The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is recruiting Ontario youth to participate in a virtual climate action Photovoice research study.

Ontario youth ages 12 to 25 are invited to join the study, which will explore how climate change impacts young people, what sparks hope, and ways to promote collective action.

Youth will be invited…

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The Government of Canada’s Youth Justice Fund is currently accepting new proposals for both multi-year and short-term pilot projects starting between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027.

Youth-serving organizations are invited to apply for funding for projects that promote community safety by addressing the root causes of youth…

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FREE TRAIN-THE-TRAINER WORKSHOP ON OCTOBER 14TH!

Each of YouthREX’s 16 Call-In-Cards for Anti-Black Racism Action presents a real-world scenario and four reflective prompts, designed to encourage self-reflection, collective learning, and meaningful action. Each card explores issues such as power, identity, language, belonging, and…

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FREE YOUTHREX WEBINAR ON SEPTEMBER 25TH! 🙌

Join Dr. Svetlana Jovič from the State University of New York at Old Westbury as she shares insights from her research on socio-cognitive development among youth growing up in contexts of inequity. Svetlana explores how young people ‘story’ their experiences and how shifting perspectives in…

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I love these reflections, Maria, and I love revisiting this incredible piece ❤

And, yes, vulnerability is absolutely a strength!

The YouthREX team is hosting regular online workshops to share The Kit for Centering Black Youth Wellbeing and support use of The Call-In-Cards for Anti-Black Racism Action! The first will be held on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 10AM EST.

The Call-In-Cards, the action component of The Kit, centre critical self-reflexivity as the source and impetus…

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Some of you may have already visited The Kit for Centering Black Youth Wellbeing and explored The Call-In-Cards for Anti-Black Racism Action. For those who haven’t, this resource is the action component of The Kit — four decks of cards across four themes, featuring 16 scenarios with four prompts to guide critical self-reflexivity in support of…

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Thank YOU, Cyril — me too!

In This Is Youth Work: Voices from the Frontlines of Ontario’s Youth Sector, the YouthREX team showcased findings from seven focus groups with 58 frontline youth workers in five cities across Ontario.

Youth workers described having a professional identity tied to their personal identity because they identify with the young people they work with.…

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When I think back on my time with YouthREX, the Knowledge to Action (KtA) Exchange in 2018 really stands out, I think because it feels like such a great example of how the sector can come together to create spaces for care, connection, critical conversation, and collaboration.

I had only been with YouthREX for just over a year, so this event…

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Springboard Services is offering free training to build critical literacy about youth cannabis use!

Weed Out the Risk (WOTR) is an evidence-based program designed for youth that explores the risks of driving impaired or under the influence of cannabis. Grounded in harm reduction, WOTR includes a variety of interactive components to…

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The Government of Canada is engaging with youth to develop the second State of Youth report, an effort to understand “the challenges youth face, from finding jobs to accessing mental health support, and outline steps to create better opportunities for the future. The report is based on Canada’s Youth Policy, which reflects the values of young…

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January is National Mentoring Month in Canada!

ICYMI, MENTOR created an online toolkit — Connecting Critical Mentoring & The Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring — to support mentoring organizations and programs with the resources, scholarship, and practices they need to meaningfully work alongside youth experiencing marginalization.

How…

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A timely webinar hosted by Maytree and featuring Sharif Mahdy from Students Commission of Canada: Five Good Ideas on Working with Youth to Bridge the Democratic Deficit.

Join the conversation on Monday, January 27th from 1PM to 2PM ET.

Sharif will explore 30+ years of best practices in engaging youth to act on the issues of our time, sharing…

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The Coaches Association of Ontario recently released the 2024 Ontario Coaching Report, which reveals insights into coaching culture, values, and behaviours from a survey of 1,000 coaches in more than 70 sports. You can check out the report on YouthREX’s Knowledge Hub.

The statistics that made the news when the report was released were around…

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Don’t miss this e-learning opportunity from Community-Based Research Canada!

Amplifying Youth Voice in Research for Social Change: The Youth Wellness Lab
Thursday, September 12, 2024 | 12PM to 1PM ET

The Youth Wellness Lab is a hub for academic researchers, community-based partners, and young people, aged 29 and under, to collaborate on research…

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There are over 300 contributions to this discussion thread! This space has provided us with an opportunity to share with and learn from one another since the Centering Black Youth Wellbeing certificate was first launched.

