Expert care and research for healthy young minds
Transforming lives, one young mind at a time
Through research, training and collaboration we will create specialized psychiatric and mental health services that improve the overall health of children, youth and their families living in Eastern Ontario.
“They helped me lay out a plan for when I am in a bad mood and helped me with my school work.” —Patient from The Royal’s Partial Hospitalization Unit
Our Services
CHEO (Up to 18 years old)
- Acute inpatient care
- Emergency care
- Urgent care
- Eating Disorder Program
- Medical/surgical consultation
- Specialized outpatient care for moderate to severe mental illness
- School-based child and adolescent day treatment programs
The Royal (16-18 years old)
- Specialized inpatient care for severe and complex mental illness
- Partial hospitalization program
- Specialized outpatient care for moderate to severe mental illness
- School-based adolescent day treatment
Improved access and patient flow
Data are from 2018 calendar year and is compared to 2014, before Choice and Partnership Approach.
- 3,033 CHEO Emergency Department Visits, up 2.6%
- 7,465 inpatients days at CHEO and The Royal, down 0.2%
- 11,434 general outpatient visits at CHEO and The Royal, up 25.4%
- 2,112 outpatient referrals at CHEO and The Royal, up 20.7%
Wait times
Data are from 2018 calendar year and is compared to 2014, before Choice and Partnership Approach.
- 43 days to first appointment in The Royal’s Youth Program, down 90.4%
- 108 days to first outpatient appointment at CHEO, down 46%
Reaching beyond our walls
- 104 transitional-aged youth received telemedicine consultations from The Royal. These consultations have expanded to include family members or other caregivers to ease the burden on youth and empower loved ones to help.
- 7 MDs and 7 health professionals from CHEO are using telehealth to visit patients in their homes. More than 100 visits have been conducted so far.
- 397 primary care providers in 92 cities across Ontario have received child and youth mental health training through CHEO’s Project ECHO.
- “Excellent sessions relevant to my current practice” – Nurse Practitioner in north-eastern Ontario
- 132 students attended therapeutic school programs customized to their learning and health needs
- 1/3 of patients in The Royal’s Youth Program use drugs or alcohol several times a month or more
- Over the past year, staff at both The Royal and CHEO has received specialized training to help patients and families address problematic substance use.
Building life skills to enhance recovery
- The Royal revamped its youth kitchen in 2018 thanks to support from generous donors. Activities like cooking empower patients to build life skills that can enhance their recovery.
“When I was a patient, we really used the kitchen a lot, and that was time when I was able to build friendships with other people and learn from them. It was a chance to do something meaningful, which is such a big part of recovery. It really made you feel like you were at home when you weren’t.” —Former patient of the Youth Psychiatry Program
- A new Mind-Body Connections Group at CHEO helps patients with somatic symptoms and their families understand the connection between emotional and physical distress. They learn to recognize, accept, and respond to emotional experiences, improving their physical symptoms, functioning and readiness for mental health treatment.
- A quality improvement initiative at CHEO has helped improve access to a number of group therapies for parents and family members supporting children and youth with mental health concerns.
- 88% of parents and caregivers who participated said they now feel better equipped to help their child or youth.
- Investigators: Dr. Marjorie Robb, Dave Murphy, Alejandro Martinez, Heather Bragg, Dr. Stephanie Greenham, Michael Ranney, Dr. Bill Gardner
Helping through discovery
In 2018, members of the Young Minds Partnership:
- published 38 papers in peer-reviewed publications
- received 31 external research grants
- 135% increase in emergency self-harm visits for Ontario's children and youth from 2009-2017. Gardner et al. (2019) Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- 8 studies are underway to increase access to care and supports that will help more kids and youth avoid emergency visits
Suicide Prevention
Young Minds Partnership researchers have a number of ongoing studies with a focus on suicidal ideation and self-harm, including:
- A youth suicide study launched at The Royal to determine the role various risk factors play in mediating the success of treatment
- A brief group intervention, BRAVA, being evaluated at CHEO for youth with mild to moderate suicidal ideation and their caregivers
- The Self-Harm and Resilience in Adolescents (SARA) study, which aims to better understand self-harming behaviours in adolescent girls