The Hurting to Hope session held on Nov 29, 2017 at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School was a follow up to the Youth Suicide Prevention and Wellness session held on Oct 30th at the Halliburton Legion. The Hurting to Hope event was organized in partnership with local service providers, schools, parents and community members. A panel with representatives from providers of local mental healthcare, the Trillium Lakelands District School Board and a provincial expert in youth mental health and suicide were on hand to answer questions and discuss issues related to youth wellness. Panel members available to respond to questions included:
Marg Cox: Executive Director Point in Time Centre for Children, Youth and Parents
Dr Ian Manion: Director of Youth Mental Health Research at the Institute of Mental Health Research at the Royal in Ottawa
Cynthia Weaver: Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Kinark Child and Family Services
Cheryl Roffe: District Manager of Mental Health Services with Trillium Lakelands District School Board
Dave Jarvis: Director of Adult Mental Health Services for Haliburton

Hurting to Hope Community Event Feedback

Over 120 community members attended the three-hour session and asked over 40 questions! We received 55 feedback forms from participants and here is a summary of what we heard.

What did you find most helpful about this evenings event?

• appreciated the expertise of the panel and the opportunity to hear the questions answered from the different perspectives of panel members
• The event helped us “to hear that this is a community issue and to make positive change it needs to be addressed by the whole community, not just the school”
• Information about services available in our community
• Parents liked the actual strategies given to help start conversations with their youth
• That it was a community conversation

We also asked what the community would like to learn more about. Here is the list:

• Social media, the role in mental health and how we can encourage youth to use it appropriately
• More about the wellness hub planning
• Help with understanding the pathways to care when they need support for their families
• A deeper understanding of the role of school, home and community in addressing bullying across the lifespan
• More education/skills to support youth in distress including support for youth that are helping their friends in distress or with grieving

There were suggestions about the venue/format/length of the event.

• Although he format allowed for lots of questions to be answered, many felt that the next session should be more interactive perhaps using a round table format where community member ideas can be generated
• Although many thought the content was excellent the community is now ready to dive deeper into some of these issues and start to think about potential solutions
• Most felt the session was too long at three hours
• The sound system was a distraction.

Overall the community is very interested in continuing the discussion about how we can come together to support youth wellness in Haliburton.