Skye Barbic - Canada Research Chair in Integrated Youth Services

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:19] Speaker B: Welcome, welcome. It is episode number 27 of awareness, the Podcast Fostering a More Compassionate, Empathetic and Accepting Society. It is Rob Daniels here. I sure hope that you have subscribed to this podcast. It would certainly mean a lot. You can do so via YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. I thank you so much for listening and being along thus far. Excuse me. You can join the fun on social media, too. There's lots going on there as well, too. If you'd like to follow along @RobDanielsonair on Instagram, Rob Daniels on Facebook, please don't be shy. Feel free to add me. And let's continue this conversation on mental health on as many platforms as possible, but for this one here today. Joining me is Sky Barbik, who is the Canada Research Chair in Integrated Youth Services, Associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia University, and a trained occupational therapist who has worked in the Canadian mental health system since 2004. That is quite the lengthy resume there, Sky, I must admit. And you have been, you know, doing incredible things throughout your life. And I'm very pleased to welcome you to Awareness. So thank you so much for being here. [00:01:43] Speaker A: Thanks so much for having me. [00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah. So you've, you've specialized in health service reform, youth engagement, mobilizing research to practice and policy. Her research covers everything from what makes a good mental health care system for youth to how do you how do youth use TikTok to navigate mental health services? And she has served on many leadership roles in Canada, including as the mental health advisor to four Canadian Ministers of Health. Most importantly, she is a person with lived and living experience of mental health and strong advocate for all people to access the best care where and when they need it. So together today, the goal is that sky and I are going to unpack the complex realities that today's youth face. For example, from the pressures of social media, we're talking academics. To the ongoing challenges of stigma and silence, we also explore the kinds of support systems that can truly make a difference, highlighting how families, schools and communities can help create safer spaces for young people to express themselves and get the support they need. So whether you're a parent or let's say an educator or a friend, a young person, yourself watching or listening to this, then this conversation is going to offer meaningful insight, practical tools, and above all, a message of hope for you here today. So, sky, why don't we just start off with the inspiration when it comes to your work in youth mental health and what keeps you passionate about it today. So what inspired you exactly to work in this specific field? [00:03:34] Speaker A: First, thanks for setting the objectives today. They're very big and lofty, but hopefully we get to that and at least we land on hope. My inspiration is from growing up as a young person and never having access to the services I needed or my friends needed. It was very frustrating to navigate. I became quite knowledgeable about mental health when I was younger and thought I would go into the mental health system as a clinician. I started working in Kingston, Ontario and and work primarily in the adult system. And the more and more I worked with many different types of adults who are experiencing mental health challenges. It always narrowed down to when I was young. I had this going on and nobody was there to listen to me or I never got the help I needed. And so the passion for working in the youth mental health space was that many of our services were reactive and supported crises and people in crises or supported folks who had long lasting mental health issues that really impacted their function as adults. But there was this opportunity that was missing to work with young people upstream to identify things that were going wrong early, to provide care early on to different types of young people and to create this whole new culture of a youth mental health system that was designed around the current needs of young people rather than young people trying to fit into a system that was never designed for them in the first place. And so it's really exciting time right now. And that's what's keeping me the most passionate about working with young people across our country, across the world and really listening to what their current needs are and how do we build a system around those needs and around the diverse, different types of needs that we have across this country for young people. [00:05:11] Speaker B: Right. And so your target demographic, when I was reading up on your services and what you're aiming, who you're aiming to speak to, is it still between like 12 and 24 years of age is the main. I, you know, what's the word? I'm looking at an audience that you go after in terms of your job. Like that's what your section do is 12 to 24 year old youth. [00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that that age is not just random. It's picked because between 75 and 80% of all mental health conditions happen in that age range or they first present in that age range. So that is the age range for early intervention and connection to two services. It's also this age range that doesn't just go to 18 for a very distinct reason because a lot of youth services stop at 18. And then that's like the most important time in a young person's life when they're transitioning after high school into either post secondary or into early career opportunities. And that is the time when a lot of substance use and mental health conditions first present. And so opening up that age range to 24 was really quite critical so that we could start thinking about how do we support young people across that really important, important continuum, often where child use services stop, but really support them into early adulthood to give them the best chance