June 6, 2024
On Monday, the Honourable Ya’ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced an investment of $59 million in the Integrated Youth Services Network of Networks (IYS-Net) initiative to strengthen and expand this innovative model of care across Canada. We are pleased to share that Dr Srividya Iyer is among the researchers leading IYS-Net funded projects.
Younger Canadians are facing unique challenges right now, grappling with the effects of war and conflict, climate change, and a rising cost of living. Their mental health needs are complex, and our response needs to mirror that reality. We have an opportunity to listen to our youth and work with them to create better mental health resources and wellness supports right in their communities.
Led by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and partners, including the Graham Boeckh Foundation, IYS-Net is an initiative to link all provincial, territorial, and Indigenous IYS networks. This investment will help these networks take their work to the next level, enabling them to do more research; collect, process and share data; and coordinate their work. The goal is to create a pan-Canadian “learning health system” where research evidence, data, and the lived experiences of youth are used to inform processes, policies and best practices to improve service delivery across Canada.
Improving engagement, experience and access to mental health and related services for youth, no matter where they live, is at the core of Integrated Youth Services. By investing in IYS-Net we are investing in youth and supporting enhanced collaboration across provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities. Together with our philanthropic partners we look forward to continuing to support IYS initiatives across the country, helping young people achieve their best possible outcomes.
– Ian Boeckh, President Graham Boeckh Foundation
This funding includes:
- $9 million over five years for six IYS provincial networks in Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, and the national Indigenous network.
- $21 million in upcoming funding to expand IYS-Net to all provinces and territories, and more than $10 million to enable the Indigenous IYS network to develop into a true pan-Canadian, distinctions-based, integrated network representing the needs of Indigenous Peoples across Canada.
- $18 million for the IYS Data Platform to allow researchers, decision makers and other key knowledge users and service providers to have more timely, accurate, comprehensive, and diverse data sets on youth mental health and substance use.
This is an investment into the organizations and initiatives that meet Indigenous Peoples where they are, that are culturally relevant. It will help provide Indigenous youth a fair chance to succeed in life. It also brings us closer to a world where everyone can reach their full potential and fully participate in society.
– The Honourable Patty Hajdu,Minister of Indigenous Services Canada
We are delighted to share that Srividya Iyer was awarded two important grants through this initiative.
1 – A CIHR-funded project entitled : A learning health system to monitor, guide and advance quality of care, research and policy within Aire Ouverte, Quebec’s integrated youth services initiative (1.45M over 5 years, 2024-2029). This project, co-led by Martin Goyette, PhD (École nationale d’administration publique) and including a multidisciplinary team of youth, family members, clinicians, managers, policy-makers and researchers, aims to co-create, implement and evaluate a learning health system for Quebec’s integrated youth service, Aire ouverte.
2 – A CIHR-funded project entitled : Strengthening capacity to support Indigenous youth and communities by sharing and learning from wise practices, data, and stories (1.45M over 5 years, 2024-2029), co-led by Christopher Mushquash, PhD (Lakehead University). Working in close partnerships with youth, Elders, family members, and communities, this project aim to increase the adoption of wise practices, generate real-time data owned by Indigenous communities and organizations, and provide culturally affirming and responsive services for Indigenous youth across Canada.