A community-based needs and resource assessment on youth mental health: Bay of Islands/Pasadena, Newfoundland

• Main Author: Mills, Joanne A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholars Commons @ Laurier 1995
• Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Health Psychology; Canada; Corner Brook; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/573; https://scholars.wlu.ca/context/etd/article/1572/viewcontent/MM11453.PDF

In this research project, I undertook a community-based needs and resource assessment on youth mental health within a western Newfoundland community to assist a mental health planning team, the Community Mental Health Initiative (CMHI). CMHI is a stakeholder-based committee dedicated to addressing mental health concerns for all citizens in a geographical area in western Newfoundland, encompassing the city of Corner Brook, the communities along the north and south shore of the Bay of Islands, and the community of Pasadena. The mandate of CMHI includes identifying mental health needs and promoting the general well being of all persons of all ages through the integration of services in a partnership of collaboration and cooperation. This needs and resource assessment was conducted with a subcommittee of CMHI called the Youth Mental Health Research Advisory Committee (YMHRAC) made up of youth, parents, youth service providers, an administrator, and myself, the researcher. This advisory committee worked collaboratively along every step of the research process, and all members provided various skills and experiences. The literature on youth mental health reveals a link between various risk factors (i.e., poverty, single parenthood, and physical and sexual abuse), risky youth behaviours (i.e., substance abuse, teenage parenthood, and youth crime), and the mental health status of youth. Protective factors on an individual, family, and community level positively affect the mental health status of youth, and these factors are discussed as well. Using local statistics where available, this report establishes that the area studied has 22% below national average income, with the highest unemployment statistics in Canada for both adults and youth (Statistics Canada, 1991), the fastest growing rate of single parenthood in the country (Statistics Canada, 1992), and high youth involvement in alcohol and other drugs (Alcohol and Drug Dependency Commission, 1991). These facts, combined with limited and overtaxed mental health ...