MHP-IF Projects

Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund

The Public Health Agency of Canada’s MHP-IF seeks to learn about promising approaches for advancing mental health promotion among young Canadians, with an emphasis on increasing health equity. The MHP-IF is a 10-year investment that started in 2019. The first phase focused on the design, development, delivery and initial testing of project interventions, partnership development, and creating conditions for long-term success, such as broader implementation and scale up, as appropriate. The second phase supports full implementation, adaptation, assessment, scaling and evaluation of the interventions across multiple populations, communities and settings, including the development of vested partnerships and networks.

View MHP-IF Project Infographics

 

Twenty projects were funded in Phase 1, with fifteen continuing to Phase 2. These projects are diverse. They:

  • happen in over 120 sites across 12 provinces and territories
  • engage Indigenous, newcomer, refugee, immigrant, transgender and other groups
  • span infants, early years, school-aged children and youth, and youth in transition years
  • work with and for parents, other caregivers, families, service providers, children and youth, educators
  • address many determinants of mental health, including social support networks and environments, cultural identity, healthy child development, gender identities, social-emotional learning, healthy relationships, coping skills, pro-social behaviours
  • use different approaches, such as trauma-informed, strengths-based, arts-based, land-based, culturally safe, participatory, Indigenous perspectives
  • are led by a mix of universities, community organizations and national organizations and networks

STRONG

STRONG is a small group intervention developed to promote resilience and reduce psychological distress among newcomer students, aiming to promote individual strengths, build skills to make positive choices, and provide a sense of self and belonging.

The Cedar Path

This is a youth-focused, youth-led community initiative in the Pas, Manitoba. Youth engage in pro-social activities, provide positive mentorship, develop healthy attachments to their communities, and learn to establish and make progress toward self-identified and personal goals.

Agenda Gap

This youth engagement and capacity building intervention is comprised of a series of Collaborative Policymaking Workshops and emerging activities designed to promote skills-building and collective action for youth mental health.

Nurturing the future

This project examines the effect of promising strategies and joint effort between early years professionals, community stakeholders, and the parents of children aged 2 to 12, that aims to promote the healthy development of children through free and adventurous play.

Mind Your Food

The Mind Your Food project is co-developing, implementing, testing, and evaluating a community-based program that builds protective factors for mental health in youth (aged 13-19) experiencing food insecurity—including Indigenous, newcomer, and low-income communities.