Visions Journal

Young people, anxiety and depression

PDF | EPUB | Vol. 21, No. 1 (2025)

Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows that youth and young adults have reported more mental illnesses and a decrease in positive mental health since 2015.¹ We know that early intervention and wrap-around supports matter when a young person experiences challenges. Instead, some young people are left to get through on their own when caregivers and schools don’t see or acknowledge mental health problems. And some families are left to figure it out on their own and find their children fall through the cracks between school, health care, and other systems. As you’ll see in this issue of Visions, the entire family is impacted when a young person is unwell and the entire family needs support. We often hear that it takes a village to raise a child, and it’s important that the village has access to appropriate help when it’s needed.

The Big Picture

• Editor's Message
  (Pargol Lesueur)

• Family Matters: The reach of anxiety and depression in young people
  (Christine Yu)

• Not Always Linear: Treatment for co-occurring mental and physical health disorders in young people
  (Seonwoo Hong, Taylyn Jameson, Yash Joshi and Joelle LeMoult)

Stories + Strategies

• Not Won't, But Can't: One family's story of school non-attendance
  (Leila)

• Mental Health in Young Newcomers: Navigating troubles and superpowers
  (Hali Kil)

• Why I Don’t Wake Up at 5:30am: A rejection of a hustle culture
  (Joey P. Laguio)

• Academics and Anxiety: Patterns that need breaking
  (Alex Wyatt)

• One Story, Two Sides: Navigating student well-being supports
  (Gabrielle Foo)

• Falling Through the Cracks: Navigating mental health support for youth within a broken system
  (Sakura)

• Inviting In Caring Conversations: Using guidelines co-created for youth, by youth to lower the risks of cannabis use
  (Andrea Mellor and Cecilia Benoit)

• Creating Safe and Open Spaces for Youth: A guide for families, peers and educators
  (Mahboubeh Asgari)

• Where Anxiety Ends and I Begin
  (Kat Kennedy)

• Responding to Youth in Crisis: Finding safety, support and hope
  (Mark Sheehan)

• Youth Artwork

Looking Ahead: Involuntary treatment

• Holding Tension: The ethics and impact of treatment in mental health care
  (Michelle C. Danda)

Resources