“lives for families is designed to provide brief, focused, emotional and practical support to children, youth, adults and families during large-scale crises,” said kimber.
kimber and her research team collaborated with staff at the lynwood charlton centre, hamilton’s lead agency for mental health services provided to children, youth, and their families.
the centre’s family engagement lead louise murray-leung gathered input from families with experience accessing child and youth mental health services, while a youth social worker at the centre, haruka kanai, engaged a team of young people with lived experience of mental health concerns, who helped identify sources of stress for themselves and their peers and shape the training materials, so they addressed concerns relevant to young people and their families.
“our roles meant we already had a good relationship with our youth and family engagement team members, which made it easier to involve them in the project and to help the researchers access their expertise,” said murray-leung. “the team was highly committed to the project even though they were themselves being stretched by the demands of the pandemic.”
the lives for families program educates people on the possible mental impacts of covid-19 and pandemic restrictions. it affirms that the stress and distress that children, youth, and families are experiencing makes sense and acknowledges that the evidence about impacts and how to address them is evolving. finally, it provides concrete strategies for providing emotional and practical support for those experiencing pandemic-related stress.