Youth Net Peel
Youth Net Peel is a mental health program run by youth for youth. Our goal is to get youth talking about mental health and mental illness. So why do we do this…? Because suicide follows car crashes as the leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 19, and teens are the only age group in which suicide is on the rise. These facts tell us that youth have issues they don’t know how to deal with; our goal is to support youth by having open conversations about these issues, and by connecting them to youth friendly professionals when needed.
One way we try to get youth talking is by asking them to answer the following 5 questions:
Ø What is mental health?
Ø What is mental illness?
Ø What stresses you and other youth out?
Ø How do you and other youth cope with stress?
Ø If you could change the services and people available to help youth, how would you change them?
Our program uses the idea of youth-friendliness in everything we do. We listen to youth without judging, respond appropriately to what we hear, and connect youth to one another as well as a safety net of youth-friendly professionals. Anyone who uses the services offered by Youth Net Peel can be assured they will be supported by a youth who know what it’s like to be young in today’s ever-changing society.