Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 33
Tom Littlewood
View Tom Littlewood Profile
Tom Littlewood
2021-06-11 13:18
Thanks, Barb.
Regarding COVID-19 and its effect on mental health, overdoses, self-harm and psychosis incidents have increased 50% with our youth clients. We serve about 300 clients a year currently, and that is about to double. Hospitalizations, because of this, cost $1,500 to $2,500 a day and up.
Anxiety and depression are widespread. These mental health issues paralyze young people, causing many to retreat and hide in their single-room occupancy, SRO suites, or basement suites.
The opioid crisis has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. We predict that the situation will only get worse, as there are thousands of young people in line to become the next wave of addiction to hit our streets.
Every year about 1,000 youth age out of care in British Columbia, and a further 1,000 hit the streets, running away from dysfunctional homes. Over 60% of these youths aging out of foster care will descend into entrenched addiction to numb their psychological pain.
However, there is a critical period between the ages of 15 and 25, when these young people usually ask for help. If trauma-informed therapy is provided to them for free and without a waiting list, up to 75% of these youth will respond and achieve success in school, work, recovery, housing and job-skills training. They can be diverted from the path towards homelessness, entrenched addiction, overdose and suicide and on towards lives they will enjoy living.
The initial effects of past trauma, which include physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse, poverty and intergenerational trauma experienced by our indigenous clients, are normally expressed, to begin with, as anxiety, depression, eating and sleeping disorders, and self-medicating behaviour.
Our therapeutic intervention of four months of trauma-informed counselling costs approximately $2,500. Once the youth descends into entrenched addiction, it costs the community millions of dollars when police services, first responders, hospitals, corrections system, etc., are factored in. This does not even begin to take into account what the addict has to steal, or the sex acts they have to perform in order to get the money to buy the drugs they need.
Harm prevention, specifically trauma-informed therapy, can divert a youth's path away from addiction and homelessness, which not only saves valuable lives but saves millions of dollars in costs to the community.
Trauma-informed recovery is a new idea, and it's still controversial. Rather than the 12-step abstinence recovery programs, which are not best practices with youth, especially regarding opioid addiction, trauma-informed recovery involves a doctor, a therapist and a client agreeing to a contract whereby the physician prescribes an opioid replacement for the client while the client is undergoing trauma counselling.
When working with a therapist, typically over a period of four months, the client first learns self-regulation techniques. This is followed by the counselling trauma work, to help youth gain insight into their past trauma.
Once the trauma work is complete, the client has no need to self-medicate for the psychological pain, and this is when the physician steps in to provide something like an opioid replacement of Suboxone to help them come down without the drug sickness.
This approach is new and controversial, but it is becoming the best-practice model for young people with opioid addiction. Using prescribed stimulants as a replacement for street drugs like crack or meth is also being explored.
The side effect of the opioid crisis and the overdose crisis is the growing number of permanent brain damage situations caused when someone is brought back using Narcan or Naloxone. Some youth brag about how many times they have recovered using Naloxone; however, as therapists we can see the gradual deterioration of cognitive function after multiple applications of Naloxone over multiple overdoses.
A practical harm prevention idea that you can take from this is a CERB forgiveness program for young people who engage in recovery, education, work or training for a year. The money is gone; it's not going to be recovered. These kids don't have this, but it will create an insurmountable obstacle for these young people and cause thousands to give up and go underground to the street, speeding up the path to addiction and homelessness. I have had a youth end their life by suicide when faced with $1,000 in transit fines, which come due when they are about to get their first driver's licence. Imagine the chaos we're going to find when thousands are asked to repay the thousands of dollars they received from CERB fraudulently.
In summary, our goal is to get ahead of the curve of both COVID-19 and the opioid crisis by employing harm-prevention strategies of trauma-informed therapy, training and recovery.
Thank you.
View Sonia Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Before my time starts, I have a point of clarification. We need to clarify that there's never been a contract between CanSino and the Government of Canada. I believe it was suggested earlier that there was one. This is not correct.
My question is for the witnesses from Dan's Legacy.
As many young people are going back to school, or will be going back in the fall, we know that all levels of government are looking at how to support our return to normal. Where do you think the federal government can be most effective in supporting youth as we reopen, particularly youth in similar circumstances to those your organization supports?
Tom Littlewood
View Tom Littlewood Profile
Tom Littlewood
2021-06-11 13:53
As I mentioned, thousands of young people have gotten CERB fraudulently. There were websites that showed them how to do it and what to say. These kids are not self-regulated, so they responded to this in droves. If we keep that repayment program that's in place now, we're going to see...I think it was 48 million that went to high school students. That doesn't count the kids that are not in school or anything. We really need to look at that as a potential way to solve a problem, rather than creating a barrier.
This is going to affect thousands of young people, and we're not going to get the money back anyway. We could encourage them to engage in things that will help them, like going back to school, working, recovery, etc.
View Sonia Sidhu Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair; and thank you, minister, to you and your team for appearing today.
My question is to Dr. Tam.
