SUDBURY—Youth struggling with mental health and addiction issues in the Sudbury, Manitoulin Island and Chapleau areas often have no idea where to turn, but thanks to the Sudbury-Manitoulin Service Collaborative and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) there is now an app for that. Youth facing such issues can now download the Be Safe app, which can provide access to services for youth in the familiar format of social media.
“This all really started back in the fall of 2003 when a meeting of social workers and mental health workers were looking at service gaps,” noted Melanie Stephens. That process identified children and youth as a group that faced gaps in service, due in part to the difficulty of successfully approaching that demographic with the information they need. “The Be Safe app provides youth in the Sudbury, Manitoulin and Chapleau areas with an instant resource they can access on their smartphones, anytime, anywhere, so that they can find the help they need, especially during a crisis,” pointed out Ms. Stephens.
“We think the Be Safe app is a great tool for youth who need quick access to mental health and addiction services, because the world of apps and social media is second nature to young people and it’s where they go to get the information they need for just about everything, so why not mental health?“ said Maureen McLelland, co-chair of the Sudbury-Manitoulin Service Collaborative and administrative director of the Mental Health and Addictions Program at Health Sciences North/Horizon Santé-Nord (HSN) in Greater Sudbury in a press release announcing the app.
The Be Safe app has a good track record, having been first introduced in the London, Ontario and surrounding areas where it was developed through a partnership of the London Service Collaborative, CAMH and the Mind Your Mind organization.
Service Collaboratives are “local networks of cross-sectoral service providers which work together to improve the availability and coordination of community-based mental health and addiction services,” according to the Be Safe press release, that goes on to explain that Mind Your Mind is a program that began in southwestern Ontario and was designed to give youth an active voice in the development of mental health services for young people.
The local collaborative includes HSN, the Child and Family Centre, as well as the Noojmowin Teg and Noodsmodswin Health Services among its members.
“Basically, it is a series of steps to follow for young people to be able to identify what type of service they need,” said Ms. Stephens in describing the crisis app, “so they don’t wind up on a waiting list for a year and a half.
The “Be Safe app has resonated with audiences I share my story with around Ontario. It’s wonderful to be able to share it with them,” said Alicia Raimundo, one of the youth who worked on the Be Safe app in southwestern Ontario quoted in the press release. “Be Safe helps youth like me connect to resources when we are in crisis. It helps us find the best and safest place for us at that time, and helps us prepare for that experience.”
The latest version of the Be Safe app includes contact information for mental health and addiction services available in Sudbury, Manitoulin and Chapleau. The Be Safe app site also contains a personal Safety Plan and Pocket Guide that youth can print and fill out and have available in the event of a crisis.
To download the Be Safe app, visit mindyourmind.ca/interactives/be-safe.
