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Open to Northern Region, Volunteers from Prince George and immediate area
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Are you family or friend to a youth with mental health or substance use issues (past or present)? Your experiences and insights can help inform and guide our new hub of health and social supports for Northern youth.
Open to: Volunteers from Prince George and immediate area
Lead Organization or Department
YMCA of Northern BC (NBCYMCA).Aim
By engaging family members in this initiative, NBCYMCA wants to ensure that the Integrated Youth Health and Social Services Hub, being developed in Prince George, is "family smart" and that we see youth in the larger context of their family and community in order to provide meaningful services and improve outcomes.Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the health care partner will work with you to ensure that your ideas and concerns are reflected in recommendations and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.Eligibility
- Volunteers should have lived experience (past or present) supporting youth family members or friends with mental health and/or substance use issues.
- Ability to speak about their experiences supporting youth without causing further trauma to themselves.
- Volunteers must be able to work collaboratively with a diverse range of system-level stakeholders, including Mental Health/Substance use clinicians, physicians, families, and other support service providers.
- Patients should have previously attended a PVN orientation session and signed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation but are interested please contact Anthony Gagne directly to see if accommodations may be possible.
Logistics
- Number of vacancies – up to 10
- Meetings will be held monthly (early evenings) at the Youth Around PG (YAP) building – 1160 7th
- Meetings will occur in-person, with email/social media being utilized for regular communication between meetings.
- Commitment is for 6 months, with possibility of renewal beyond this timeframe.
Reimbursement
NBCYMCA will cover transportation costs through bus tickets or gas card (gas card on a case by case basis) as required. Additionally, they are able to provide an honorarium gift card to acknowledge people's participation. We anticipate a gift card equivalent to $20/hr of meeting time. Gift cards will be provided at the end of meetings.Background
This opportunity came about through the BC Integrated Youth Services Initiative (BC-IYSI). This is a provincial movement of community agencies, government, donors, young people and families coming together to transform the way young people access health and social services across British Columbia. For more information on the BC-IYSI, please see: http://bciysi.ca/ With this vision, the YMCA of Northern BC successfully applied for funding to lead development of a youth health and social support hub in Prince George in spring 2016. Five sites were selected provincially, one in each health region. Youth and family voices are a key component of the vision for effective and integrated youth hubs and we have committed to seeking and including these voices whenever possible. The goal of the five regional sites (including Prince George) is to establish a branded network of “one-stop shop” youth centres that offer health, counselling, mental health, substance use and social supports, as well as youth and family support and navigation. Sites are anticipated to be operational in spring 2017. Partnering Agencies include:- Northern Health
- Ministry of Children and Family Development
- Intersect Youth and Family Services
- Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation
- School District 57
- Prince George and District Elizabeth Fry Society
- Justice Education Society
- Prince George Divisions of Family Practice.
- Services to Adults with Developmental Disabilities
- Communities Against the Sexual Exploitation of Youth
- Prince George Native Friendship Centre
- First Nations Health Authority
- Youth Forensics
Health Care Partner Contact Information
Anthony Gagné
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Northern Interior
250.961.5156
agagne@bcpsqc.ca