My name is Stacie Smith, and I have the amazing privilege to be coming into the role of Executive Director of the Young Canadians Roundtable on Health, the first based in Atlantic Canada. I am originally from Saint John, NB, but have called Halifax, NS my home since 2013. I have been with the YCRH since January 2020, starting off as the Director of Relations and Outreach. This role has allowed me to develop my leadership and communication skills, thus being able to take on this larger role as Executive Director. This is my first leadership role with a national organization with youth spanning across the country, but I am excited to keep the momentum going that began in 2019.
My passion for youth health and well-being began during my undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, with a keen interest in getting children and youth physically active. It is well known that children and youth in Canada are not getting the adequate activity they need. Less than one in five children and youth in Canada are meeting national movement guidelines for physical activity. My goal is to improve this through the work we do with the YCRH.
I was President of both the Dalhousie Kinesiology Society and the Student Association of Health and Human Performance during my degree, which allowed me to develop my leadership and advocacy skills that are needed to be successful in this role. I am very excited to be taking my skills back to school this Fall, attending the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in their Bachelor of Education program. I am hoping to use the knowledge I learn throughout the year with the work we are doing on the YCRH.
I have also had the opportunity to work with many organizations on youth engagement initiatives, such as Children’s First as a Facilitator during their Young Canadians Parliament, Wisdom 2 Action as a member of their Youth Advisory Council on Youth Suicide Prevention, and with Frayme as a Youth Partner. These roles have given me the opportunity to connect with amazing advocates from across the country, while being able to take away what I have learned from them and apply it to the YCRH.
I have also been a strong advocate for children and youth mental health over the past 3 years. As someone living with depression and anxiety, I want to advocate for those who may not have the ability to do so and give them the hope for change in our mental health system. Many young people are afraid to come forward, as equitable access to mental health services can be hard to find. This led to my involvement as Co-Chair of the New Brunswick Youth Advisory Council on the Review of Youth Mental Health Services, which is being conducted by the New Brunswick Child/Youth Advocate.
We are slowly coming out of the pandemic, and children and youth will need our support more than ever. The YCRH is declaring #codePINK and raise the alarm about the current mental and health crisis facing children across the country. The campaign is calling on the federal and provincial/territorial governments to act immediately to address this emergency. We joined Children’s First in making this call and look to support children the best we can during this time of dire need.
I want to ensure the YCRH continues to have an equitable lens to its work moving forward. I am looking forward to bringing forward a plan to work with members to ensure this is achieved and that the YCRH has a good balance of members from various cultural and diverse backgrounds from across the country. We need all voices at the table to ensure no youth feel left out of the conversation.
We have many exciting initiatives and partnerships coming up over the next several months, including:
The creation of and leading of youth focus groups conducted in partnership with The Coalition of Healthy School Food, who have been advocating for a federally funded National School Food program since 2018. We will be gathering feedback on their experiences in accessing school food.
We are partnering with Healthy Debate to provide a platform for youth across Canada to share their different experiences regarding their physical, mental, and emotional well-being throughout this pandemic. We will be asking youth to share their experience through multi-media content including writing, art, music, video, audio etc.
Our continued partnership with the Inspiring Healthy Futures: WeCanFor Kids initiative, in collaboration with Children’s Healthcare Canada, the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Pediatric Chairs of Canada and UNICEF Canada.
I want to end off by thanking the outgoing Executive Director, Umayangga Yogalingam, for her dedication and hard work in taking the YCRH to where it is today. We would not be where we are without her tireless efforts at putting us on top. I look forward to continuing the amazing work and collaborations she has started over the next year to advance the child and youth health sector forward, so that they are not left behind.
Stacie Smith is the Executive Director of the YCRH. She is also founder of the COVID-19 Student Support Network and the Director of Relations and Outreach for the YCRH. She is a recent graduate from Dalhousie University's Kinesiology program.