Equipping young minds and their communities with the tools to advance mental health.
Designed for educational settings, this evidence-based program empowers students aged 12-25, and those who support them, to prioritize mental health and break the stigma around mental illness.
Training Outcomes
Build mental health literacy
Recognize signs of good, declining, and poor mental health in others, and yourself.
Break Down Stigma
Cultivate a safe, supportive environment where mental health can be discussed openly and without judgment, using respectful and non-stigmatizing language.
Strengthen Communication Skills
Develop a shared language to foster open dialogue about mental health between colleagues and within teams
Improve Resilience
Improve individual resilience through practicing coping strategies in times of stress and equipping managers to support their teams with the same tools and strategies.
Foster a supportive school community
Proactive and comprehensive approach to mental health training that empowers students, faculty, and staff to recognize, respond to, and support mental well-being.
Tailored courses for specific audiences:
The Inquiring Mind Youth
The Inquiring Mind Youth is dynamic, evidence-based course designed to foster a transformative understanding of mental health, reduce stigma, and build resilience in youth ages 12-18.
Through four engaging units, youth participants explore essential topics:
- Understanding Mental Health: Recognizing the continuum from wellness to challenges.
- When Help is Needed: Identifying signs and taking appropriate action.
- Helping Out: Supporting peers and fostering help-seeking behaviors.
- Coping Strategies: Practicing resilience-building techniques like deep breathing and positive self-talk.
Interactive activities, videos, and real-life scenarios create a safe and inclusive learning environment. Flexible delivery options make it perfect for classrooms or community groups. Help youth thrive academically, personally, and socially with practical tools to navigate mental health challenges confidently.
Module 1
What’s Happening? Mental Health and Youth
– Describing mental health
– Factors that influence our mental health
– Why don’t we seek help?
Module 2
When is Help Needed?
Signs of Concern
– Mental Health Continuum Tool
– Changes in mood and behaviours
Module 3
Helping Out – What can you do? Caring for yourself and others
– Healthy ways to talk about suicide
– Being supportive to peers
– Seeking help – identifying sources
Module 4
Coping Strategies. Building Resilience
– Importance of self-care
– Practicing coping skills
Learn About Mental Health Continuum
The Mental Health Continuum is a dynamic model that visualizes mental health across a spectrum, ranging from healthy & adaptive to severe symptoms of mental distress, highlighting the fluid nature of mental health and the potential for movement in either direction.
Learn more about the Mental Health Continuum Tool on our resources page. [click to download]
The Inquiring Mind Post Secondary
The Inquiring Mind Post Secondary is an evidence-based program designed for students, proven to increase mental health literacy, break down stigma, build resilience, strengthening communication skills and help foster a supportive campus community.
Course Structured for Impact
Module 1
Mental Health & Stigma
Recognize the impact
of stigma and redefine
mental health
perceptions.
Module 2
Mental Health Continuum
Use a specialized tool to monitor mental health, seek support, and hold dialogue.
Module 3
Self-Care & Building Resilience
Discuss the importance of self-care. Practice positive
coping strategies and build resilience.
Module 4
Creating a Supportive Campus
Suicide prevention, recognizing available
resources for self/others and devise an action plan.
Learn About Mental Health Continuum
The Mental Health Continuum is a dynamic model that visualizes mental health across a spectrum, ranging from healthy & adaptive to severe symptoms of mental distress, highlighting the fluid nature of mental health and the potential for movement in either direction.
Learn more about the Mental Health Continuum Tool on our resources page. [click to download]
Designed for effective implementation:
- Virtual or in–person
- Cohort and team training options
- Dates and times tailored to your needs
- Scalable with in-house and external facilitator training options
The Inquiring Mind School and Campus Community
To support youth mental health comprehensively, we acknowledge the need to equip adults in their ecosystem with the same knowledge, tools, and language. We aim to develop a complementary Adults Module to The Inquiring Mind Youth program—ensuring educators and the school community can reinforce learning outcomes, foster safer spaces, and engage in meaningful conversations.
