Powering the help youth need

Momentum. Energy. Kindness. Support.

These are the forces that powered more than 6,500 people who are passionate about youth mental health to run or walk in the 10th annual Toronto RBC Race for the Kids on September 17. Enthusiastic participants of every age — including the Sunnybrook community, RBC employees, and their friends and family — not only had fun, they raised more than $2.2 million for Sunnybrook’s Family Navigation Project (FNP).

FNP is a critical donor-funded navigation program for young people aged 13 to 26 who are struggling with mental illness and/or addiction, and their families. As many as 1.2 million Canadian youth are struggling with mental illness and 30 per cent of Ontario families are caring for at least one youth with mental illness and/or addiction. These families often flounder in the complex health-care system, not knowing where to turn.

Since it was launched in 2013, FNP has been connecting youth and their families with appropriate mental-health services, and partnering with them as long as needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly intensified the need. FNP reports that more than twice as many young people, suffering from anxiety, depression and/or addiction, reached out directly to the program, compared to before the pandemic.

In my 35 years as a practising psychiatrist, I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Dr. Anthony Levitt, founder and medical director of FNP and chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook. “The growing need for youth mental health care is, quite simply, unprecedented.”

In its 10 years, the Toronto RBC Race for the Kids has raised over $20 million for FNP.

Because of this, as well as support from private donors, FNP has grown from a team of five to a team of 26, including navigators, an intake coordinator, a parent and youth advocate with lived experience, as well as consulting psychiatrists and researchers.

“The entire team at FNP and I are extremely grateful to RBC, race participants, donors and sponsors for their generous and long-standing support,” says Dr. Levitt. “Without their help and commitment, we wouldn’t have been able to help the thousands of young people we’ve helped over the years. Our goal is to continue to help the youth of Ontario find the best mental health and addictions care they can.”