Open Mind is an information hub containing mental health tools and resources for youth, families, teachers and health care providers.
The site has been developed by Doctors of BC as part of a policy project designed to raise awareness of mental health among transition-age youth. Many organizations in British Columbia, and across Canada, are doing excellent work developing and promoting mental health information to youth and their support networks.
Doctors of BC is not seeking to recreate any of these existing tools and resources. Instead, our organization wants to help raise awareness of and increase access to this information.
About Doctors of BC and the Council on Health Promotion
Doctors of BC is a voluntary professional association that represents over 12,000 doctors across the province. We make a meaningful difference in improving health care for British Columbians by working alongside our members to achieve quality patient care through engagement, collaboration, and physician leadership.
Doctors of BC’s Council on Health Promotion (COHP) is made up of physician members and is supported by Doctors of BC staff. COHP has a mandate to track and identify issues related to injury prevention, public health, and health promotion. COHP also engages in the public promotion of health issues. Each year, COHP undertakes a major policy project. For 2013/14, the COHP policy project related to youth mental health.
Find out more about Doctors of BC
Youth Mental Health Policy Paper
As noted above, the Doctors of BC Council on Health Promotion’s policy project for 2013/14 related to youth mental health. A major component of that project was the development of a policy paper containing commitments and recommendations, all of which support the following overarching policy statement:
Doctors of BC identifies the period of transition as youth mature into adulthood as critical in terms of mental health development, and is committed to raising awareness about: mental health, how to recognize mental illness, and how to get help when it is needed.
The first commitment in the paper is that Doctors of BC will create and promote this web site information hub to raise awareness of mental health tools and resources available to transition-age youth and their families, physicians, teachers and peers.