Over the past few decades, our understanding of child and youth mental wellbeing has evolved significantly. We increasingly recognize that mental health is shaped not only by individual experiences or access to services, but by the conditions that young people grow up in. What’s more, we are seeing a collective desire to move upstream – beyond crisis response – preventing issues before they occur. Communities across Canada are learning, collaborating, and leading the way forward.
That is why we’re convening Changing Landscapes 2026 around a question that is both simple and challenging: What does it take to do upstream well?
This event is an opportunity to take part in a national movement on upstream action for child and youth mental wellbeing and substance use prevention. Together, we’ll consider priority action areas, learn about effective strategies for organizing change, and hear about promising approaches from those working to create healthier environments where young people can thrive.
More than 260 participated in Changing Landscapes, where we explored promising research, practices, and approaches to mental health promotion in diverse communities and settings. This annual symposium provided an opportunity to connect with professionals across sectors and share insights on interventions to foster safe, supportive environments for children and youth to thrive. We discussed the importance of intersectoral and collaborative partnerships and the challenges of sustaining initiatives amidst changes in societal, political, economic, and environmental landscapes. Together, we considered how…
Download Event Report The 2024 annual symposium aimed to: Strengthen connections across MHP-IF projects, the MHP-IF Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) team, and the KDE Hub Provide a forum for project teams to exchange knowledge and experiences Celebrate successes of the MHP-IF on a project and program level Explore opportunities and strategies that support project sustainability, scale-up, and contribution to systems change for child and youth mental health The event saw participation from 31 MHP-IF project members, 10 MHP-IF PHAC team…
