T oo often, friends are the forgotten support mechanisms for those with a mental illness. Your support is crucial and necessary, so it’s important for you to have access to the right information. The resources and the information provided on our website are designed to help you support the ones you love, while making sure you take care of yourself at the same time. Don’t forget to take a look at the Tool Box as well – it’s full of tools and resources designed to help you be the best support you can be for your friend. Educate yourself with these resources and help change the conversation.
The resources and the information provided on our website are designed to help you support the ones you love, while ensuring you take care of yourself while doing so. Make sure you educate yourself with these sources and help change the conversation.
Additional resources for friends
Worldwide progress is being made to help enrich our understanding of mental health, mental illness and how our brains function. We wanted to highlight some other places where you might find information that suits your needs.
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- Teen Mental Health Speaks –A series of 6 magazines designed to provide a quick overview of common mental illnesses for teens. Each resource includes associated supports & resources.
- The Balanced Mind Parent Network –The Balanced Mind Parent Network website provides a wealth of resources for parents, educators and youth on bipolar education, treatment and how to help adolescents live with bipolar.
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health –The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Child, Youth and Family Resources section is a gateway to information about programs and services at CAMH for children, youth and families. It is of interest to health promotion workers, parents, and anyone who works with children and youth.
- Children’s Mental Health Ontario — The CMHO website provides information about mental health and mental health disorders, specifically targeted towards children and youth, parents and families, and professionals. Many different resources are available for all common mental health illnesses.
- Child Mind Institute — is committed to finding more effective treatments for childhood psychiatric and learning disorders, building the science of healthy brain development, and empowering children and their families with help, hope, and answers.
- Headspace — this site from Australia has a wealth of resources for parents and caregivers.
- FamilySmart — is an independent non-for-profit organization that works to improve child and youth mental health in Canada by involving families in consultation, education and partnerships.
- Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre –The Centre offers information and resources on a wide range of mental health and substance use issues affecting children and youth in our province. These include, but are not limited to; depression, anxiety, attention deficit and behavioural problems, child/youth eating disorders and substance use. We also provide resources for adults with eating disorders.
- Kids Help Phone — contains a section on Emotional Help that is targeted towards teens, with information about topics on mental health and mental illness
- Medication InfoShare — A website for people interested in sharing health information, with a particular focus on mental health and medications. People in mind include health professionals, people with lived experience with mental illness, and their family and friends.
- Foundry — is part of a broader health literacy initiative implemented by the Early Intervention Project within Child, Youth and Young Adult Mental Health and Addictions Services, Fraser Health, British Columbia, Canada.
- Mind Your Mind — is a place where youth can get information, resources and the tools to help manage stress, crisis and mental health problems.
- Nova Scotia Health Authority — if you live in Nova Scotia and need immediate help, contact the Provincial Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line (24/7). Many other North American cities have a similar program, check with your regional healthcare provider.
- Mood Disorders Ontario — great fact sheets on a wide range of Mood Disorders as well as some valuable Ontario based information on resources.
- National Alliance on Mental Illness –The NAMI website offers a wide range of information about mental health and mental illness targeted towards youth, parents and caregivers.
- Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program — this website provides information about early psychosis; promotes early detection and intervention; provides resources for the general public, individuals, family members and health care professionals and provides direction for seeking help.
- Orygen — this website has some great fact sheets on a wide variety of mental health issues.
- REACH OUT –can help you by improving your understanding of the issues that relate to your mental health and wellbeing and providing information to better understand other people’s experiences. This website has three key sections: find, explore and connect.
- TeensHealth — is a safe, private place for teens that need honest, accurate information and advice about health, emotions, and life. Information about mental health is divided into relevant sections, making this website very user friendly.
- Youth in BC — YIBC is first and foremost an online crisis chat service, where you can chat 1-on-1 with a trained volunteer from the Vancouver Crisis Centre, where our service is based. This site also has information on a variety of youth-related issues, as well as resources: a list of organizations and websites where you can get help.
