Healthy Young Minds is a new community-centered program within the UBC Faculty of Medicine that seeks to address barriers high school students face with regards to mental health. Inspired and developed by a small group of first year medical students interested in mental health promotion in the fall of 2009, the program has quickly gained support from numerous mentors and collaborators, both within the academic setting at UBC as well as in the community. HYM will enable post-secondary students to engage high school students through interactive workshops with the following goals:
- Increase mental health literacy while reducing stigma and discrimination,
- Decrease barriers associated with accessing appropriate supports, and
- Establish a sustainable framework for the delivery of Mental Health literacy workshops in Vancouver and Surrey high schools by students of healthcare professions.