OPHA, Health Canada and provincial partners are working to increase youth engagement opportunities across the province, in order to minimize participation in risky behaviours, such as illicit drug use.

Youth Engagement Project

Funded by Health Canada, the OPHA Youth Engagement Project commenced in February 2009 and will run until September 2011. The goal of this project is to increase the application of knowledge and skills around youth engagement among public health professionals working with grades 6, 7 and 8. A second goal is to increase youth engagement activities in communities which enhance protective and resiliency factors against illicit drug use and risk taking behaviours among this same age group.

 

The objectives of the project are:

  1. To assess the needs of public health staff working on school health teams within 36 health units and provide them with needed resources, coaching, tools and support.
  2. To increase youth engagement and increase protective factors to reduce drug use among approximately 500 students in Grade 6, 7 & 8 using the health promoting schools framework
  3. To work closely with local health units to increase the factors that foster resilience and protective factors against illicit drug use and risk taking behaviours within 6 pilot test sites, followed by a provincial roll-out in 2011.

The project is advised by a Partner Group consisting of representatives from:

What’s New?

As we are approaching the completion of the project, there is much work to report on as well as some exciting events taking place. Please find below a summary of the projects most recent accomplishments and upcoming events:

  • Continued coaching and consultation services to public health staff The development of a sustainability plan and lessons learned evaluation document
  • 4 regional in-person Youth Engagement workshops are planned for September 2011. These will be held in Toronto, York Region, New Liskeard and Hamilton.
  • OPHA is holding 2 identical webinars for public health professionals, NGOs, and community partners throughout the province in September 2011. To register, visit: Making Youth Engagement Work in Public Health Webinar
  • A Youth Engagement toolkit and Project Lead’s Guide in both French and English as well as other OPHA Youth Engagemant resources are available for download.
  • A publicly accessible current Youth Engagement website is now in English and French. Please visit www.youthengagement.ca for details.

For more information on this project, please contact Administrative Coordinator Evanna Li at eli@opha.on.ca or visit the projects webpage at www.youthengagement.ca.