Stollery's Children Hospital (photo courtesy of the Stollery's Children's Hospital)

By Liam Verster

A Family of Support

Stollery’s Children’s Hospital to benefit from mental health initiatives fundraiser

Aug 31, 2020 | 11:03 AM

Children’s hospital across Canada, including the Stollery’s Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, will have mental health supports and initiatives funded through a new partnership with Sobeys.

Through the new ‘A Family of Support‘ partnership between Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundation and Sobeys, customers at Sobeys & Safeway stores will be asked to make a small donation of $2 to the nearest Children’s Hospital, meaning shoppers in Grande Prairie and the Peace Country would be donating directly to the Stollery’s Children’s Hospital.

Brady Hambleton, the Vice-President of Marketing, Engagement and Analytics with the Children’s Hospital Foundation, says each of the 13 children’s hospitals across Canada will have their own, region-specific initiative under this program.

“Within their emergency department, what they want to do, is boost that 24/7 help line support, and create a separate walk in space to increase access that helps patients, children and youth in this case, receive more timely access to an expert, whether that’s nurses, social workers, therapists, or child and adolescent psychiatrists.”

The Stollery’s Children’s Hospital did not respond to a request for comment on how much money they would like to raise in order to implement these changes, or provide more specifics to the program.

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Each of the 13 children’s hospitals have launched their own mental health initiatives that deal with issues specific to their region. Those hospitals will also be receiving funds through donations made at their local Sobeys or Safeway locations.

Hambleton adds that one in five youth are affected by mental health issues, but only one if five of those cases actually receive the services or supports they need. He says that shows that there’s a need to invest in mental health supports for children and youth, specifically in early intervention programs and supports, so that they can get proper help before reaching a crisis point.

“Over the last decade there’s been a 75 per cent increase in child and youth visits to the emergency department for mental health conditions, but again, it’s when they’re at such a critical stage, at such a stage of crisis, that the intervention, and the course of action clinically for those children and youth, is extremely rigorous and really places an extraordinary a strain on the individual as well as the family. And what we’re trying to do by creating this program is to say lets intervene as early as we can.”

“Lets make it known that these hospitals are not just there when there’s an emergency or a crisis, but there’s programs in place to help at the very early signs of ‘I’m feeling different, I’m feeling stressed, I’m anxious, I’m feeling withdrawn,’ to empower children and youth to be able to talk about it with their families, and also to educate parents and families that these programs and services exist and should be used.”

A lot of the children’s hospitals involved in this initiative are also investing in tele-mental health capabilities, in order to make mental health supports for children and youth more accessible , especially for those who live outside the cities where the hospitals are located.

Renee Hopfner, the Director of Community Investments for Sobeys, says the company has a long standing history of partnering with groups and making donations in an effort to support local communities, and that mental health supports for children and youth was one cause identified as needing to be addressed.

“I think what’s really unique about this partnership is that it’s a really complex thing, mental health, and we know that these programs are just starting. So we don’t necessarily know how they’re going to evolve, and where they’re going to grow to, and the Stollery is a good example where they’re going to be creating integrated mental health services within their emergency department.”

Hopfner adds Sobeys believe this is an important cause, and that the ‘A Family of Support’ initiative is meant to support those who help both families and individuals.

“When you look at the challenges around mental health, especially child and youth mental health, and the importance of early intervention within that, how critical it is and how to get to children when they’re young to really help them through their mental wellness journey, the healthier they’re futures [will be].”

Hopfner adds that along with raising money for the hospitals, the campaign is also designed to help raise awareness of the challenges surround child and youth mental health issues, the children’s hospitals, and the programs they offer.

The fundraising campaign begins on September 17 and runs through October 1, and 100 per cent of the money donated will go directly to the Children’s Hospitals.