Manitoba youth sound off on need for mental health supports in new report

More mental health help needed for youth A new report says Manitoba children and teenagers are asking for more mental health and addictions support. CTV's Stephanie Tsicos reports.

Winnipeg — Young people in Manitoba are calling for more mental health supports.

It's one of several requests as part of a new report from the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth (MACY), which aims to shed light on some of the biggest issues young people face today.

The special report titled 'The Right to Be Heard' is based on MACY's Listening Tour.

Initially, the advocate's office travelled to different communities between January and March 2020. In this time, more than one-thousand youths were part of this outreach. The pandemic put a halt to the travel plans, and instead, an online survey was launched in the spring of 2020.

"You asked me to pick five things I'm concerned about in this community but so many of the options I was given are so closely linked, and most of them relate to mental health," said one youth in the report. "Drug abuse is a mental health issue. Bullying is a mental health issue. Violence is a mental health issue."

Acting Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth Ainsley Krone said the youth, primarily between the ages of 14 and 20, spoke about a number of issues.

"They talked to us about being online, and what it's like to grow up online in a big way, especially during a time when so much of us are doing so many things remotely," Krone said.

The reports shows the top five concerns among youth are substance use, mental health and well-being, poverty, violence, and racism and discrimination.

"Some of these issues are issues that we see regularly in our work, in our direct advocacy for young people here at the office, in our investigative work, in our research, our youth engagement," said Krone.

The survey results, which include direct feedback from nearly 300 young people, were presented to youth in May of this year for feedback and ideas.

"It's important for youth to know that they can talk to adults, and there's adults out there that are willing to actually listen, and willing to make a change, and help youth make a change on their own," said Sophia Stang, a member of the Youth Ambassador Advisory Squad.

When asked what solutions they would like to see, the youth listed mental health and addictions-related services and programs at the top of the list, followed by community-based recreation activities, cultural activities, sexual health programs, and schools and learning centres.

Mental Health, Wellness and Recovery Minister Audrey Gordon said in a statement to CTV News that her government is working to further improve mental health and addictions supports for youth in Manitoba.

"As a result, the department of Mental Health, Wellness and Recovery will be creating an action plan to help enhance mental health, wellness, and addictions services in Manitoba,” said Gordon, who is also currently Manitoba’s Health Minister.

Krone said while there are a number of great mental health services in Manitoba, there are still several gaps in the system.

"The problem is that we don't have enough of those excellent service providers because the need is so significant, which is why we're seeing the issue of wait lists as such a significant one here in Manitoba," Krone said.

Krone and her office are now hoping to meet with leaders in communities across the province to hear from them about the issues youth are facing in their areas.

The MACY survey is still available online for youth interested in sharing their feedback.