Brantford Youth Council (BYC) hosted a Youth Mental Health Resource Fair on Friday, December 6, 2024.
The event was held to empower local youth to learn more about community resources available to support their mental, physical, and social well-being.
“Through consultations for the 2025-2027 update to the City of Brantford’s Empowering Youth Strategy, we learned that youth feel disempowered in their knowledge about what services are available to support their mental health,” said Taylor Berzins, Community Initiatives Coordinator for the City of Brantford. “This year’s BYC cohort wants to emphasize youth mental health and to empower their peers. BYC created this event as a first step towards these goals and to address these issues during exam season for post-secondary students, and high school students that are gearing up for the winter break.”
Fourteen agencies and community resources hosted tables and offered resources at the Youth Mental Health Resource Fair, including:
- Brantford Regional Indigenous Support Centre- Friendship Centre (BRISC-FC)
- Canadian Mental Health Association – Brant Haldimand Norfolk
- Fortitude Youth Group
- Jason’s Wheelhouse
- LGBTQ YouthLine
- Grand River Community Health Centre
- Nova Vita Domestic Violence Prevention Services
- Positive Health Network
- Provincial Youth Outreach Workers (Wesley)
- Sexual Assault Centre of Brant
- SOAR
- The Neurodivergent Artist Collective
- The Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment and Care Team
- Why Not City Missions
- Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services
- YMCA Hamilton Burlington Brantford
In addition to engaging with resource tables, BYC created an art station where attendees coloured in a banner and painted tote bags to take resource materials home in.
“This event is a starting point for future BYC projects about youth mental health,” said Emily Mcknight, Leader of the BYC Communications and Marketing subcommittee. “I had the chance to connect with staff at services I hadn’t really known about before we planned this event, and I feel like I have a better sense of what supports exist, and what I’d tell my friends to check out when they’re having a hard time.”
The event was funded through a micro-grant from Cannabis and Mental Health, a youth and scientist-led project created by the Youth Research and Evaluation Exchange, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Schizophrenia Society of Canada, and Cannabis and Psychosis. The Project aims to educate youth about mental health and substance use through youth-designed resources, a mentorship guide for educators and youth-allies, and the Budding Projects micro-grant program.
Events and initiatives such as the Youth Mental Health Resource Fair are important in our community as youth are growing in population according to census data. Youth have also been identified as a Priority Area within the City’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan. Building on the learning and connections made through hosting this event, BYC is looking forward to continuing to use their platform to share resources that are available to youth in the community.
