Caution: Story contains mention of suicide
PALMERSTON – New data shows The Grove Youth Wellness Hub in Palmerston is the busiest hub in the province.
In a presentation to Minto Council, Tiffany Fagan, Team Lead for the Grove explained that of the 110,000 visits to provincial youth wellness hubs last year, over 32,000 were to the local hubs with 12,000 to The Grove hub in Palmerston alone.
Jeff Hoffman, executive director of the Hub says they are making a real impact in the lives of local youth.
The data shows a reduction of 34 per cent when it comes to suicidal ideation, a drop of 14 per cent in anxiety, 13 per cent drop in depression and 6.5 per cent drop in psychological distress.
“We’re seeing more young people accessing the space, more young people accessing services,” said Hoffman. “Young people who wouldn’t traditionally be accessing supports, receiving support today, who need support today and are benefiting from that support. And that is happening here for local youth in your community every single day.”
Fagan shared some success stories from youth who have accessed the site including a youth that stopped by sporadically but eventually opened up about struggles at home.
“With some conversation and rapport from our wellness team, we were able to get that young person reconnected to the school and find some avenues to be able to return to school and obtain their credits,” explained Fagan. “So working with the school counsellor, working with the principal, working with the parent, we were able to do a bit of a wrap around and help them get back there. There’s always something that’s holding them back, it’s not necessarily ‘I don’t like school, I don’t want to be there’ but what’s that barrier for them? And trying to work through that for them.”
Youth visits are up 30 per cent year-over-year. Youth accessing the site report a 41.5 per cent increase in mental health.
“I fully admit I was the first person who said I wasn’t sure it was the right spot to put it, right across from the high school,” admitted Deputy Mayor Jean Anderson. “I didn’t think the kids would go. I thought if they were having mental health problems they wouldn’t attend. I’m here to say I was wrong.”