to getting the services they need, the care they need, so that they can be launched into that next exciting phase of life, of independence and adulthood, but with the skills, resources and care all in place. [00:06:46] Speaker B: Now, from your perspective, how has the conversation around youth mental health evolved over the past years, do you think? [00:06:55] Speaker A: Oh, man, it's come such a long way, especially, and I'd say the last five years, five, maybe even 10 years. So what used to be a topic that felt hidden or shameful is now something young people are talking about more openly than ever. And I guess social media, for all its challenges, has played a big role in that. It's created a space for young people to share their experiences, create mental health literacy, find community, even access resources that previous generations didn't have. I think we're also seeing this shift away from maybe when we were younger, away from this idea of fixing problems, towards prioritizing prevention and early support. And mental health is now recognized as something we all need, just like physical health. So you have places like schools that are talking about emotional wellness and mental health early on in the curriculum. There's much more awareness about things like anxiety, depression and burnout of young people. And I think just the coolest thing is that young people are pushing this conversation forward. They're braver than any of us ever were. They're more vocal, they're unapologetic about advocating for better systems and asking for better care, and which that also includes more inclusive support and spaces where they can just be real about what they're going through and connect to care where and when they need it. [00:08:16] Speaker B: Have you noticed a change in all at all in youth mental health ever since the pandemic? I don't, I don't say it's, I guess it's ended. I mean, but, you know, some people you still see taking lots of precaution out there. What have you noticed in that sense, in terms of the pandemic? And I thought a lot about children and youth, mental health, mental health going through school and online Schooling and then having to return to the classroom, but missing like a couple years worth of real knowledgeable classroom work by having to pivot online, which might not be the best of scenarios for a lot of youth out there. What's the conversation around that these days? [00:09:06] Speaker A: The conversation is we have no idea, we have no idea what the long term impacts of this are. We had a study that we led between British Columbia, Ontario and Ireland and we followed youth throughout the pandemic. We followed at 60 youth in each, each area. And you know, we asked them these questions about what all the impact of online schooling was and the pandemic on their mental health over a three year period. So it was really interesting to follow them over time. And it moved in this phase of like, no, this is scary. I don't know what I'm doing towards anger. Like, I've lost graduation, I've lost opportunities to do things in person that I never, that Covid took away from me in class. Learning has been really difficult towards this like almost like villainization of young people. All of a sudden, young people with a problem of COVID they were causing Covid in the media and the way they were perceived. And so this generation of young people that are coming out or a group, we've never understood, we've never understood this like mass population level of people that had to learn online and they started to, you know, create different ways of learning or connecting with community. And this is like where TikTok started coming, for example. And that TikTok research isn't just like a random piece of research. We, it was because young people were like, hey, this is the only way I'm learning about mental health is the only way I'm connecting to other people. And so in one way the pandemic was really bad for a lot of people in terms of mental health. In another way, for some young people it was like one of the most positive things that happened and all the things that caused them anxiety in person. They were able to be in a much more safe, controlled environment. So we have a lot to learn to look at the data of how this cohort, call the COVID cohort, how they're doing over time. And that includes kids who, you know, were in kindergarten when it happened and kids who are in grade 12 when it happened in post secondary. And we have a lot to learn about how, how, how that's going to impact them long term. But what we do know is that they are different. They are different than any generation that's come before. They. This has been A tremendous, tremendous thing that's happened in their developmental trajectory. And we have to be there to support them in different ways. So if there are mental health challenges that are arising because we can't use old tools that we have, we have to be really responsive to understand what their current needs are and how do we support them with these current needs. [00:11:25] Speaker B: And if there's any youth out there struggling, you're out there still with it, but they're struggling silently. Your best recommendation is probably to reach out, to speak about it, to not be afraid to get the help that they need. Is that the best. That's pretty much what they should be doing, correct? [00:11:45] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, the one thing is that asking for help is not a weakness. Asking for help is an opportunity to connect to services where and when you need it, and that you're not alone. There are a lot of other people going through this, and this is just this opportunity to find a trusted human, a trusted adult to. To connect with. And then the other thing is, like, for those that's not going, or you're. It's also a really important thing, whether you've been affected by the pandemic or not, or you have mental health challenges or not. It's really good to look around in your community and be like, if I did, like, proactively while I'm doing well, who would I go to? Who do I ask these questions to? And