 
Doing More With What You Know > Be an Agent of Change
This list of strategies can help each of us work individually, with other organizations and with the Centre to mobilize knowledge and ideas about child and youth mental health: How to Work With the Centre 1. Let us know who should be included in our Child and Youth Mental Health Services Directory and our Support and Self-Help Group Directory. It is a convenient way of informing youth and their parents and caregivers about the services available in your region. It is also a valuable resources for service providers who want to share information with each other about their programs and research. 2. Tell us about resources that are important to your practice – such as specific clinical practice guidelines or manualized programs. They can be distributed to a wider audience through our Evidence Syntheses Database and Archives. Clinical practice guidelines distill a large body of knowledge into a convenient, readily useable format in order to support practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care. We have brought clinical practice guidelines relevant to child and youth mental health together into a single resource. You can help us make sure it is as comprehensive as possible. Manualized treatment programs provide service providers with the information that they need to implement that treatment program with fidelity in their organization. To make sure it is as comprehensive as possible tell us about the ones you use and recommend. 3. Learn about the Centre's Grants and Awards program. Encourage your colleagues to see the possibilities by sharing success stories. With our grants and awards, organizations can enhance their programs for children, youth and their parents and caregivers. Don Buchanan, Coordinator of the Child and Youth Health Partnership and McMaster Children’s Hospital, received an Expertise Mobilization Award for his project “Developing a Community Education Service”. The grant allows him to dedicate more time to disseminating best practices related to educating families and young people about children’s mental health problems. Through his work, he is helping communities reposition parenting courses as universally accessible programs that can benefit all families. To learn more about Mr. Buchanan’s work, contact him at buchanan@hhsc.ca. If you think this award could help you protect time for a valuable project, contact the Centre. Maryvale Adolescent and Family Services, a residential and day treatment centre for adolescents experiencing emotional, behavioural or psychiatric problems, received a Program Evaluation Grant from the Centre in 2006. Maryvale used that opportunity to enhance and rejuvenate the treatment culture within their organization, shifting to a more youth-centred, strengths-based approach. This was an exciting opportunity to reframe the experience of daily work for front line and clinical staff. Is your organization considering making a similar change? Contact Mr. Terry T. Bouchard at tbouchard@maryvale.ca to learn more about the Maryvale experience. Then apply to the Centre for a grant or award. 4. Encourage others to sign up for CHECKPOINT, the Centre’s electronic newsletter to keep up to date on the Centre’s activities and resources. CHECKPOINT also provides insight into important issues in its Focal Point, profiles grant and award recipients and, through new features like the Innovators’ Exchange, keeps you informed and current about what’s happening across the province. Articles for Focal Point feature broad issues of interest, prepared by external writers. Peter Dudding, the Executive Director of the Child Welfare League of Canada, contributed an article on child welfare and mental health. Terry Henry, the President of Youth Justice Ontario and the Executive Director of Dawn Patrol, prepared an article on youth justice and mental health. Is there a broad issue that you think is of interest? Are you or someone you know the right person to explain it? Let us know. 5. Share our resources with others. Our Toolkits and other resources are yours to use in your organization, network or region. Use them in “lunch and learns”, presentations and workshops. All we ask is that you acknowledge the Centre. Let us know what worked, what didn't and what other resources could support you better. 6. Respond to our “Call for Questions” – a new feature of our website that was suggested by participants at one of our regional conferences. What are the pressing questions in the field? What research do you believe really needs to be done to improve child and youth mental health practices? Your ideas can help shape the Centre’s research agenda. 7. Promote the Centre’s website and help us maximize its value by giving your feedback. Participate in the directories. Let us know about useful resources or links, and test out our toolkits. We want to learn and grow as an organization. Looking for more opportunities? 8. Participate in Centre-led research or knowledge exchange projects. You may have, or know of, important resources for our systematic reviews, to ensure that Ontario’s programs, studies and models are well represented. You may know how to help us best reach particular audiences. Take the time to respond to our requests for information and encourage others to do so too. School-based programs to reduce stigma – Do you know of programs that have been developed, implemented or evaluated? Learn more…
9. Identify opportunities for special and joint projects that fit the strategic aims of your agency. The Centre is not only a funding partner. Where there is a strong fit with our strategic goals, a project partnership may also be appropriate. The Centre is partnering with Children’s Mental Health Ontario to pilot a collaborative youth engagement project to develop a focused network, comprising a broad cross section of youth. The goal is to facilitate a youth driven, adult supervised, youth voiced approach to issues pertaining to child and youth mental health. The network will give youth the opportunity to play a meaningful, ongoing and sustainable role in promoting mental health and advocating for a system that best meets their mental health needs. Contact: onthepoint@cheo.on.ca Project Postcard, is an art based mental health awareness and stigma prevention program for grade 7 students. The Centre of Excellence, in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), is currently developing a pilot phase for Project Postcard in the Ottawa area. Project Postcard participants will:
10. Volunteer for one of our committees. These committees are an important resource for the Centre, keeping us focused on provincial priorities, grounded in practical realities and responsive to the needs of children, youth and their parents and caregivers. New members are added annually. Promote the use of credible evidence in your organization, network or region 11. Organize monthly lunchtime meetings at your organization. The Centre can link you to resources to help you get started. 12. Bring in expertise on critically appraising research evidence or learn how to do it yourself. The Centre can assist you in finding what you need and our Professional Development Awards can make it affordable. 13. Host a Knowledge Exchange and Learning workshop. Invite the Centre and 4 - 8 practitioners to examine challenges and discuss evidence-informed solutions. The Centre can help identify key practitioners through our contacts, Researchers Directory and Grants and Awards program. And we disseminate the discussion to a wider audience. Promote a culture of program evaluation 14. Make time for critical reflection in relation to your own practice. Share your insights with others. 15. Use the Centre’s Program Evaluation Toolkit. Let us know if it was helpful. What would make it even more useful for you? 16. Arrange regular meetings to discuss the use and impact of evidence-informed practices in your organization. Invite other organizations in your network or region to attend. 17. Evaluate your programs. Learn from the experiences of others who have undertaken similar program evaluations (see the Centre’s Grants and Awards Index ). 
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