(Montreal) A network of psychosocial support agents will be deployed over the next few weeks across Quebec to support young people who, despite themselves, play a role of caregiver to a person with mental disorders.
Posted at 12:19 p.m.
About thirty young people hired by community organizations and then trained, equipped and supported will identify their peers with mental health needs in order to offer them support. They will also carry out awareness-raising activities.
The project “Help without filter” of the Network Before cracking obtains funding of 7.5 million over five years from Quebec, announced Friday by the Minister for Health and Social Services, Mr. Lionel Carmant.
An amount of $1.7 million from the Support for Relatives organization will also be donated to carry out the initiative.
One in five young people has a parent living with a mental health problem, said the executive director of the Réseau Avant de crack, René Cloutier, at a press conference in Longueuil. And that’s not counting all the others who want to help a friend or spouse developing a mental health problem.
“Thousands of young caregivers in Quebec need to be identified and supported so that they can live their life as young people as best as possible and preserve their own mental health,” said Mr. Cloutier.