Addictions

Alcohol and nutritional factors are among the leading causes of preventable cancer. Knowing that so many health problems could be avoided thanks to behavioral changes, the identification of the factors at the origin of these consumption behaviors constitutes major public health issues with a view to their prevention. If some of the determinants of these consumptions are well identified (e.g., socio-demographic, psychological, genetic factors), the role of context in the development of these behaviors is poorly known.

The Family Navigation Project (FNP), a youth and family mental health and addictions (MHA) navigation service that currently operates in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is expanding to northern Ontario by setting up a new site in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts. This work is being done in partnership with Compass/Boussole/Akii-Izhinoogan, the lead child and youth mental health agency for Sudbury-Manitoulin. An innovative clinical trial will be conducted following the setup of FNP in Sudbury-Manitoulin, which will test how well the model works for the community in this area. The team will collect information about the experiences and outcomes of the youth and families who use the service. The goal is to see whether FNP leads to better outcomes for youth and families, such as getting help sooner, feeling more supported, and being able to use the healthcare system more efficiently. The trial will use a mixed methods approach, meaning it gathers both numbers (e.g., wait times and service use) and personal experiences (e.g., whether families feel supported). This will provide a rich, in-depth picture of how navigation services work in a northern community and how they impact the lives of young people and their families living there.