Did you know that as many as 2 million Canadian youth suffer from mental health illnesses and that only 1 in 5 will receive the help they need?  Many of these youth and their families struggle with finding and determining the right treatment options that best suit their needs.  Thankfully there is hope! The Sunnybrook Family Navigation Project is the missing link in the system!  The navigators, who are clinically trained health professionals, partner with these patients and their families to provide expert navigation through the health care system by:

exploring the options of treatment service offerings to provide you with information about service matches that are appropriate and as efficient as possible, for your family to evaluate and decide upon, to create an individualized path to care together. In some cases, the navigator may even be able to identify particular therapists that may be a good match for you and your family.

The navigator will work with and support your whole family — this can include parents, other caregivers, the youth him or herself, and his or her siblings.

The navigator will help connect you to the services agreed upon and will actively partner with you, establish solid and supportive relationships with you, and stay involved to track your progress, run interference if needed, and help you make course corrections if necessary once you have connected with services or resources.

We will advocate for your needs at all levels of the healthcare and social services system, when required.

You will be encouraged to connect with other families to build a sustaining peer network through which you can share what you have learned and offer support to one another.

By working with you as partners and providing you with support and customized recommendations, we will give you the tools to actively chart your own course on the journey to wellness. (ref)

There is a way that you and I can make a difference! These programs receive limited funding and rely heavily on donations to reach as many youth as possible.  I will be contributing this year by running and raising funds as well as being part of the Ambassador team! If you’d like to read why I Run for The Kids you can read all about my motivation here.

• You can help first and foremost by contributing to my fund-raising by donating here
• Register to run with me! They have 5K, 7K & 15K options!
• Raise awareness about Youth Mental Health Illnesses & the Sunnybrook Family Navigation Project by sharing content from the RBC Run for the Kids Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages

Thanks again for stopping by to read this!  I am really looking forward to running this race again as well as bringing more awareness to youth Mental Illnesses and raising money that helps these kids get back on track to recovery.

#KeepSmilin 🙂

Check out my posts from last years run!

https://paramedicmike.ca/2014/09/28/my-very-first-race-recap-rbcrun4thekids/

https://paramedicmike.ca/2014/08/02/introducing-the-rbcrun4thekids-ambassadors/

https://paramedicmike.ca/2014/05/07/so-why-did-i-choose-to-run-rbcrun4thekids-15k/