The Power of Integrated Youth Services and Social Prescribing
In the ever-evolving landscape of youth services, a groundbreaking approach has emerged that is reshaping the way we address the complex needs of young people. Integrated Youth Services (IYS) presents a unique opportunity to adopt social prescribing (SP) strategies, creating a highly connected network of clinical and community-based service providers to tackle health inequities and enhance service access and outcomes for youth.
This article delves into the case study of Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO), a shining example of how IYS and SP can be seamlessly interwoven to provide comprehensive support for young people. By leveraging the power of collaboration and a person-centered approach, YWHO is redefining the way youth access and engage with essential services, from mental health and substance use to education, employment, and beyond.
Bridging the Gap: IYS and the Social Prescribing Approach
Mental health service utilization among youth remains low, while substance use treatment often falls short of meeting their needs. Young people seeking services commonly experience a myriad of internalizing and externalizing difficulties that can lead to poor developmental outcomes if left unaddressed. The need for quality, integrated services that address these health disparities concurrently is well-documented, yet such service frameworks are often absent from practice.
Integrated Youth Services (IYS) emerges as an innovative care approach that establishes multidisciplinary teams of professionals, working together to meet the co-occurring needs of youth and their families. By fostering a shared vision of delivering youth services across an integrated network of providers, IYS transcends the capacity of individual programs and leverages the power of a collective network to provide holistic support and reduce fragmentation of care.
A core component of IYS is the leveraging of social prescribing (SP) practices, which connect service users to person-centered health and mental health services in community settings. These services aim to support individuals in addressing their own social and health needs through community connections, facilitating referrals from clinical to non-clinical community resources.
As IYS becomes more established across Canada, the opportunity to expand and broaden SP in youth wellness services grows. Local, regional, and pan-Canadian IYS networks, such as YouthCan IMPACT, are implementing models that support appropriate and timely access to youth well-being services. While substantial evidence supports the IYS model, practice-based literature describing its components and service use is needed to facilitate replicability.
The YWHO Model: A Case Study in Integrated Youth Services and Social Prescribing
Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) is Ontario’s provincial network of youth-serving hubs that provide integrated services co-designed with young people and their families. Currently, there are 22 hub networks with YWHO hubs in 31 geographically diverse communities, serving youth aged 12 to 25 years.
YWHO networks address a continuum of youth needs, including mental health, substance use health, primary care, peer support, navigation, education, employment, housing, wellness activities, and other community and social programming. Available virtually and in person, YWHO hubs are local places where young people have low-barrier, walk-in access to an equity-focused, high-quality, integrated delivery model of support services.
Each YWHO hub must offer evidence-based or evidence-generating mental health, substance use health, primary care, and social and community supports. The specific services within these domains are determined by local service availability and through consultation and co-development with youth and community members who form a governance table for the network.
Consistent across all hubs is the implementation of youth wellness teams, which include mental health and substance use clinicians, medical professionals, peer support workers, care navigators, and youth wellness facilitators. These teams support enhanced service integration for the clinical service pathway, ensuring a seamless continuum of care for young people.
YWHO service pathways comprise a continuum of care for youth, with varying levels of intensity, to facilitate tailoring of services to their needs, self-reported goals, and preferences. Reflecting the voices of youth and family members, YWHO services are available without any required referrals, previous assessments, or diagnoses. Young people can access services without an appointment, with convenient hours, including evenings and weekends, and move in and out of services with minimal barriers to reflect their changing needs over time.
Integrated Youth Services in Action: Leveraging Social Prescribing
To better understand how YWHO hubs engage in social prescribing, the research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of service use data from 6,361 youth across 22,153 visits. The findings provide valuable insights into the complexity and intersection of youth needs, as well as the modalities employed to address them.
Reason for Visit and Needs Addressed
The data revealed that youth were most likely to indicate “mental health” as the reason for their visit (47.3%), followed by “school/education” (13.0%), “relationships” (13.0%), “physical health” (6.8%), and “food/nutrition” (5.6%). Service providers, in turn, noted that “mental health” was the most common need addressed (72.7%), followed by “school/education” (13.7%), “relationships” (12.1%), “physical health” (8.3%), “substance use” (6.8%), and “employment” (5.7%).
Interestingly, service providers were more likely than youth to select multiple response categories for needs addressed, identifying an additional 6,942 needs (a 29.5% increase compared to youth-reported needs). This finding highlights the ability of IYS and SP approaches to holistically address the complex, intersecting needs of young people.
Demographic Insights
Further analysis of the service data revealed some interesting demographic trends. For example, youth aged 15 to 17 years were the most represented age group in the top three service categories, including “mental health,” “school/education,” and “relationships.” Additionally, youth identifying as “girl/woman” had the highest number of visits for “mental health,” “school/education,” and “relationships,” while those identifying as “boy/man” had more visits for “mental health” than youth identifying as “gender diverse.”
Type of Service Provider
The most common service providers at YWHO hubs were “mental health/substance use clinician/worker” (41.7%), followed by “care navigator/coordinator” (13.4%), “education/training support worker” (6.5%), and “measurement-based care facilitator” (5.7%). This diversity of service providers underscores the multidisciplinary nature of IYS and the importance of co-locating different professionals who can address the varied needs and goals of young people.
Notably, the high frequency of care navigators and coordinators (13.4%) highlights their essential role in catalyzing the social prescribing process within YWHO hubs. These staff members navigate health systems, connect with other providers, complete referrals, and ensure continuity of care, providing valuable supports to youth and facilitating seamless accessibility between services.
The Transformative Power of Collaboration
The YWHO case study demonstrates the transformative power of integrated youth services and social prescribing approaches. By fostering a closely connected network of interdisciplinary service providers, YWHO hubs are able to effectively connect young people to a wide range of services that address their diverse needs, from mental health and substance use to education, employment, and social connections.
The high prevalence of transition-aged youth (18-25) seeking services from YWHO highlights the ability of IYS models to address barriers to service access that are common among older youth. The data also reveal the considerable overlap between clinical and non-clinical services, underscoring the need for coordinated, multidisciplinary care teams to ensure seamless transitions between services.
Overall, the YWHO model serves as a compelling example of how IYS and SP can be leveraged to enhance service engagement, reduce health disparities, and improve outcomes for young people. By prioritizing person-centered care, fostering meaningful relationships between providers and youth, and implementing a robust system of care navigation, YWHO is setting a new standard for youth-focused service delivery.
Conclusion: Informing the Future of Youth Services
As the need for quality, integrated youth services continues to grow, the YWHO case study offers valuable insights and a blueprint for other communities and service providers looking to implement similar models. By adopting a data-driven, evidence-based approach to service delivery, YWHO is not only meeting the complex needs of young people but also generating valuable insights to inform the future of youth services.
Partners seeking to adopt IYS can consider a similar data collection approach to track service use and identify trends within youth service engagement. Additionally, the development of interprofessional care teams, as demonstrated by YWHO, is crucial to ensuring seamless transitions between services and addressing the holistic health, mental health, and social support needs of young people.
Through continued research, collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to youth-centered care, the innovative models exemplified by YWHO will undoubtedly continue to shape the future of integrated youth services and social prescribing, ultimately empowering young people to thrive and reach their full potential.
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