those are good things to do just for all of us. Look around and say, should something happen, like, who is my. Who's my human that I'm going to go to? Who's my trusted person and what am I going to ask them if I'm not feeling so great? [00:12:39] Speaker B: Exactly. Do you find, or rather, like, what are you. What are some of the most common struggles that you would say young people face when it comes to mental health today, besides the pandemic, there are quite. [00:12:54] Speaker A: A few, and we used to look at them very siloed, you know, anxiety, depression. Yeah, adhd. But they're really layered. So the most common struggle right now is anxiety. Whether it's academic pressure, social stress, uncertainty about the future, things like climate change, the economy. Many people are carrying this constant state of worry, and it's impacting their ability to function. So their ability to do the things that they do every day that are important to them, like going to school, going to work, hanging out with friends. When it starts to impact function, that's when we start to worry. And then depression is also increasingly common, especially as young people navigate things like Identity isolation related to Covid as you're talking about and just a world that feels pretty overwhelming and unstable right now. So that, that is really, really common and I think it's just going back a little bit. But the social media also plays a common or really complicated role in mental health right now because on one hand it's offering this great connection and support for some people, but on the other end it's fueling comparison, cyberbullying, really unrealistic standards. And not so long ago, I don't want to age us, but not so long ago, let's say, you know, we used to compare ourselves like four or five people, but now young people these days are like sometimes comparing themselves to like 4 to 5,000 people a day on online. And so young people like really think that they need to appear okay, but what they're really struggling internally. And so this is really a lot to learn about social media and the role of mental health long term. [00:14:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, you hit it right on the nose there. I mean, and I was going to touch on that. Factors like social media, even academic pressure, family dynamics, how do they impact the mental well being of youth, would you say? [00:14:51] Speaker A: I mean it's all again really interconnected and they all play into each other. But we've talked a little about social media and just you know, in terms of being online, a lot of learn some, some people really connecting in and creating connection and community online. But once it starts impacting sleep, focus, self esteem, that's when, when we start to identify it as problematic, the academic pressure. And I have a 15 and an 18 year old and as much as I know about this, like I'm, I'm a bad source of mom, like I want them to do well, but I feel like it's getting more and more intense. So young people are really like identifying their grades and achievements as their identity. And that pressure can easily lead to anxiety, burnout and just this deep sense of fear of failure, which is, which is quite intense. And then family and I'm going to just add the friend dynamics because friends are so important to young people. These supported friend networks and family networks we've known for decades is just a major protective factor in young people's mental health. But once there's conflict, lack of communication of family and even high expectations, without any emotional support, that can really take a toll and put a person at high risk of mental health challenges. So some young people are dealing with not just academic pressures at home, they're dealing with financial struggles, cultural pressures, when like Mental health is not even a word or a thing that could be talked about at home. And these are. When you combine all these factors, it's pretty easy to see how a young person can feel overwhelmed and stuck. So it's really important to bring all this together and think of how do you build a system of support for young people in schools and communities and within families that really allows them to be honest about what they're feeling and know it's okay to not have it all together. Like, it's okay to ask for help, it's okay to feel anxious and depressed and overwhelmed, but it's really important to have a plan about how to support that. [00:16:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, in terms of the social media with the youth, it's such a. Yeah, like you said, a catch 22. There are so many positives, so many negatives. It's very, there's a lot of division on there and, and youth are seeing that the comparison is so difficult. There's the, the bullying. So I mean, you're not going to get a perfect world from that. For, for youth, it's. But is there. How do you manage that? Where's the, what's the control? Like if you're talking to a parent and you want to enforce some kind of a rule, instill some values in your, your child, your youth, for how much screen time they should actually partake in per day and to actually be mindful of that. What. How much screen time are you recommending per day? [00:17:53] Speaker A: I'm not going to recommend a number, but I'm going to recommend that we don't think about it as good, bad or black and white. And I think that's how a lot of conversations happen in families. Like you're on it too much, get off it. And versus what does, what does it think about? Think of it as a ruler, you know, like the low end of the ruler. You know, what does healthy social media look like and use in our family and what does excessive, like when does it start to be not healthy and not functional? And I encourage families to do this as a group. And our daughter put us on a social media diet one year because. And it's probably not a good word, but basically we had to check in our phones downstairs when we had hit a certain amount of time because we were, it was starting to impact our family and how it. We're communicating. So you've got to do