Young People and their Mental Health

Chapter 9

The central issue in reporting on young people and their mental health is striking the right balance between giving them agency - letting them speak for themselves about their problems - and taking account of their vulnerability, linked to their stage of brain development.

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RESOURCES

These themes dominated a panel discussion organized by the Forum at the national conference of the Canadian Association of Journalists in Winnipeg in 2019. The discussion marked the beginning of the process of developing this chapter for the 3rd edition of Mindset.

Panel participants were: Loizza Aquino, a 19-year-old youth mental health activist; Dr. Joanna Henderson, of CAMH and the University of Toronto, who is also the executive director of Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario; Karen Pauls, Winnipeg-based national reporter for CBC News; Ainsley Krone, deputy Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth; and Mary Ann Baynton, director of strategy and collaboration at Workplace Strategies for Mental Health. The panel was moderated by Forum board member André Picard, health columnist at The Globe and Mail.

Here are three excerpts from the discussion:

Further Resources:

Best Practices: child welfare journalism (Dylan Cohen, Spotlight: Child Welfare)

Covering Children & Trauma (Ruth Teichroeb, Dart Centre, Columbia University)