Youth engagement at a CAMH conference

Discussion questions:

? Evaluation
o What did you find interesting about the conference?
o What did you hear that was the most meaningful to you?

? Future planning
o What would you have suggested be done differently?
o How could the conference have been more accommodating for young people or people without a research background?

Overall, we wanted to know if youth found value in the time spent at the conference and how that value could be enhanced in the future. What we heard really came back to the principles of youth engagement, as illustrated in these comments (which have been summarized):
? Create a safe space where youth feel comfortable sharing their questions and opinions.
? Have presenters interact with the youth.
? Include the voices of youth at the conference, especially for the projects in which youth are directly involved. This would be meaningful both to the youth presenting and those in attendance.

The main question that the youth were left with following the debrief was “what next?” They felt that they heard all of this great research, but were left wanting an action item to take away. Youth suggested that future conferences have breakout sessions, where youth could interact with presenters and other attendees to allow for more in-depth, concrete discussion about the practical implications of the research. This would allow youth to have meaningful discussions about their opinions on the research and might also allow conference attendees to collectively develop “next steps” that could be applied in each attendee’s personal or professional life.

Next steps

Samantha is the Coordinator for the Youth Engagement Initiative at the McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Emerging Adult Mental Health. She works with a team of Youth Engagement Facilitators to ensure the youth voice is incorporated into projects and proposals that aim to influence the lives of youth and their peers.