what works for your family. And so really sitting down and thinking about this continuum of what, what healthy to not healthy behaviors look like. But I've seen parents do this all the time and then get frustrated and go in their room and, you know, binge on Instagram for two hours. And we've got to balance that out a little bit and have, have a bit of, you know, collective understanding what that looks like. I think schools can do that as well. We've seen a lot of experiments right now of schools removing cell phones. And we've seen in Australia, the experiment didn't work very well for a lot of young people. It was actually not safe. They didn't have connection to their, their safe communities online, to the people they needed to talk to, to feel safe. And then other students, it worked. So, like, we ought to be less dramatic of like, yes, no, or 100% or 0%. I think there's a bit of a balance to learn about and it's different for everybody. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I, I like how you brought that up. Safe space. Because sometimes we don't put that into place when, like, if you're a monitor at recess or you think, okay, yeah, they've got, you know, their parents on speed dial and they gotta, you know, and, and that's something they want to keep close to them. It's, it's just, I know that it's a form of distraction from anxiety. You would probably agree to that. And with the kids having that, just the constant refreshing, the constant wanting to get. It's just constant hits of dopamine. Right. And I find that's what they do to distract. And if that's a way of coping. Okay. I just don't know if there are better ways out there or if you guys are still researching to find out what else could, could be even more beneficial. But that could be for a later day, if you want to, if you want to say that. [00:20:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's always, it's always on. I mean, everything's ongoing because young people change all the time. But it's, it's just so important that we don't like, cancel culture, social media, like. [00:20:40] Speaker B: Right. [00:20:41] Speaker A: They're terrible, you know. [00:20:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:43] Speaker A: And this is a real form of connection for a lot of people. Like, for sure. More than many examples. Like, I've been to a wedding and the whole, whole wedding party, it was a group that had met each other. They're all a gaming community. [00:20:53] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [00:20:54] Speaker A: I mean, the gaming community is so, so incredible and connected and so trying to figure out, like, there are certain things that young people need to do that's developmentally what we're going to call normal. Like I expecting to go to School, that's one thing we expect young people to go to school. So once your sleep is really impacted and once you're starting to see changes in performance at school and ability to connect with, with family and friends, those are warning signs that it may be actually starting to be unhealthy. But there's got to be, you know, this expectation that you show up and you have friends and you go bicycling after school. That might not be a young person's reality. Their reality might be connecting right in with their gaming community right after school. And so how do we talk about that as family units, as friend units, to like, what, what, what looks like a healthy behavior in our family? What is common? What do we want to do as a, as a, as a family in terms of having healthless, healthy social media use? But, and then you know, what happens if it starts to get a little bit unruly? And that's sometimes like if you don't make a plan in advance, but sometimes it starts to cause conflict in a family. And so it's much better to have early communication and a plan in place and just not talking about it. Black or white is really critical. [00:22:07] Speaker B: Now. Stigma still plays a big role in how youth talk about or avoid mental health. How can we create spaces where, where young people feel safe to open up? [00:22:21] Speaker A: This is such an important question and I probably could talk about it all day, so I'm going to try and be short. But it's an important question because the stigma around mental health is one of the biggest barriers that young people have from reaching out when they need support. And there's some groups, like equity deserving groups, young men, but this is like really still quite critical in a thing, lots of other, other folks. But we need to think about how to create safe spaces. You've mentioned before. And in order to do that, we need to start by shifting the culture. And it begins with listening and not fixing. And when young people feel heard without judgment to rush to a solution, it really builds trust. And like we're talking at the beginning, today's young people are different. Like they are different and they need to be heard and we need to understand what their current needs and start to listen really carefully to that. Again, like with this adult thing that we do, like when I was young, this is what I did. And we can't do that because when we were young, we didn't go through what young people are going through today. We really have to listen within time. Another key thing when we're talking about stigma is Representation. And so when you see people who look like them, who talk like them, who've shared similar experiences, being open about mental health, it sends a really powerful message that you're not alone. It's okay to talk, talk about it. And so whether it's like through peer led groups or inclusive school programs or even social media, normalizing mental health conversations in spaces that youth already trust is essential. And that's really critical. And that's why like TikTok or Discord or places where young people are at are really important conversations to have. Talks about mental health. What is it? What does it look like in this current space when I want to know what young people are thinking about mental health, Whatever it's about mental health, I don't go to