Dr. Tam, there's a false belief out there that young adults and children do not need to worry about COVID. Tragically, a 13-year-old girl from Brampton passed away from the virus last week, and many of the individuals filling our hospitals are under the age of 40.
What message would you like to send to Canadians about the threat posed by COVID-19 to young people?
Theresa Tam
View Theresa Tam Profile
Theresa Tam
2021-04-30 14:52
Thank you for the question.
Chair, I want to reiterate that although COVID-19 can affect individuals of any age, serious outcomes are much more common in older age groups.
However, when there are a lot of cases and the third wave is accelerating through the population, we are seeing younger populations being affected. In fact, one of the higher increases we're seeing is actually the 40- to 49-year age group, and then the 60- to 69-year age group, as well as some even younger individuals. That's what's actually impacting the ICU capacity at the moment in a number of the provinces.
The bottom line is that everyone needs to protect themselves by using individual protective measures and also getting the vaccine as soon as they're eligible for it.
View Michelle Rempel Garner Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Chair.
I only have six minutes, so for my questions, witnesses, could you please keep your answers brief?
First, I'll start with Ms. Choo. Thank you so much for the work your organization is doing to combat Asian hate. If you do have recommendations on how the government could implement some of the recommendations you talked about, please table them with committee.
Briefly, Mr. Braithwaite, I know that your organization runs a program called “INNclusion” for 2SLGBTQ+ youth. I'm just wondering if you have any quick observations or would be willing to table to committee any specific recommendations on addressing safety for LGBTQ youth during this time, given that many of them can't shelter at home.
Michael Braithwaite
View Michael Braithwaite Profile
Michael Braithwaite
2021-04-26 11:25
Thank you very much for the question.
I think it's just about providing appropriate and affordable supportive housing. That's what we've done with INNclusion.
INNclusion is a very inexpensive way to do it. The organization is actually renting a home in the community, and we're working with partners who have expertise to wrap the right supports around LGBTQ2S+ youth moving forward.
I think you're absolutely right. Many youth, including 2SLGBTQ youth, are staying at home in unsafe situations. We just need to provide more options moving forward. We have about 25% to 40% of youth who experience homelessness identifying as being from this community. We just need to open up more, and it has to not be part of another housing program because the supports are a little different and specialized.
Clovis Grant
View Clovis Grant Profile
Clovis Grant
2021-04-26 12:03
Thank you.
Through you, Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee this afternoon on behalf of 360°kids.
As one of the leading youth agencies in York region, 360°kids has a 32-year history of providing services to homeless youth, including victims and survivors of human trafficking. We serve approximately 4,000 youth each year, ages 16 to 26, providing them with education, housing and employment and health and well-being supports. Our mission is to transition youth from crisis to stability.
On the impact of COVID-19 on 360°kids, let me first share some comments from the young people themselves. The first comment is, “Being told to stay inside and not leave reminds me of when I was being trafficked and...this causes me a lot of anxiety.” Second comment is “For those of us who have no place to go home to, it’s hard to do the things we are told to do such as staying home, wash your hands. How can you do that when you don’t have access to water. You can’t even take a shower.”
What are the lessons we've learned through the pandemic? There are five things. First of all, great things can happen when we work together. Second, prevention is indeed the best medicine. Third, the marginalized become even more marginalized during a pandemic. Four, youth need very specific solutions. Last, the needs of staff must also be prioritized.
One of the successes of the pandemic that we've seen is organizations coming together. Providers from various sectors in York region, including government funders and private corporations, came together to share resources and their own responses to the pandemic and to collaborate on initiatives. We were able to identify gaps very quickly and respond in real time to address needs for food, technology, housing access, etc. I can really see these built relationships continuing into the future.
Our work at 360°kids on prevention, leading the youth housing stabilization strategy, developed even more significance during the pandemic. This is a group of about 30 cross-sectoral partners and young people working together to better align services and resources to prevent youth homelessness in York region. Why? We know that homeless youth become homeless adults, and the longer you are homeless, the worse your outcome.
We definitely saw how the marginalized became even more marginalized during the pandemic. In our programs, we saw a fivefold increase in the number of youth accessing mental health supports, with past trauma, loss of income and confinement due to lockdowns all contributing to high levels of anxiety.
We need more accessible mental health supports, especially for this population and for those who are Black and racialized. The youth told us that racism was a significant factor in their homelessness. To address these impacts we had to provide various spaces for the young people to share their voices, we expanded partnerships with specific cultural agencies, and at the same time, we reviewed and are updating our own agency equity strategy.
The need for more youth-specific solutions was seen when we closed our drop-ins early in the pandemic. One of my earlier quotes spoke of the challenge some youth who are precariously housed face. We saw that youth living in the rough, these are youth who are living in abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, abandoned spaces in general, many of them went more into hiding due to the closure of many of the spaces they once went to.
To better support the youth, rather than waiting for them to come to us, we went to them. We redeployed staff to do more outreach. We even hired two young people to be outreach workers who were former youth, and we also pushed for a youth-specific isolation facility to make it more accessible for youth to get access to housing.
