Research projects

Integrated Youth Services Network of Networks (IYS-Net)

In Canada, we're building something special called IYS-Net. It's a network that connects provincial and territorial IYS systems into one larger system. It funds research projects that study how to improve services for young people and then puts those ideas into action.

IYS-Net brings together researchers, service providers, policy makers, youth, and families. By combining research, data and lived experiences we can create new practices and improve existing practices in IYS across Canada.

IYS-Net is supported by the Government of Canada and other partners. Research projects have been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Graham Boeckh Foundation. Young people are considered essential at every step, ensuring their voices are heard, and their needs are centered.

Research and its role in growing IYS

As IYS expands across Canada, research becomes really important. New studies will help IYS networks grow faster, improving services and results with and for young people.

The IYS-Net Initiative: Its aims and actions

The first part of the IYS-Net project focuses on research at the provincial level to learn more about IYS.

Researchers will look into:

  • What helps and gets in the way of setting up a learning health system.

  • How to make service standards that focus on equity.

  • The best ways to share new learnings with all of the IYS networks.

  • How to transform care for Indigenous young people in ways that respect their culture, knowledge, and experiences.

Next, it will closely connect the IYS networks from different provinces and territories. It will do more research and focus on sharing what it learns. Ensuring the networks listen to young people and their families who understand the system's challenges, making their voices louder.

Future research might:

  • Improve our knowledge of young people's needs in physical health care, sexual health care, and gender-affirming care.

  • Look at how people use the health system and what it costs.

  • Help create tools that are specific to different cultures and diverse communities.

Strengthening IYS practices

One area of work in IYS-Net is exploring practice standards to strengthen IYS, which is part of a bigger plan for national mental health service standards.

We’re gathering knowledge from all over Canada gained through research and listening to the real-life experiences of young people and their families. This will help us capture and define the standards that make services better.

These standards, also informed by National Standards for Mental Health Services, will address various service aspects, like how easy it is for youth to access services, how youth service needs are measured and understood, how young people and families are involved in planning services, how services reflect and integrate different cultures, how services are tailored for different ages and how to ensure very high overall quality of services.