a textbook. Today's youth are really different and it changes every minute, you know, and so we got to be, be on top of that. And then I think like the last thing is, is just don't underestimate the role that adults play. We have teachers and parents and coaches, and when they model vulnerability and openness, it, it really gives permission for young people to do the same. I'm working with a baseball association right now, young men playing baseball. And, and it's just really cool that they, the coaches want to know about how to talk about mental health. They want to know about how to identify young people at risk and they want to know how to connect people to services and they want to know how they can be a good coach in that space as well so that they can model, model that it's okay to talk about mental health on the field. Where baseball go Jays, by the way, baseball is just, is just I hope. Yeah, don't lose hope. I'm not going to lose hope with that one. But, but it's not a culture where we're like, yeah, let's talk about mental health, you know, culture, a lot of sports. And so, so I think safe spaces aren't just physical spaces. They're emotional environments where young people are at where they won't be ashamed or dismissed. So it's about creating this culture of connection over correction, like I know best. Suck it up. We're showing up with your struggles is seen as a strength, not as a weakness. And that really involves adults to set the tone. That that's okay and I'm here to listen and it's okay to talk about mental health. [00:25:39] Speaker B: Yeah, you pretty much answered my next question, which was, and I don't know if you'd like to elaborate more on it, just that you Know the effect, what the, what effectiveness or excuse me, what does effective support look like when it comes from parents or caregivers? If you wanted to add to that, like you alluded to with the baseball situation and how parents were, you know, embracing the mental health for the youngsters and to talk about it and to feel okay, to be open, is there effective, what other effective support looks like when it comes from parents or caregivers? [00:26:16] Speaker A: So effective support means, and I like again, say I have a 15 and 18 year old and doing this is hard because you want to fix, you want to be responsive and you want your kid to be happy and safe. But really if I was talking to myself as a parent, I'd say effective support. It doesn't mean having all the answers. It means being present, consistent, willing to listen without judgment. And a lot of the time young people aren't looking for solutions right away. They're just looking for someone who's safe to open up to. So creating that sense of emotional safety is so key. It's also, my kids get mad at me when I say this, but like show up curious and like, and, and so being curious is really critical and so asking things like, you know, when you say how are you doing? Good, fine. But like how are you really feeling? Or what do you need from me right now? That opens up the door to like a much more honest conversation. And even if a young person doesn't open up immediately, they know the door is open. And that makes a really big difference. Other things like validation, just such a huge piece like we, we tend to shush it off pretty easily as adults. So saying something, if you're a teacher, a coach, a parent, a friend, things like that sounds really hard or I'm glad you told me that can go a really long way. And it's showing them that their feelings are real, even if you don't fully understand them, you know, it's those feelings are real. And I mean one of the things too that I'm trying to practice and I'm not that great at it, but I am really trying to model this. It is important for adults and caregivers to take care of their own mental health too and model that. And if you're a parent, especially you're a teacher, kids and teens pick this up, you're not doing well, they're going to pick it up and they're going to model how you handle stress, stress or emotions. So modeling healthy coping, being honest about your own challenges in a, in an appropriate way really helps normalize those Conversations. So support doesn't have to be perfect, but it really needs to be consistent, compassionate and real. [00:28:13] Speaker B: So specific programs. You're talking about the baseball field, for example, that you saw what took place there and the positivity of that. Are there specific other programs, resources or practices that you've seen personally that make a real difference for young people? [00:28:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm going to talk about a couple of things here, but I'm really impressed with a lot of schools right now because they're just adopting this thing called the trauma Informed approach to Mental Health. So they're teaching young people from the earliest ages, like I've seen it as early as grade one, where they're helping young people understand signs of, of mental ill health and how to respond to somebody with empathy rather than punishment. And that shifts an entire school culture of like when somebody is experiencing mental ill health, that you have an environment where students really feel safe and understood. So that is kind of cool. I want to just like talk about how exciting this sort of Canadian. I'm going to just tout what Canada is doing right now because I think one of the things like, you know, I said at the beginning, you never knew where to go and young people didn't know where to go. And we have this thing in Canada where health is a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, which means like provinces and territories are up for doing whatever they can to do their best, but they don't. There's no incentive to work together. And a couple of years ago, Canada actually invested in all the provinces and territories in this joint strategy to have something called integrated youth services. And there are 113 of these open now across Canada with the goal of having 300 to 400 open by 2030. And what these are is like one place for young people to go where and when they