TAIBU Community Health Centre will present a three-part, Africentric continuum for strengthening Black youth mental health and transforming service systems. Anchored in the Black Model of Health & Wellbeing, which centres Prevention, Restoration, and Advancement, this workshop highlights how TAIBU’s programs integrate these goals to move the needle for Black communities. 
Beginning with IMARA, an upstream prevention model rooted in identity, belonging, and cultural grounding, we then explore PLUG, where community mediators provide restorative conflict navigation, wrap-around supports, and connections to services. We then examine the From School to Success Pipeline (FSSP) and related programs (YOW/EYOW, AMANI, KAYA) that work collaboratively with schools, care systems, and families to advance long-term structural change. We will explore how all of these initiatives have grown and evolved alongside the organization in our 18 years of operation, culminating in our recently implemented Toronto Community Crisis Services 24/7 Community-led mental health crisis response.

Learning Objectives

1. Apply the Black Model of Health & Wellbeing’s goals—Prevention, Restoration, Advancement—to program and system design. 

2. Map TAIBU’s continuum of services (IMARA, PLUG, FSSP, YOW/EYOW, AMANI, KAYA, TCCS, Individual Social Work) to understand how layered interventions strengthen youth mental health across sectors. 

3. Identify culturally grounded, community-led practices that address anti-Black racism and build long-term system transformation.