About the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective
What is the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective?
The ROYMH Collective is a team of 13 partners invested in the mental wellbeing of rural Ottawa youth. Established in 2018, the Collective came together because we noticed that youth in rural Ottawa were not feeling supported with their mental health. The Collective set out to establish how many rural Ottawa youth were feeling supported and what types of programs and services could be offered to help them feel more supported with their mental health.
Our Intended Impact statement is: By 2024, 80% of rural Ottawa youth (ages 12-24) will feel they are getting the mental health support they need or know where to go for help if and when they need to access support.
Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective Members
1. Osgoode Youth Association (O-YA); backbone organization
2. Youth of Manotick Association (YOMA)
3. Youth Net; CHEO
4. Ottawa Child & Youth Initiative (OCYI)
5. Ottawa Police Service
6. City of Ottawa; Rural Affairs
7. Youth Mental Health Counselor
8. Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre (WOCRC)
9. Nepean, Rideau, Osgoode Community Resource Centre (NROCRC)
10. South Nepean Satellite Community Health Centre
11. Orleans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre
12. Parents Lifeline of Eastern Ontario (PLEO)
13. Youth with Lived Experience
The Collective was featured on a Podcast!
If you would like to learn more about the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective, have a listen to a podcast we were featured on! O-YA's Executive Director, Nicole McKerracher and Youth Worker / ROYMHC Evaluation Coordinator, Emily Dozois were interviewed for the Impact Conversations Podcast about their work on the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective
You can listen to it here: https://bit.ly/2RcQldz
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../uncovering.../id1439372531...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hU9H0m57y8hEyQo2h6yPH...
Description:
This podcast shares the findings and experience of following a Collective Impact process for the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective, led by Nicole McKerracher, Executive Director of O-YA, a youth association in a rural Ottawa village. We’re joined by Emily Dozois, a youth with personal experience trying to access mental health services in rural Ottawa, and Evaluations Coordinator for the Collective. In particular, we hear the actionable findings from their survey of over 300 rural Ottawa youth, along with challenges and tips for creating and administering a survey through social media. Overall, they share their reflections on what has made this Collective successful and some of the ups and downs you might expect from Collective work. We also hear their enthusiasm and dedication for addressing this important and often overlooked issue. Have a listen!
The ROYMH Collective is a team of 13 partners invested in the mental wellbeing of rural Ottawa youth. Established in 2018, the Collective came together because we noticed that youth in rural Ottawa were not feeling supported with their mental health. The Collective set out to establish how many rural Ottawa youth were feeling supported and what types of programs and services could be offered to help them feel more supported with their mental health.
Our Intended Impact statement is: By 2024, 80% of rural Ottawa youth (ages 12-24) will feel they are getting the mental health support they need or know where to go for help if and when they need to access support.
Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective Members
1. Osgoode Youth Association (O-YA); backbone organization
2. Youth of Manotick Association (YOMA)
3. Youth Net; CHEO
4. Ottawa Child & Youth Initiative (OCYI)
5. Ottawa Police Service
6. City of Ottawa; Rural Affairs
7. Youth Mental Health Counselor
8. Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre (WOCRC)
9. Nepean, Rideau, Osgoode Community Resource Centre (NROCRC)
10. South Nepean Satellite Community Health Centre
11. Orleans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre
12. Parents Lifeline of Eastern Ontario (PLEO)
13. Youth with Lived Experience
The Collective was featured on a Podcast!
If you would like to learn more about the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective, have a listen to a podcast we were featured on! O-YA's Executive Director, Nicole McKerracher and Youth Worker / ROYMHC Evaluation Coordinator, Emily Dozois were interviewed for the Impact Conversations Podcast about their work on the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective
You can listen to it here: https://bit.ly/2RcQldz
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../uncovering.../id1439372531...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hU9H0m57y8hEyQo2h6yPH...
Description:
This podcast shares the findings and experience of following a Collective Impact process for the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective, led by Nicole McKerracher, Executive Director of O-YA, a youth association in a rural Ottawa village. We’re joined by Emily Dozois, a youth with personal experience trying to access mental health services in rural Ottawa, and Evaluations Coordinator for the Collective. In particular, we hear the actionable findings from their survey of over 300 rural Ottawa youth, along with challenges and tips for creating and administering a survey through social media. Overall, they share their reflections on what has made this Collective successful and some of the ups and downs you might expect from Collective work. We also hear their enthusiasm and dedication for addressing this important and often overlooked issue. Have a listen!
History of Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective
2018
2019
2020
2021
2018
- Conversation Grant funding received from Innoweave Youth CI to support youth-focused, youth-led and youth-serving groups across Ontario get conversations started that can help identify a common issue that needs to be addressed and / or identify who needs to be involved in collective effort to improve the conditions of young people in our community (February 2018).
- Confirmed that youth mental health is the most pertinent issue surrounding young people in rural Ottawa.
- Established the ROYMHC to address the issue of rural youth mental health.
- Formed a Youth Advisory Committee of youth with lived experience of accessing mental health supports in rural Ottawa.
- Exploration Grant and Development Coaching funding received from Innoweave Youth CI to clearly define a specific intended impact statement, engage the community in further research and mapping of issue area (Community Needs Assessment / Stakeholder Engagement / Literature Review), develop a draft Theory of Change and engage youth with lived experience (November 2018).
2019
- Conduct a comprehensive Community Needs Assessment to gauge the state of youth mental health in rural Ottawa (survey, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, literature review, stakeholder engagement)
- Create Community Needs Assessment Report.
2020
- Planning Coaching Support funding received from Innoweave Youth CI to engage the community in further research and mapping of issue area, engage young people in meaningful ways, finalize Theory of Change and Intended Impact Statement, select and test areas of Theory of Change to be pressure tested, finalize plan for measurement across the Theory of Change for the collaborative, finalize governance elements of the collaborative, develop a launch plan and demonstrate shared ownership and maintain accountability of group members in managing, tracking and resourcing the collective impact initiative (March 2020).
2021
- Hire an Evaluation Coordinator (Emily Dozois) with funding from Innoweave Youth CI to provide strategic evaluation support to Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective in support of Rural Ottawa Mental Health CI’s developmental evaluation (February 2021).
- Conduct a survey of rural Ottawa youth to establish a baseline for how many rural Ottawa youth are currently feeling supported with their mental health, gauge how COVID-19 has affected their mental health and learn what programs, activities and services would help them feel more supported with their mental health (February 2021).
- Present results of rural Ottawa Youth MH Survey to stakeholders (March / April 2021).
- Finalize Theory of Change and Intended Impact Statement (March 2021)
- Establish Governance Structure
- Create Terms of Reference
- Launch Grant funding approved for July – December 2021