While we were able to house about 25 youth throughout the pandemic, we know that the need for more affordable housing is so critical. We certainly applaud the government for funding the emergency and short-term needs, but without longer-term housing and wraparound supports to keep people housed, those marginalized young people become even more marginalized.
I close with a reminder about the impact of the pandemic on our staff. Confusing public health messages, concerns about the vaccine, low wages and even the stress of their own family situations, this all took a toll on staff mental health, which worsened with each lockdown. We responded as an agency with additional mental health days off with pay for staff, and with flexibility around their sick time and their child care needs.
The government-funded additional hourly pay, given to frontline workers for a brief period last year, certainly went a long way in recognizing the importance of this sector that is chronically underpaid. We hope to see this kind of support continue.
Unfortunately, for many agencies like ours that are not adequately funded for our programs, it puts pressure on our fundraising. We have seen a significant hit to our fundraising due to event cancellations over the past year.
In summary, it really has been a very difficult year for the young people we serve at 360°kids and the staff who are supporting them on a daily basis. While emergency responses are great, and we saw some great opportunities throughout the pandemic, what is more important are preventative measures and wraparound supports to get people housed and to keep them housed.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you.
View Mike Kelloway Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Hello to my colleagues, and a warm welcome to our witnesses, a Cape Breton—Canso welcome.
My questions are going to be directed to Mr. Grant.
First and foremost, Mr. Grant, I consider you and your organization an expert on youth and youth programming.
For many years in the first part of my career, I worked with a gentleman by the name of Gordie Gosse, and Gordie was a great man. He passed in 2019. He worked in Whitney Pier as the youth programmer in Whitney Pier and later went on to become an NDP cabinet minister in the provincial government. I learned so much from him in terms of the importance of programming and the importance of community engagement.
This year, Mr. Grant, Canadians have made great sacrifices and, in particular, youth and children have given up, as you say, going to school with its going online, spending time with friends and really getting the most out of their adolescence and childhood. Public health measures in every province are implemented by public health officers, and they're important, but we do need more and varied supports, as you mentioned.
In particular, you hit upon something I think is really important, and that's the mental health amongst youth. They are already, I think you would agree, at a higher risk even without a global pandemic being thrown into the mix.
I'm wondering if you could tell me and tell the committee how important it is for children and youth in these times to have access to platforms like Wellness Together Canada, launched by our government, or the Kids Help Phone.
Clovis Grant
View Clovis Grant Profile
Clovis Grant
2021-04-26 12:34
As we know, in being homeless, there's a high level of anxiety and a high degree of stress and addictions that come with that, and this is pre-pandemic, so adding the notion of a pandemic exacerbates an already challenging situation.
The need for the services you mentioned, the Kids Help Phone, etc., is critical during both times, and we've seen just with 310-COPE here in York region and the Canadian Mental Health Association, all of those organizations—
Clovis Grant
View Clovis Grant Profile
Clovis Grant
2021-04-26 12:36
Okay.
As we know, pre-COVID, pre-pandemic, the need for mental health services for a homeless population was high to begin with. We know from research it is one of the challenges, whether it's a cause or an effect of being homeless. The Kids Help Phone services, the Canadian Mental Health Association services, 310-COPE and all those things were important pre-COVID, and then you add a pandemic, with a whole bunch of uncertainty for these young people. They've already experienced uncertainties in their lives and this just further exacerbates that.
One of the things it's important to note is that a lot of money does go into mental health and we've seen governments increase that funding, but we find many of those services are not accessible for a homeless population, for different reasons.
Sometimes with a youth population the definition of “youth” is different. For provincial services, it can be ages 16 to 24. For federal services, it's 14 to 29, and for some health services, it's to 18. Even from just an age demographic, it's hard to access some of those services. Then you have the unavailability of psychiatric care and psychiatrists who are able to diagnose, and follow-up support.
What we find is that homeless young people are even more marginalized in accessing the services and funding that goes into mental health, which is why the need for very specific services for this population is so important.
View Mike Kelloway Profile
Lib. (NS)
It's interesting you highlighted how the challenges are integrated, and so must be the solutions.
I was doing some research on your organization and I see you offer a large suite of programming. I'm just curious. Which of your programs has been the most popular as we navigate through this pandemic, and why do you think it is the case?
Clovis Grant
View Clovis Grant Profile
Clovis Grant
2021-04-26 12:39
I'm not sure “popular” is the right word, but certainly—
View Mike Kelloway Profile
Lib. (NS)
“More utilized” would probably be better.
Clovis Grant
View Clovis Grant Profile
Clovis Grant
2021-04-26 12:39
Yes. For sure, it's our mental health supports. As I mentioned, we saw a fivefold increase in the number of youth accessing mental health services. Pre-COVID, we were serving over 1,200 youth in our drop-in programs, but that number decreased. Therefore, you could maybe show a correlation between the lack of access to services adding to an increase in the need for a number of mental health services.
However, to answer your question, it is the need for mental health services that increased.
Results: 1 - 15 of 33 | Page: 1 of 3

1
2
3
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data