The Ontario Youth Screening Project (OYSP) was funded under the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through an Emerging Team Grant to work collaboratively with cross-sectoral youth serving networks in six communities across Ontario. The goal of the project was to implement a common screening tool to identify youth substance use and mental health concerns. Each network was composed of a minimum of two sectors that included addictions, mental health, justice, child welfare, education, housing, outreach and support and health. Each agency agreed to participate in one or more of four key project activities: Network Development, Capacity Building, Screening Implementation and Data Collection (see Appendix D). Through this process, the team had the opportunity to examine rates of co-occurring substance use and mental health concerns (frequently referred to as concurrent or co-occurring disorders (CD)) in different service sectors, across the adolescent and emerging adulthood age spectrum. As well, the project aimed to explore service provider perceptions of interagency referrals; perceived interagency collaboration; and youth CD-related attitudes, knowledge, and practices at different time points in the project.
The overall objective of OYSP was to enhance service provider Concurrent Disorder (CD) capacity, increase early intervention opportunities, and improve pathways to treatment for youth (aged 12-24 years) with substance use and mental health problems, and their families. This was done through building sustainable stakeholder collaborations and providing CD-related capacity development opportunities in six communities.
Published By: CAMH
Publication Date: 2014
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