Maria Alier at IAYMH conference 2025
Introduction
In March, I had the privilege of attending the International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) conference in Vancouver, Canada, where 30% of attendees were under the age of 30. This experience was filled with a range of firsts, one being the first time I had ever left the country, and two, being the first time I had ever attended a mental health conference. Alongside this experience was a range of emotions including gratitude, impostor syndrome, recognition and intrigue. However, overall, it was an invaluable experience that introduced me to a dynamic environment of youth mental health, whose insights I can now share with others. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Turning the Tide: Creating a global blueprint for prevention and integrated care in Youth Mental Health’, captured in a range of presentations and topics including lived experience, integrated youth services, peer work, co-design and participatory research.
Day 1 - Wednesday
The 7th IAYMH conference began with a National Welcome by Elder Dan of the Musqueam Nation. Donning traditional Musqueam attire, Elder Dan articulated a story passed down from his elders, beginning with a boat arriving at the Vancouver port. Due to anti-immigration rhetoric and laws in place, the passengers were unable to disembark. During this period, the people of the Musqueam Nation provided and delivered supplies as an act of solidarity. Although the ship was eventually forced to return, this act demonstrated the connection to land that exists for Indigenous persons, their willingness to welcome others and the respect that is paramount in acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land. Elder Dan’s welcome bore striking similarities to our own First Nations people and greatly empowered the outset of the conference.
The first plenary, led by Seren Friskie and Dr. Nancy Young, centred on the importance of amplifying and including Indigenous persons and youth in mental health research, technology and advocacy. Friske’s presentation, titled ‘Rooted in Resilience: How Centering Indigenous Women Transforms Youth Mental Health’, captured how mental health systems and services were often built under the assumption of a “one size fits all” approach, leading to the alienation of Indigenous women, especially those who face increased barriers such as disability. Friskie questioned whether our systems are meeting the distinct and multifaceted needs of marginalised communities. She then delved into the importance of accessibility when creating services, focusing on equity and framing marginalised people at its core, as Indigenous youth cannot begin to heal in systems where they lack access and understanding.
She explored the necessity of ensuring justice in our practices, defining justice as our ability to look inward and see what we are willing to give up ensuring change. Ultimately, meaning we remove barriers as opposed to just managing them. Therefore, defining justice as restoring what was taken.
When Indigenous women and youth are actively included in their healing, they bring knowledge and teachings, rather than being forced to heal in a space that was not made for them, transforming the system to be proactive and holistic. This was achieved through placing an emphasis on land-based healing and utilising nature to connect and ground oneself, in addition to recognising the role of storytelling in bringing communities together through similarities and shared history. Friskie concluded by stressing the importance of funding community-led solutions that are entrenched in culture and care.
Alongside the plenary, I had the opportunity to attend a range of presentations, each enriching me with greater understanding and new learnings. One of the first posters I encountered was ‘Repairing Damaged Relationships: Understanding the Role of Adult Allyship in Youth Mental Health’. This poster focused on the lack of a distinct definition for the term ‘adult ally’. Researchers at St. Joseph's Health Care sought to develop a definition and understand the youth-adult-ally relationship. Achieved through adopting a youth-participatory action research framework, the study determined that a higher percentage of adults considered themselves allies compared to the percentage of young people who considered them allies. However, both cohorts employed similar descriptors for the term ‘adult ally’, including attributes of respect, openness and understanding. This allowed me to reflect on my understanding of adult allyship, having been a youth adviser for Orygen’s National Youth Advisory Council (YAC).
I attended a lightning session by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, which focused on the role of stigma in mental ill-health and the tools that can be employed to reduce it. Titled ‘Make Stigma Extinct! Youth Leadership for Lasting Impact, the session focused on the implementation of a mental health leadership program called HEADSTRONG. This initiative aims to equip and empower young people with the tools to design and implement positive social actions and advocacy. The program is a two-part initiative: first, it hosts a youth-centric summit to learn, collaborate and utilise resources, in addition to engaging with lived-experience speakers; second, it enables the young people to return to their schools or communities to establish HEADSTRONG clubs to share learnings and demonstrate how to minimise stigma. The HEADSTRONG program has held more than 200 international youth summits.
Day 2 - Thursday
By Thursday, I had made some friends outside of the youth delegation I travelled with. These connections would result in insightful conversations and a mutual understanding of our commitments to youth mental health. This session was filled with copious amounts of new topics to be dutifully downloaded into my brain by the end of the week.
I attended two presentations centred on lived experience and the workforce. One titled ‘Shifting from the researched to the researcher: a model for genuine partnership in youth mental health research’ by the Brain and Mind Centre (BMC), which focused on the involvement of young people, particularly those with lived experience, in research. The second being ‘Exploring the occupation of peer support on youth peer support workers in an integrated youth service initiative in British Columbia, Canada’ by Foundry, which discussed the role of youth peer support workers (YPSWs) in integrated youth services (IYS).
