The day is finally here to hang up my Co-Executive Director of the Young Canadians Roundtable on Health hat. It was a hat that I have worn since September 2019, at the tail end of my Sandbox Project internship which I completed as part of my Master of Public Health degree. I had never held a leadership position for an organization that had such a diverse group of individuals across Canada. I was a little nervous, but mostly I was excited to making interesting connections, meet amazing youth across Canada and do the work to help advance youth health and well-being in Canada.
Taking on this role was difficult at first, as I was trying to get through the last few months of my degree and then the pandemic hit. I felt a little bit like a headless chicken but came to realize there are so many others out there who are already doing the work. So I decided to reach out to youth advisory committees (YACs) in health spaces across Canada for some guidance and have conversations to see what practices they implement to meaningfully engage their youth and how they address challenges within their committees. I learned so much and was struck by how selflessly everyone provided their ideas and the strategies that worked for them.
Using the strategies and suggestions of other YACs, I spent most of my tenure as Co-Executive Director creating internal processes and implementing strategies that would meaningfully engage our members and empower them to make decisions related to the YCRH’s agenda. This included holding monthly meetings instead of quarterly meetings to keep the momentum going, creating a monthly internal newsletter for members for updates, external opportunities, and self-care tips, implementing an honorarium policy to recognize members for their hard work, creating an internal database of all our partners and collaborators, and collecting feedback and demographic data from our members to ensure that the YCRH members are able to shape how the Roundtable is run and that we are not missing voices from the table. The last six to eight months was the most engaged I have seen the YCRH, both within the organization and in collaborations with external organizations over the last two years. It has been so refreshing to see YCRH members actively participate and provide new, innovative ideas that would ultimately play a role in improving youth health and well-being across Canada. The YCRH would not be where it is today without the tireless efforts of its members. Seeing them in action makes me so hopeful for the future of Canadian youth.
Building up the YCRH was not easy but it was a labour of love. Youth engagement during the pandemic was slightly difficult to navigate but it was much needed. The pandemic has had devastating consequences that will last for years to come. Canadian youth were already doing fairly terribly compared to their counterparts in other wealthy countries, according to the UNICEF Report Card 16. Post-pandemic, inequities in youth health will continue to be exacerbated, barriers to youth services and programs will continue to be an issue, and youth will continue to experience economic impacts such as job loss, precarious employment and low wages. Youth engagement and partnership to advance youth well-being is important now more than ever. Organizations must meet youth where they are at to address these issues and jointly work towards improving youth health and well-being. The YCRH, in collaboration with youth-focused organizations, is dedicated to making this happen.
I’m happy to say that it’s not a final goodbye to the YCRH! I will continue in my role at The Sandbox Project where I will provide the YCRH with high-level mentorship. I know this summer and beyond will see an exciting chapter of the YCRH, as it turns outward and becomes a more prominent voice in the youth health landscape in Canada. Here’s a sneak peek of what the YCRH has got planned for the rest of the year:
Continuing the YCRH-created webinar series which will be renamed to “Recovering from COVID-19.” The webinar series will continue to equip youth and families with strategies from experts on a variety of topics that impact health including financial well-being, employment, and more
Rebranding the YCRH, including creating a new logo, creating a new communications strategy that prioritizes accessibility, and trying out innovative ways and platforms to communicate pertinent information to youth and the general public
Conducting a workshop at the One Young World Munich Summit happening July 22 – 25, 2021. In partnership with Frayme, the YCRH will be presenting on youth mental health, financial literacy and engaging youth in a digital world
Joining Senator Rosemary Moodie’s office to advocate for a federal Child Commissioner through conducting focus groups to get the youth perspectives and assisting with creating a report to outline what children and youth across Canada want to see
And many other exciting partnerships and collaborations still in the works!
Finally, there are many people to thank – individuals who made it possible for the YCRH to do the work and made my life easier in the process:
Mary-Ellen Rayner, Christine Hampson, and Lauren Hamill at The Sandbox Project, who always provided excellent guidance and supported us in the operations side of the YCRH
The amazing YCRH leadership team (Akosua Bonsu, Erika Dupuis, Melanie Asselin, and Mobeen Lalani) whose expertise and ideas I can always count on
The amazing YCRH members (over 50 individuals across Canada) who are dedicated advocates and instill me with so much hope for our future
The Sandbox Project board of directors with a special shoutout to Paul Brown for always amplifying our voices
The many partners and organizations that the YCRH got the opportunity to collaborate with
The youth advisory committees who graciously told me about the ins and outs of their committees which helped make improvements to the YCRH
Victoria Moore, the previous Co-Executive Director and my practicum partner-in-crime
Stacie Smith, the current Co-Executive Director, whose passion for child and youth health and hard work will take the YCRH to a whole new level
Umayangga Yogalingam is a graduate from the Master of Public Health program at the University of Toronto and is passionate about mental health, health equity, environmental health, and the impact of race, culture and ethnicity on health. While she is the outgoing Co-Executive Director of the YCRH, she will be continuing her role as Research and Knowledge Translation Lead at The Sandbox Project.