The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 16 ,2 02 2 | 22 1. In the spring of 2021, 2,599 youth aged 9 to 18 across Halton participated in the Halton Youth Impact Survey, implemented by Our Kids Network (OKN) as part of a national pilot project led by UNICEF Canada, the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Me- davie Health Foundation. 2. Three in 10 respondents rat- ed their mental health as very good or excellent. 3. Inequities exist in mental health in Halton, a trend that is reflected across Canada, accord- ing to OKN. Girls are around 50 per cent less likely to rate their mental health as good or excel- lent, compared to boys. Of the 30 2SLGBTQ+ youth and non-bina- ry youth who self-identified in the survey, only 13 per cent rated their mental health as very good or excellent. Youth identifying as Indigenous were more likely to report having a diagnosed mood or anxiety disorder. 4. Geographic differences were a factor in the perceived mental health services in Hal- ton. For example, youth in Hal- ton Hills were less likely to rate the quality and accessibility of mental health services as good or excellent, compared to their peers in Oakville or Burlington. 5. Thirty-one per cent of youth were experiencing high levels of stress on most days. Girls and non-binary youth were more likely to report elevated levels of stress compared to boys. 6. Youth also indicated that they were feeling under constant stress due to trying to accom- plish more than they could han- dle in terms of school work and due to the pressure to succeed. 7. OKN has shared the data with its "strong network" of com- munity partners and will work together with them to create greater awareness of the find- ings and work with youth to gen- erate some solutions that they would like to see happen, said OKN interim executive director Elisabeth Wells. 8. "The one thing that we can really say now is that mental health isn't just a priority for some youth," said Wells. "This is an urgent priority for all of our youth in Halton. We're always playing catch-up for youth men- tal health, and results are telling us it's really critical and it's ur- gent." 9. The Halton Youth Impact Survey provided 50 indicators that reinforce the need for com- munity partners to consider child and youth well-being, their mental and physical health, community belonging, experi- ences in the community, their re- lationships and safety, among others. 10. While results were impact- ed by the pandemic, the data re- flects ongoing concerns about youth mental health, according to OKN. 10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH SURVEY NEWS SURVEY WAS IMPLEMENTED BY OUR KIDS NETWORK AS PART OF A NATIONAL PILOT PROJECT According to survey results, mental health isn't just a priority for some youth, but an urgent priority for all Halton youth, according to OKN interim executive director Elisabeth Wells. Graham Paine/Metroland