Government of Canada invests in mental health promotion

The Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF) provides national funding to support the delivery of innovative, community-based programs in mental health promotion for infants, children and youth, young adults and their caregivers. This funding supports priority groups susceptible to mental health inequities, such as First Nations, Inuit and Métis, 2SLGBTQI+, newcomers and refugees, and people with other socio-economic risk factors.

May 2022

The Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF) provides national funding to support the delivery of innovative, community-based programs in mental health promotion for infants, children and youth, young adults and their caregivers. This funding supports priority groups susceptible to mental health inequities, such as First Nations, Inuit and Métis, 2SLGBTQI+, newcomers and refugees, and people with other socio-economic risk factors.

The funding announced today is part of the program's second phase of funding supporting 10 projects for a total investment of $12.2 million.

Project overviews

Indigenous-led community focused projects

• The Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre in Iqaluit, NU is receiving $1,345,000 to evaluate and expand the Inuusirvik Community Wellness Hub, a family-centered, community-led, social enterprise model to provide evidence-based wellness programming and services for Inuit children, youth, and families in Nunavut.
• The Pas Family Resource Centre Inc. in The Pas, MB is receiving $1,325,000 to support three additional northern communities in The Cedar Path project, a youth-focused, youth-led community initiative that regularly engages Indigenous youth (aged 13-19) in healthy lifestyle activities.
• Fostering Open eXpression among Youth in Yellowknife, NT is receiving $1,300,000 to continue and expand the culturally safe, Northern-focused, mental health promotion intervention that uses the arts to focus on cultural identity, develop coping skills, social and emotional skills, and prosocial behaviours, while processing trauma.

Projects focused on newcomers/refugees

• The Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative in Edmonton, AB is receiving $1,340,000 to expand Celebrating Culture, Celebrating Life, a youth-oriented and youth-driven intervention that engages cultural minority youth (aged 13-19) from Eritrean/Ethiopian, Oromo and Syrian communities as cultural brokers to build protective factors and reduce inequities in mental health.
• Newcomers Employment & Education Development Services (N.E.E.D.S.) Inc in Winnipeg, MB is receiving $1,325,000 to support the mental health of Syrian refugee children and their caregivers by scaling the trauma-informed psychosocial group curriculum to involve older children and youth, in addition to trauma-informed training to front-line service delivery professionals, as well as Circle of Security groups for parents.

Childhood and youth development projects

• The Strongest Families Institute in Lower Sackville, NS is receiving $1,325,000 to expand the delivery of the Parents Empowering Kids (PEK) program, Chase Worries Away (CWA) program and their Defeat Anxiety (DAX) program all designed to equip parents and caregivers of children and youth ages 3-17 with the skills to manage and prevent anxiety and depression as well as common behavioural issues.
• Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC is receiving $1,257,859 to continue establishing partnerships to expand Connect for Kinship & Foster Parents (CKFP), a program that delivers a trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive, and attachment-focused group-based intervention to kinship and foster caregivers.
• The Université de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, QC is receiving $1,298,534 to expand the HORS-PISTE program which aims to support all high school students in Quebec to better deal with developmental challenges and prevent the emergence of symptoms linked to anxiety disorders and other adjustment disorders.

Youth policy making projects

• The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC is receiving $1,300,000 to adapt, implement and evaluate the Agenda Gap, a social innovation intervention that prepares youth for meaningful policy engagement to promote the mental health of individuals, families, communities and society.
• The Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society in Abbotsford, BC is receiving $400,000 to expand the Nation of Wellness program, which supports youth and young adults aged 14-28 in planning and leading work within their communities to build a culture where young people are seen, heard, included, and celebrated.

This funding is in addition to the $6.6 million announced in 2020 under the Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF).