Youth Support

Individual Support to Youth

Each youth connects with one of the community support staff at Laing House. As trust develops with other youth and with staff, they set their own goals for wellness and recovery, and work with others to choose the right resources. An open door approach means that youth can get support when they need it. Youth find their own skills growing that allow them to deal with life issues, and to speak out on important issues that affect them.

Housing

Overcoming barriers to safe and affordable housing needs strategy. Youth learn to identify healthy and realistic choices that balance independent living and wellness. They share experiences and locate community resources. Both group and individual options support youth to find places to live, deal with landlords, connect utilities, find basic furniture and appliances, or apply for income assistance.


Education

Recovery for youth often starts with decisions about going back to school. SupportEd, the weekly support group, brings peers together to share encouragement and experiences specific to being a student while coping with mental illness. Together with staff, youth build bridges into the community, exploring educational programs, identifying financial assistance, and locating available student services.


Employment

Here youth can access a broad range of services related to finding work and making career choices. Youth develop resumes, practice interview skills, and submit job applications, while building self-esteem and recognizing personal skills and ability. Partnering with local employers creates successful transitions to independent employment. Ongoing support to youth and employers produces a situation where everyone wins.


Social Recreational

Most youth speak of the need to break through isolation and stigma. These experiences limit their ability to enjoy everyday life and find friends. Youth initiate an ever-changing range of activities that promote health and trusting relationships. Whether walking together, playing sports, or learning to knit, youth begin to share insight and experiences, making each person feel less alone.


Outreach

In describing her loneliness and isolation while in hospital, one young woman became the catalyst for a hospital outreach program to youth. Demonstrating that there is hope for recovery, youth visit peers in hospital each week to talk about common experiences and to help other youth with mental illness consider their futures in a different way.


Peer Support Network (PSN)

The daily challenge of living with mental illness is a central theme as youth support each other in ways that no one else can. A weekly peer support group has evolved as a flexible, non-judgmental environment for peer discussions and learning. Through youth leadership, the peer support network facilitates sharing of experiences and insights.

Life Skills

The initiative of youth has led to events and information packages that promote independent living. Learning and discussions go beyond the basics of managing money, using transit, or preparing meals as youth explore individual strategies and alternatives that help them manage their mental health.

Creative Arts

Powerful messages about life and mental illness are conveyed through creative arts. Youth have taken the lead in expressing themselves and their experiences through painting, poetry, and other art forms. Their work has gained local and national recognition. Art @ the AGNS each week provides access to different media for expression, while a poet facilitates the weekly Writers' Circle.