Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) is a system change initiative working with local service providers to deliver Integrated Youth Services (IYS) including mental health, substance use health, primary care, social services and recreation. A core component to the YWHO model is meaningful youth and family engagement. In 2023, the YWHO Provincial Office undertook a strategic planning process to guide the system building priorities over the next three years. 

In this workshop, youth leaders and YWHO Provincial Office team members will lead activities describing steps taken in YWHO’s Provincial strategic planning process and youth co-leadership including:

• Process to meaningfully co-develop the strategic plan with youth 
• Supports provided to youth to meaningfully participate 
• Process to identify and develop the skills that youth wanted to build through the process
• Challenges, lessons learned and approaches to addressing barriers
• Positive impact of youth co-leadership versus advisory/engagement

Learning Objectives

1. Increase knowledge of approaches to effectively partnering with youth in strategic planning for system improvement.
2. Increase understanding of common barriers to meaningful co-leadership with youth and strategies to overcome them.
3. Identify opportunities to more meaningfully engage youth in local system building and strategic leadership.