大象传媒

by BC Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute

The following is an excerpt from the  on the BC Children's Hospital web site.

Dr. Hasina Samji is the lead author of the Improving Youth Mental Health and Well-being During the COVID-19 Recovery Phase in BC report and co-principal investigator of the Improving Child and Youth Well-Being project with Dr. Evelyn Stewart, an investigator and director of research for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at BC Children鈥檚 Hospital. She says mental health education and proactive approaches to preventing mental illness need to be better coordinated in B.C.

鈥淲e know that we have not been able to move the needle on youth mental health over the last decade, even pre-pandemic,鈥� says Samji, an affiliate investigator with BC Children鈥檚 Hospital, a senior scientist in Population Mental Well-being at the BC Centre for Disease Control and assistant professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at 大象传媒.

鈥淵outh and their parents repeatedly told us about challenges in accessing mental health support when they needed it,鈥� says Dr. Stewart. It鈥檚 unfortunate that those who were vulnerable beforehand were particularly affected during the pandemic.鈥�

Dr. Samji says specific approaches are needed to effectively meet the needs of particular populations.

鈥淲e really need to think about targeted and tailored strategies to support those groups,鈥� says Samji.

Silver linings and optimism

鈥淥ne of the silver linings of the pandemic has been renewed energy and focus on young people鈥檚 mental health,鈥� says Samji.

鈥淩esearch shows positive long-term impacts of mental health literacy across lifetimes. Such programs lead to substantial savings for our health system. It鈥檚 important that we recognize that young people become adults who then use our health-care, education, social welfare and justice systems, and if we can prevent the onset of mental illness and contribute to better health and well-being 鈥� why not?鈥�

 at the BCCR鈥檚 website