New transportation resource for youth in crisis
A Lawson program based at Parkwood Institute Research is helping young people overcome a barrier to mental health services
Transitional aged youth in Middlesex County now have access to a free transportation resource to access mental health services. Called the County Transport initiative, it will help youth ages 16 to 25 in Lucan, Parkhill, Exeter and Strathroy-Caradoc get the mental health care they need, when they need it.
County Transport is being coordinated by MINDS of London-Middlesex, a program of Lawson Health Research Institute, in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) of Elgin-Middlesex, Star Taxi and Middlesex County through the Lucan and Parkhill Libraries.
“Through our collaborative work, we’ve heard from many youth that transportation is a barrier for them when trying to access mental health services when in crisis. Youth in rural areas find this very challenging since most services are not close to their location,” says Romaisa Pervez, Research Assistant at MINDS of London-Middlesex.
MINDS, a Mental Health INcubator for Disruptive Solution, is a social innovation lab with a mission to address the complexity of the mental health care system. Youth with lived experience, community members and researchers work together to understand and help those living with mental health challenges in London-Middlesex by designing, piloting and testing innovative solutions developed locally.
Read more on the Lawson Research Institute website.