One of my final activities for the day was attending a plenary led by Professor Bobby Duffy, Abel Paul George, and Avneet Dhillon, centred around ‘Generational Impacts’. Duffy’s presentation explained the notion of generational thinking, explaining how each generation holds stereotypical myths and clichés about one another, leading to generational conflicts that permeate various aspects of society, like climate change and mental health. Duffy’s presentation highlighted a constant theme, that today’s youth are often viewed as being “uniquely weird or wrong”, demonstrating how generations are committed to misunderstanding one another. Despite this, trends demonstrate that generations deal with similar struggles. A key takeaway from Duffy’s presentation for me was that we can only understand the future by understanding the generation and not brushing them with generalised statements or disparaging remarks.
Following Duffy’s presentation, Avneet Dhillon led a discussion on ‘Bridging Generations: Navigating Collective Identity and Mental Health in Culture’. Concerning her South Asian background, Dhillon discussed the role of collectivism in youth mental health and the generational gap between young persons and their parents or elders. When it pertains to an ethnic background, those experiencing mental ill-health are often experiencing stigma too. Collectivism is viewed as an extension of the family, and navigating mental health challenges can reflect overall wellbeing. Dhillion emphasised the importance of adopting family-centred and family-engaged practices, whilst also accounting for the cultural nuances that exist when dealing with collectivist backgrounds and the importance of prioritising digital spaces when reimagining collectivism in mental health care.
.png.aspx?lang=en-AU)
Bobby Duffy presenting on stereotypes in shaping intergenerational conflicts.
Day 3 - Friday
Friday marked the last day of this conference, and surely enough, the exhaustion alongside the emotion of being overwhelmed had returned. However, I remained dedicated to gathering as many learnings as possible. Diving into two impactful presentations on minorities and underrepresented groups, I attended ‘Building a Black Youth Engagement Strategy: Lessons Learned from AMANI's Black Youth Advisory Panel’ and ‘Improving digital mental health services with and for national minority, Indigenous and refugee youth in Norway – the InvolveMENT project’.
The presentation by AMANI delved into the creation and development of the Provincial Black Advisory Group (BYAP), formed in 2022. BYAP consisted of seventeen black youth advisors aged 12-29, passionate about the interconnected relationship between substance use, research, policy and mental health. Before forming the BYAP, AMANI developed a plan for who and what they needed the BYAP to represent, what groups may be currently underrepresented, what support would advisors need, and how the group’s scope would be defined. This resulted in creating a targeted and intentional outreach strategy for recruitment. When asked how this process was achievable, the presenters for AMANI stated that through simply existing in the community and having a partnership, black youth advisory groups can be developed.
The presenters also highlighted the importance of operating from a collectivist approach, which is recognised in their principle of “Nothing about Black Youth without Black Youth”. A key success of the youth advisory group was developing the rebrand of AMANI, and a result of the high interest in joining the BYAPs was the creation of the Black Youth Online Network (BYON), an online space for young people to participate in consultation and development opportunities.
The following presentation is related to the InvolveMENT project, a project which aims to understand the needs of minorities, Indigenous or refugees for digital mental health resources and how best to develop adequate solutions that reinforce digital services. The presentation focused on adapting existing digital services to improve the mental health of those of minority, Indigenous or refugee backgrounds. In Norway, 4 in 10 unaccompanied refugees experience mental ill-health; however, they remain reluctant to utilise mental health services. The Norwegian government addressed this by providing an online resource and communication platform for young people. However, this platform was not developed in co-creation with young people and was underutilised as a result.
The final plenary I attended focused on ‘Culture and Equity in Youth Mental Health’, a topic I am personally passionate about from a lived-experience lens. Led by Myrna Lashley and Gurkirat Singh, the conversation blended the role of culture and equity in mental health services, highlighting the importance of addressing the distinct struggles faced by an individual. Lashley, a highly decorated professor and cultural consultant, discussed the experience of “living in a sea of whiteness” and the effects of racism, particularly that against black youth, as a detriment to positive mental health. She explained how intergenerational trauma results from this racism and how this never-ending otherness is exacerbated when youth go to seek help but encounter clinicians who may not look like them or are culturally equipped to understand their racial and cultural differences and the role this plays in their mental health journey. Lashley advocates for greater cultural awareness and knowledge, alongside adequate cultural sensitivity in practice.
.png.aspx?lang=en-AU)
Myrna Lashley presenting on culture & equity in youth mental health.
Signh's presentation focused on ensuring cultural safety when dealing with substance-dependent individuals. Singh questioned the reporting of substance-related overdoses in the British Columbia province, noting that key identifiers such as race and immigration status were not included. Recognising an increase in newly arrived South Asian migrants engaging in substance use, he reflected on the inequity in the understanding of Naloxone within the South Asian community and the stigma attached to substance abuse. Singh formed the harm reduction organisation, Students Overcoming Substance Use Disorder & Addictions (SOUDA), which utilises community outreach to provide overdose response and prevention. A quote from Singh that rang true to many was, “It’s not hard to reach populations, but they are hardly reached”, which truly encapsulated the undertone of this plenary and its importance of prioritising cultural acceptance and understanding.
One of the most powerful takeaways for me in attending this conference is the knowledge that there are always people who are advocating, researching, and enriching practices, services and systems for young people - and sometimes these people are young people themselves. Overall, this experience provided me with a great sense of community and validation and made me even more excited to continue advocating for youth mental health.
.png.aspx?lang=en-AU)
Maria outside Vancourver Convention Centre.