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Better Access to and Integration of Mental Health and Addiction Services Through Navigation: A Mixed-Methods Adaptive Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Sponsor: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Summary
The Family Navigation Project (FNP), a youth and family mental health and addictions (MHA) navigation service that currently operates in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is expanding to northern Ontario by setting up a new site in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts. This work is being done in partnership with Compass/Boussole/Akii-Izhinoogan, the lead child and youth mental health agency for Sudbury-Manitoulin. An innovative clinical trial will be conducted following the setup of FNP in Sudbury-Manitoulin, which will test how well the model works for the community in this area. The team will collect information about the experiences and outcomes of the youth and families who use the service. The goal is to see whether FNP leads to better outcomes for youth and families, such as getting help sooner, feeling more supported, and being able to use the healthcare system more efficiently. The trial will use a mixed methods approach, meaning it gathers both numbers (e.g., wait times and service use) and personal experiences (e.g., whether families feel supported). This will provide a rich, in-depth picture of how navigation services work in a northern community and how they impact the lives of young people and their families living there.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
11 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
480
Start Date
2026-10
Completion Date
2029-10
Last Updated
2026-07-16
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Interventions
Family Navigation Project
The intervention that will be administered to all participants is the Family Navigation Project (FNP). FNP is a navigation service for youth ages 11 to 29 with mental health and/or addictions (MHA) concerns and their family of choice. Youth and/or their family of choice work with a Family Navigator who supports them in finding and accessing MHA resources. Navigators also support clients with sequencing care, connecting and communicating with resources, care coordination and integration, etc. After connecting clients to care, navigators will continue to check in with clients to learn whether the resources have been a good fit and if they are satisfied, or if they would like to explore other options. Navigators may also connect clients to FNP's lived experience team members, who provide peer support to youth and caregiver clients. There is no time limit to navigation and clients may re-connect with their navigator at any time. Clients can meet with navigators virtually or in-person.
Locations (2)
Laurentian University
Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Sunnybrook Research Institute
Toronto, Ontario, Canada