We reviewed ALL of your suggestions and created a NEW Factsheet: 20 ‘Simple Things’ to Centre Black Youth Wellbeing,…

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Hi everyone! Our team has created a variety of NEW resources to support connecting your anti-Black racism learning to action 📣

You’ll find these across each of the four themes of The Call-In-Cards 🔍

I wanted to highlight a few here, and I’d love to learn how some of these strategies and practices can be applied in your work with Black…

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Community Music Schools of Toronto (CMST) is hosting The Great Pause on Saturday, January 20, 2024, from 2:30PM to 3:30PM ET at Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West, Toronto).

This FREE event is a musical archive of how the pandemic impacted the CMST communities in Regent Park and Jane Finch, and the ways that they made meaning of…

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As we reflect on five years of cannabis legalization (!), I wrote an article for REX Blog that summarizes key takeaways from the two-part community dialogue we co-hosted with community partners on 4/20 (April 20).

Through engaging presentations from youth sector initiatives and interactive breakout group discussions, we created space…

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The Pathways for Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Justice project (funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada) strives to create a Canada where men and boys are actively engaged in the promotion of gender equality and violence prevention. They are bringing together practitioners and emerging leaders through an online community for the sharing… Read more

The Pathways for Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Justice project (funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada) strives to create a Canada where men and boys are actively engaged in the promotion of gender equality and violence prevention. They are bringing together practitioners and emerging leaders through an online community for the sharing…

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We shared our March 2023 newsletter today, highlighting upcoming learning opportunities and resources to support your work with youth and families impacted by the criminal justice system. Check it out and be sure to share resources that you find particularly useful in your work!

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Building equity considerations into all aspects of program design, development, and evaluation is critical to improving our programming and our work with youth!

Our team recently developed and shared a resource on Best Practices for Planning & Facilitating Anti-Oppressive Focus Groups, summarizing each step of the planning and facilitation…

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ICYMI, I wanted to share a few resources that we’ve recently added to the Knowledge Hub; these resources explore barriers and facilitators to mental health for Black youth, as well as pathways to inclusion and support:

1) Factors that Impact How Black Youth Access the Mental Healthcare System in Ontario

This 2022 Pathways to Care report builds …

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Our team just developed a resource specific to youth transitioning from pediatric mental health care to adult services and supports: Four Considerations to Support Youth Transitioning to Adult Mental Health Care

We hope this Factsheet will be useful to anyone supporting transitional-aged youth! ❤

Hi everyone! Children First Canada is hosting a free two-day virtual summit for youth (from ages 12-18 across Canada), Youth Take Charge: Advocacy Incubator, on April 19th and 26th, from 11AM to 3PM ET. 💻📣✊

As adult allies of young people, we are on the frontlines and know the challenges young people in Canada face. One of the ways to…

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Check out Harnessing the Digital Community to Center Black Youth Wellbeing, DIVERT Mental Health‘s inaugural education session in honour of Black History/Futures Month, on Monday, February 13th, online, from 12PM to 1PM ET.

Panelists Dr. Uzo Anucha (Academic Director for YouthREX), Dr. Carol Wade (Academic Member, YouthREX), and Kamau…

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Plan International Canada is hosting a Solutions Lab, a free program that supports young people to be active drivers of change, similar to a ‘hackathon’ or a ‘design jam’. 📢

The event is open to all youth in Canada between the ages of 14 to 24. This year, it will be in a hybrid format (online and in-person) and will take place on Saturday,…

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Canadian Friends Service Committee is looking for youth with experience growing up with incarcerated parents to join their Youth Advisory Group.

Youth participants will meet other young people with similar lived experiences, and work with others to improve conditions for children and youth with incarcerated parents in Canada.

Youth knowledge…

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Yes, I agree Tracey-Ann! Thank you for sharing. 🙂

We strive to connect youth workers and young people to a variety of resources and supports. If you know of any that we can share here, or on our Community Board, or even through our Knowledge Hub, please let us know so that we can further these opportunities for networking and support. ❤

Thank you so much for sharing. Youth workers often become resource navigators for young people and their families, and I agree that educators, counsellors, and others within school settings can be supported to connect students to the resources they need to thrive (in and outside of the classroom).

Check out this opportunity to learn about how the Family Navigation Project in Toronto was able to effectively and meaningfully engage youth with mental health and/or addiction (MHA) concerns in a health navigation and research project!

Register to join this free webinar on building integrated knowledge translation into research on Friday,…

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TONIGHT in Toronto: commemorate World AIDS Day at An Evening of Storytelling, hosted by Casey House and Women’s Health in Women’s Hands at the Toronto Reference Library. FREE tickets are still available, so be sure to get yours now!

