Disruptors Revisited: Youth Mental Health in the Age of Covid

This fall, a lot of us are looking forward to a return to something that looks—just a bit—like normal. Perhaps no group is more excited (or anxious) about the return to this “new normal” than Canada’s youth. After a year of on-again, off-again in-person learning, students are coming back to the classroom in September. In many cases, they’ll also be bringing with them a year’s worth of mental health baggage. In this encore episode of Disruptors, an RBC podcast, we look at the complicated role technology plays in the lives of our youth—and the implications of reliance on digital tools for their mental well-being. Host John Stackhouse sits down with two leaders in the field of youth mental health: Dr. Joanna Henderson, clinical psychologist and director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto; and Dr. Yuri Quintana, the Chief of the Division of Clinical Informatics at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. We also hear from Shauna MacEachern, the executive director of Frayme, which leads a global network connecting young people with mental health and social services in Canada and around the world. Mental health is a growing concern for our educational system, our health care system—and ultimately, our economy. And as our guests make clear: If we’re to address the cascading issues surrounding mental health, we need to intervene sooner.

Disruptors