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Child and Youth Mental Health
Twenty per cent of Canadian children and youth will experience mental illness. Child and youth health professionals play a vital role in promoting their patients’ mental health and providing appropriate and timely care when needed.
Clinical guidance for health professionals
- Mental health screening tools and rating scales: A list of screening tools and rating scales for a number of different mental health symptoms and suspected conditions.
- Promoting optimal mental health outcomes for children and youth (CPS position statement, May 2023)
- Position statements and practice points from the Adolescent Health Committee and the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee
Education for health professionals
- Mental health article collection: Papers curated from Paediatrics & Child Health and the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Advocacy
- Child and youth mental health policy brief (April 2022)
- Isolation, parental stress, and young children: The urgent need to improve social connectedness: Issue brief, June 2021
- COVID-19 and early childhood mental health: Fostering systems change and resilience: Policy brief from Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2021
- The impact of COVID-19 on early childhood mental health: Webinar from the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the CPS, October 2021
Information for parents and caregivers
Caring for Kids parent handouts
- Anxiety and anxiety disorders
- Your child’s mental health
- How to foster your child’s self-esteem
- Attachment: A connection for life
- Helping children and teens cope with stressful public events
- Using SSRIs to treat depression and anxiety in children and youth
- Depression in pregnant women and mothers: How it affects you and your child
Partners
Many of our mental health initiatives include the collaboration of the following organizations. We are grateful for their involvement.
Last updated: Jun 5, 2024