth get 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Pilot sites were established to help identify factors that create access to and opportunity for physical activity during the school day.
• Forty-five communities are participating in the Healthy Kids Community Challenge. These communities are receiving funding, tools and training to deliver locally run programs and activities that focus on healthy eating and physical activity.
• Ontario invested $10 million in the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy (AHWS). AHWS programs and services are guided by the medicine wheel, the life cycle and healing continuum, and traditional teachings. AHWS supports a residential treatment centre that helps Aboriginal youth with addiction problems. With the enhanced funding, the government’s total investment committed to AHWS by 2015–16 has increased to $47.5 million.
• The Student Nutrition Program will roll out to 63 First Nations communities over the next two school years (2015–16 and 2016–17), with ongoing funding to be provided.
• Ontario provided support to the organization Right to Play for the Promoting Life-skills in Aboriginal Youth (PLAY) program. PLAY helps Aboriginal youth improve their health, self-esteem and leadership skills through regular, weekly participation in sport and recreation activities year-round. In 2014–15, over 3,500 children and youth participated regularly in PLAY, and almost 14,000 community members participated in youth and community-led initiatives that encourage positive community-driven change.

What the Data Says

• In 2004, an estimated 41% of Canadian youth of Aboriginal descent were considered overweight or obese, which is approximately 2.5 times higher than the national average.³
• In children and youth, physical activity aids in promoting healthy growth and development, improves mental health by reducing stress, and increases self-esteem and physical competence.⁴
• Many studies show that children and youth who exercise at school see significant boosts in both mathematics and language test scores.⁵
• During the 2013–14 school year, Ontario’s Student Nutrition Program helped provide nutritious breakfasts, snacks and lunches to over 756,000 schoolage children and youth across over 4,450 programs.

New in 2014–2015

Ontario supported young people to feel mentally well by identifying risk factors early and supporting young people to develop the skills they need to deal with challenges as they happen. This year, Ontario expanded services to promote awareness, reduce stigma and ensure more youth get the support they need.

Ontario is moving forward on the next phase of the government’s Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy. This phase focuses on supporting the transition between youth and adult services and improving the quality of services. It includes reducing wait-times; providing more supportive housing spaces; improving supports for youth with eating disorders; and working to increase awareness, fight stigma, and promote mental health in schools and the workplace. Other aspects of the strategy are as follows:

• Mental Health Innovation Fund (2014–15): The fund has helped postsecondary students access mental health services faster through 14 new projects, including 12 at Ontario colleges and universities.
• Transitional-aged youth facility: This new mental health facility is for youth aged 16 to 19. It is run by Youthdale Treatment Centres and offers residential and day programs to care for young people who face mental health challenges.
• Residential treatment centre for eating disorders: This centre was launched in Whitby to provide a residential treatment pilot program for children and youth with eating disorders.
• Mental Health and Addictions Leadership Advisory Council: The council formed a Youth Addiction Working Group that reflects the diverse needs of young Ontarians struggling with addictions.
• Child and youth mental health lead agencies: These agencies were identified to oversee the delivery of core mental health services and help community-based collaboration with health care providers, schools and other organizations.

What the Data Says

• 70% of mental health and addiction issues start when people are young.⁶

New in 2014–2015

Young people learn as they try new things and take risks. This year, Ontario helped young people make healthy choices and avoid harmful risks by changing the laws and practices relating to physical and sexual health, tobacco, e-cigarettes and food choices.

• Ontario revised the health and physical education curriculum in 2015 to provide students with accurate and up-to-date information on human development and sexual health that will help keep them safe and healthy. The newly revised curriculum is more reflective of Ontario’s growing and diverse population and includes information on healthy relationships, consent, mental health, online safety and the risks of "sexting."
• Changes to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act to protect children and youth made it illegal to sell tobacco on university and college campuses, and to smoke on bar and restaurant patios, playgrounds and public sports fields.
• The new Making Healthier Choices Act will help Ontario families make healthier food choices when dining out. It will also protect youth from the dangers of tobacco and the potential harms of e-cigarettes.
• The Healthy Kids Strategy website launched in September 2015. The site provides information on initiatives that fall under the strategy’s three main goals: giving kids a healthy start, making healthy food choices easier, and creating healthy communities.

What the Data Says

• Approximately 12% of high school students smoke, and 18% have smoked in the past 30 days. Of those who used any tobacco product, 50% reported using flavoured tobacco products. One in four Ontario high school students has smoked menthol cigarettes in the last 30 days.⁷
• Each year, tobacco claims more than 13,000 lives in Ontario— equivalent to 36 lives every day.⁸
• The World Health Organization has found that providing kids with comprehensive sexual health information helps prevent early sexual activity and negative health outcomes.⁹

Case Study

YouthNet/RéseauAdo

YouthNet/RéseauAdo (YNRA) is a bilingual mental health promotion and intervention program of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Research suggests that youth are much more likely to talk to peers than to adults about mental health. For this reason, YNRA offers support services using a peer-to-peer model. Youth facilitators aged 20 to 30 create an open, non-judgmental space for youth to engage in healthy dialogue about mental health.

YNRA aims to build resilience in young people by demonstrating healthy stress-coping strategies while decreasing the stigma surrounding mental illness and its treatment. Embracing a youth engagement philosophy, YNRA is informed by a Youth Advisory Committee. The committee both develops youth-relevant programming and advocates for youth to service providers, families, policy-makers and systems-level decision makers. This industry-leading youth engagement program benefits young people by giving them the voice they deserve in their own health care.

"YouthNet has changed a lot in my life. For me, it’s a space where I can feel safe and comfortable being myself. It’s also a way for me to contribute to [breaking] mental health stigma." —YouthNet Youth Advisory Committee Member

Youth-adult partnership is key to creating safe, inviting spaces for young people to help one another maintain good mental health.