Storytellers include HIV Advocate Muluba Habanyama and Community Health Leader (and former YouthREX team member!)…

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December 1st is World AIDS Day.

Last month, YouthREX’s Princess Asiedu examined the effects of stigma on the mental health of youth living with and affected by HIV. She also explored themes shared by activist Mercy Shibemba during her keynote at our youth work teach-in on Black youth mental health; Mercy is an award-winning youth activist from…

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We’re so excited to host Dr. Byron McClure and Dr. Kelsie Reed for our upcoming teach-in, Hacking Deficit Thinking! Join us on November 30th from 12PM to 2PM ET.

Dr. McClure and Dr. Reed are US-based school psychologists and authors of …

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Are you familiar with SKETCH? They are a community arts enterprise engaging diverse young people, ages 16-29, from across Canada, who live homeless or on the margins and who navigate poverty.

SKETCH is hosting an Artist Night Market in Toronto on November 18th and 19th at Withrow Common (200 Princes’ Boulevard), from 4PM to 10PM.

This two-day…

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Using evaluation to ‘improve’ youth programs (rather than just ‘prove’ that they work!) is core to YouthREX’s Framework for Evaluating Youth Wellbeing.

If you haven’t already, you can take our FREE 10-week online certificate course exploring the main concepts, approaches, and practices relevant to conducting evaluation of youth sector programs…

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YouthREX is excited and honoured to co-sponsor and be a part of the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association C3 (Clean, Confident, Cool): Empowering Indigenous Youth Conference!

This conference will educate and empower Indigenous youth about the effects of cannabis and vaping, and provide workshops on confidence building, mental…

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Last Monday marked the fourth anniversary of cannabis legalization in Canada. The federal government has announced a legislative review of the Cannabis Act, to be led by an Expert Panel chaired by Morris Rosenberg. The review will “focus particularly on the health and cannabis consumption habits of young persons, the impact of cannabis…

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On November 2, 2022, the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health is hosting a virtual conference: Building New Worlds.

This conference is designed for stakeholders in post-secondary mental health across Ontario and Canada, and will feature best, promising, and emerging practices in the sector through an online platform, including…

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Don’t miss our upcoming two-part webinar series, Arts-Based Approaches to Advancing Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing. We’re partnering with Broadview Psychology to explore improving mental health literacy and delivering engaging and supportive arts-based programming to advance youth wellbeing.

Part 1 (on Monday, November 7th, from 1PM to 2:30PM…

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Check out the recording of the opening keynote by Mercy Shibemba and the closing workshop led by our YouthREX colleagues!

We wanted to share details about an upcoming online event — Innovations in Harm Reduction for Youth Cannabis Use — being hosted by Daniel Bear (Humber College), Rebecca Haines-Saah (University of Calgary), and Emily Jenkins (University of British Columbia).

This event will take place on Monday, October 17th from 9AM to 11AM PST (12PM to…

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We’re very excited to announce our next online Youth Work Teach-In — Beyond Invisible: Exploring Pedagogy, Perspectives & Practices for Black Youth Mental Health.

In collaboration with Donna Richards and the York Research Chair in Youth and Contexts of Inequity, YouthREX is excited to co-host this free event for the Ontario youth sector on…

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We’re so excited to share that registration opened today for our next online Youth Work Teach-In — Beyond Invisible: Exploring Pedagogy, Perspectives & Practices for Black Youth Mental Health.

In collaboration with Donna Richards and the York Research Chair in Youth and Contexts of Inequity, YouthREX is excited to co-host this free event for…

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Did you know that YouthREX offers *two* FREE online certificates that can build your cannabis literacy? 💻📚

Cannabis and Youth: A Certificate for Youth Workers is self-guided with open enrollment, which means that you can register and begin learning any time! This certificate provides evidence-based information on the health, social, and legal…

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In May, @KhadijahKanji and I co-hosted a workshop for Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario’s Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference. This session unpacked Asking About Gender: A Toolkit for Youth Workers and created space to explore strategies for inclusion and innovation for youth arts programs.

We had a…

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Watch two of our most recent webinars to expand how you approach engaging with youth and advancing wellbeing. 🤝💻

ICYMI, we co-presented an engaging, youth-led conversation on advancing the possibilities of youth-led organizing this summer with Leading in Colour, exploring why and how young people get involved in organizing, the issues driving…

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