Our Call to Action:
- Strengthen adult-youth communication by sharing a common language and approach.
- Equip adults with the tools to recognize, support, and respond to mental health challenges in themselves and others.
- Foster help-seeking behaviors and resilience in youth through trusted adult guidance.
- Collective contribution to safer, more supportive school and community environments.
Actual strategies from the facilitators and other participants to help reduce school stress was extremely helpful, and many students would benefit from it.
Matthew Baker, MA Applied
Psychology
Course Testimonials
Have a look at our other training programs to support youth mental health
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Supporting Youth is designed for members of the public who have frequent contact with young people (ages 12 to 24), for example, parents and guardians, school staff, sports coaches, and youth workers.
FAQs
HEADSTRONG is fully evidence-based with a decade of experience working with youth and communities across Canada. The program is designed to be engaging, relevant and effective, and flexible for diverse populations and communities. HEADSTRONG empowers and inspires youth to be active and proactive for their own and their community’s mental wellness. The program is trusted by schools and youth organizations across Canada.
12-19 years
There are two models available. The in-person summit is a one-day event where groups of youth from regional schools gather in a central venue. The virtual summit is provided live into classrooms through three 90-minute modules delivered during one week. Both summit models are available in English and French.
The summit is focused on engaging youth to:
- have a better understanding of their own and other’s mental wellness
- be aware of resources for support and the importance of timely help-seeking
- recognize the impacts of and know how to challenge stigma around mental health and mental illness
- understand the steps to recovery and increased resilience
- use their power and influence to inspire brave conversations through youth-led positive social action.
HEADSTRONG provides all the support and tools needed to deliver a youth summit, including comprehensive guides, regular meetings, and provision of training for lived-experience presenters, emcees, and activity facilitators. Partial or full funding may also be offered depending on resources.
Support and a small team to plan and deliver the summit, access to funds or ability to raise funds to provide the summit if needed.
In-person summits: 8-15 youth per school is a good number to attend. There’s no ‘ideal’ number of schools, it depends on the venue and how many schools are within travelling distance. The average number for a summit is around 120 youth.
Virtual summits: between 4 and 8 schools/ youth groups attend with 1-2 classrooms/ sites per venue to a maximum of 8 sites. There’s no limit to the amount of youth joining from each site.
Youth can be selected by a teacher/ group leader, or may self-select to attend. Youth who may engage with the program are those interested in leadership, psychology, and/ or those with a personal or family experience of mental health problems or illness who need to hear about recovery and hope.
In-person summits need 3-4 months planning time. Virtual summits take 5-6 weeks to plan.
– HEADSTRONG can provide limited funding for some summits each year. Communities can raise additional funds to support the event or raise the full funds and take advantage of the tools, resources and training provided by the HEADSTRONG team.
Educators, youth and/ or health focused community agencies, youth, community leaders, parent groups, public service organizations etc.
Submit an Expression of Interest form (link). There are two review periods annually, in Spring for summits Sept-Dec, and in Fall for summits Jan-May.
At this time, HEADSTRONG provides around 25 summits annually across Canada. If there are more EoIs than there are available places, a scoring rubric is used to highlight summits that are from priority populations, and exhibit readiness to deliver the program. Priority populations include for example rural, remote, Indigenous, newcomer, racialized, minority language and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
HEADSTRONG can fully fund up to 5 virtual summits and partially fund up to 15 in-person summits annually. At current capacity, a maximum 8 community-funded summits can be accepted annually in addition.
Virtual summits cost $2000 for up to 8 classrooms/ sites. There’s no limit to the number of youth per room/site. All sites need to attend all three modules.
In-person summits cost around $5-6000 for 100 youth, but can be more or less expensive depending on costs of venue, food and level of donated items etc.
For multiple in-person and/or virtual summits in a region, please review the information on becoming a Delivery Partner.
Email your questions to headstrong@openingminds.org