need it. So you've got sexual and physical health support, primary care, mental health support, substance use support, peer support, support for school and work education, indigenous cultural safety supports that are there. And this is so cool because it's one place where young people can get support in their community so they understand the context of the community. They understand maybe it's a rural community and indigenous community. They understand that all the services are in one place and it's provided in a way that meets the needs of that community. Shout out to Burns Lake today. That opened up their integrated youth service. So I think that's 114 that opened up today. They, like their community wanted a basketball sports court as part of this like mental health service center. And they didn't just build a health center, they built a community space. And so young people are flocking in tens of thousands to these spaces across Canada. And it's really cool because it's this like systematic, coordinated way. And they also, the province of the territories are setting up virtual services. So if young people prefer to get care and they want to call or do a chat based service, that is there for them. So these community based programs are really, really, really rad. [00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say, how does it, how does that work in terms of financial options? Is it covered by the provincial governments or, or is it something that's absolutely. [00:31:20] Speaker A: So free service between 12 and 24, you walk in and all services I described are covered in the event, you know, they're business hours. So they're often open between 8am, 6 or 7pm so in the event that young people do need connection, we have our kids help phone service that's across Canada that's just international leader in the space and providing care 24,7 to folks who want to call that service. Then for young people who are over age 18 and for all adults across Canada, we have equivalent of a 911 service called 988, which is a suicide hotline. And so young people and all people can call that line and get connected with the care they need. [00:32:01] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fantastic service for sure. Now, for a young person listening who feels alone or unsure where to turn, what would you want them to know aside from, from that, like personally, what would you tell them? [00:32:18] Speaker A: So the first thing is you're not alone. Even if it feels like it right now, it's okay to feel overwhelmed, unsure, numb. Those feelings don't make you broken, they make you human. And I think sometimes when you're really deep into these feelings, it feels like you're the only one in the world that's ever experienced this. And then the second thing is there is hope and there is help and there are people who genuinely care and want to support you. So you might not even have met this person yet, but this could be a counselor, a teacher, a friend, the crisis lines I talked about, or even a community group or in person group that you may sign up for, see on your local grocery list. So you don't have everything figured out on your own. And asking for help is definitely not a weakness. It's one of the bravest things you could do. [00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So looking ahead in terms of, in terms of mental health and the way that you see it going forward. What? Sorry, I just lost my My train of thought there, what was I going to say? Essentially, what I wanted to know was, looking ahead, what gives you the most hope about the future, Excuse me, of youth mental health. So youth mental health, obviously the focus of today's discussion, but looking ahead, what gives you the most hope about the future of it? [00:33:43] Speaker A: So the two things that give me the most hope is it's the first time in my career, in my life, that I've actually seen an investment in people investing in this, in this space, but investing in a coordinated way. And when I say coordinated, it means deeply listening to young people across the country, different types of young people. Sometimes you get people showing up, like, kind of come to a focus group, and it's always the same kids or same families that show up, and they tend to be resourced and they tend to be highly educated. There's deep thought into, like, who needs to be at the tables, who needs to actually think, think about what we're doing and what our Canadian strategy is right now. And so I truly feel like we potentially in Canada in the next 10 years, people look at us and say, this is the best youth mental health system in the world. And that's what gives me a lot of hope, for sure, for our country. But the key to that is that youth and families are driving this work, listening carefully to young people and understanding what their needs are. And we're building that system around young people. And that requires a really strong cross ministerial and cross government commitment to keep this work going. But at the end of the day, if we're not, we don't value investing in youth. It's not a country I want to live in. This is a country that does value young people. And I'm really excited about the work we're doing right now. And young people have these opportunities to engage in every province and territory in this planning. So it's a great time, if you're invested in this space, to be excited about the work. That being said, if you're going through it and it feels really lonely right now, there are definite opportunities to get involved, and there's definitely other opportunities to be connected to services in your community. But I do feel like there's a good shift happening in the next decade. [00:35:25] Speaker B: How can listeners of this podcast support the work that's being done or get involved themselves? [00:35:32] Speaker A: There's so many ways to get involved. A, you don't need to be a mental health professional. B, you don't need to be, you know, experiencing a mental health challenge or have lived experience. But it starts first and foremost, with all of us educating ourselves and the