It might be as simple as a 13-year-old walking through the front door nervous about an exam. It might be something more serious. It might be youth just looking for a place to feel comfortable or safe.
Very soon, the new Fergus Integrated Youth Services Network (IYSN) hub will be there to connect these people with a counsellor who helps them develop skills to manage that anxiety.
This early proactive care is something the Fergus IYSN hub wants to provide, instead of letting it potentially snowball out of control into panic attacks and crisis down the road.
The hub opens in June.
The Fergus hub is one of many open or opening throughout Guelph and Wellington County meant to provide mental health and other supportive services as a one-stop shop for young people.
Abigail Taylor, youth ambassador lead for the IYSN, said It’s also just going to be a fun place to go — which goes full circle to improving overall wellbeing.
“They can literally come in to just charge their phone, have a snack or chill out and then indirectly they might feel supported or get some mental health help,” Taylor said. “Same with the programs that will be run out of it. They’ll indirectly be learning skills but also having fun doing it.”
The Fergus location is inside the Skyline Community Hub at the former Zellers/Target location on Tower Street South in the same space as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Centre Wellington’s BHive.
Taylor noted the BHive was developed as a way to fill in a gap of support for young people after multiple local young men died by suicide in short period of time in 2017.
The IYSN is another way of filling in this gap and giving young people a place to go to which Taylor, as a 19-year-old, admits is lacking in Fergus.
“We don’t have a movie theatre, a bowling alley, things like that so when we run trivia nights or movie nights here, it’ll be a nice place where youth can go and enjoy themselves and they actually feel welcome and safe as well,” Taylor said.
Taylor was previously involved with BBBS which flowed into helping with the IYSN before being hired in March in a role that has her engaging in youth outreach, developing programming and to be the youth leader for the ambassadors at the other hubs.
Youth have been and will be involved in all steps of the IYSN development which Taylor sees as a benefit.
“It’s nothing against adults but they sometimes maybe assume or just think they know what the youth need or want but they aren’t completely sure,” Taylor said. “So by me, being on the same level as the youth and just being able to talk to them like ‘hey what do you want in the hub? I can pass it along.’ It does create that middle ground to provide a youth voice so they know what is actually needed.”
Online informational programs on topics for young people running during COVID have been well received and Taylor said she thinks that will continue once the Fergus hub opens in June and the others in the region follow.
“We have a real opportunity to serve almost 50,000 youth in Wellington County and Guelph through this innovative, evidence-based hub model,” Taylor said. “Building trust is key, we know our youth are suffering. We need to back the bus up and create proactive solutions.”