people around you. There is a great web page out there called foundrybc.ca foundry f o u n d r y b c ca and it has thousands of pages of information that's been written for young people and families by young people and families. You know, how do I have hard conversations, my young person, about social media? How do I have hard conversation with substance use or suicide? These are really important things to learn about and to educate yourself, but also how to have conversations with other people. It's a really great resource. So even just small shifts in how we talk about mental health can, can ripple out. If you're able to support local organizations who are doing work, that's just awesome. Either volunteering your time or just amplifying the message of mental health is something we all experience on social media, that mental health is important. A lot of this grassroots programs used to kind of, kind of help a little bit, but now with social media, it's really getting support going and getting this collective message that mental health is something we value in Canada and we're working towards supporting young people in this space and it's really quite important. And then I think, you know, getting involved directly in youth mental health initiatives you can, like, for young people, if you can get into peer mentoring or school mental health clubs or any kind of advocacy campaigns. If you're a student and you want to suggest that something like this could happen, or your parent or educator or a coach, you know, this was a brave coach, was like, I, I just, you know, coach a bunch of dudes. And I think mental health is important. I want to do something. And he reached out. I think this is, this is really cool. So really trying to get any initiative going in your community is really cool. And, and I guess probably the most important is looking inward to yourself and saying, am I one of these people that someone can turn to? Am I somebody who can practice my listening, who can practice my not judging and, and who can be there to remind somebody that they're not alone so you don't have to do everything. Just doing something matters. But, but being a, being that person, someone can turn to is probably the best thing that you could do. [00:37:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I'd say, you know, what's great for taking care of your mental health out there too, because you're living in Vancouver, right? [00:38:03] Speaker A: I am, yeah. [00:38:04] Speaker B: Would probably be, you know, you know, parent and their daughter, their, their son, they just, you know, go and make a habit out of hiking the grouse grind together, like getting into nature. I'm telling you, doing that I've done that hike once. I don't know, there's 75, 80 year olds doing that grouse grind walk run every single day. The, the shape that people Vancouver rights is that, that's what you call yourself. Vancouverites, the shape that you guys are in are unbelievable. It's incredible. And, and I look up to that like is a very outdoorsy type of city. And just I find that if you can get out into nature too and to involve like, like you said, like other than just the technology and getting in front of screen time to get out and, and just immerse yourself by doing a hike up there every now and then, I think that's a fantastic thing too. The it, it's quite the surreal experience to be up there and just sit out there for a little bit. You ever done that before? Or. [00:39:05] Speaker A: I mean I'm a Montrealer who lives in. Maybe I should say that. So if you ever want to go in nature, have a, have a glass of wine and some cheese plate. I'll do that. [00:39:14] Speaker B: There you go. Okay. [00:39:15] Speaker A: The growth, the gross grind has been, you know, I appreciate the nature and I definitely connect it. Love hiking with my dogs, but that gross grind has been the source of, you know, so much ill health. You know, there's nothing worse when you think you're doing great and an 80 year old pops by you, you know, full blown blasts by you on their hands and knees and they're like, oh, it's the third time I've done this today. [00:39:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it's happened to me too. When I lived out there. I couldn't believe it. I just, yeah, they're, they're something else, I tell you. But yeah, for sure. Whatever. It, whatever floats your boat. If it's wine and cheese, then that's, that's okay too, right? Whatever. [00:39:49] Speaker A: Next week it's the skiing because the snow is on the mountains. So yeah, it's getting, it's getting exciting for ski season. [00:39:54] Speaker B: So. Okay, well enjoy that. And finally, if anybody wants to touch base with you, has any questions for you, are you comfortable dropping an email or social media on how they can touch base with Sky Babik Barbic. Sorry, sorry. B A R B I C for the last name. [00:40:13] Speaker A: Yeah, it's easy just to google my name in UBC and you'll find the UBC website of my department also. Just if you want to learn more about the research, go to foundrybc.ca backslash research. And all of our research is there from everything that we talked about about just general health and youth mental health, how it's defined by young people. That Covid study I Talked about, the TikTok studies are fun to read and really, really interesting. And yeah, so if you want to reach out there and all my contacts information is on all of those webpages as well. [00:40:45] Speaker B: Well, listen, sky, thank you so much for doing this today, for the work that you involve yourself in daily. Really appreciate your efforts. Thank you again. [00:40:54] Speaker A: Thank you for this podcast. Awesome. [00:40:56] Speaker B: That's Skye Barbick on awareness fostering a more compassionate, empathetic and accepting society. I thank you so much for watching or listening and listening to wherever you get this podcast. Don't forget to subscribe. Really appreciate that if you could. For the great producer Mike on the other end, my name is Rob Daniels and we look forward to catching you in the next episode. [00:41:22] Speaker A: Sam.