Imagine a space where the voices of our youth don't just resonate, but actively shape the future of mental health care. That's the reality Meghan Provost has helped forge as a member of Kickstand's Youth Action Council, and in this episode, she sits with Katherine Hay, the organization's visionary Executive Director, to discuss Kickstand's transformative impact on mental health services for young people in Alberta. Katherine paints a future where access to mental health support is not a maze but a straight line, and Meghan reveals how her personal journey with the council has been nothing short of empowering.
As the conversation unfolds, you'll be inspired by Kickstand's innovative strategies, like their "More Good Days" text service, which sends a jolt of positivity to subscribers daily. Learn how a partnership with the Mental Health Foundation is not just a handshake but a powerful alliance that elevates Kickstand's mission to new heights. And if you're moved to take action, discover the myriad ways to contribute to the cause—be it through advocacy, participating on the Youth Action Council, or steering donations to fuel progressive mental health initiatives. This is more than a podcast episode; it's a call to join a movement that's redefining what it means to support our youth.
Key Messages
About Our Guests
Katherine Hay (she/her/hers) has worked in the mental health and substance use services field since 1997. Katherine has been a tireless advocate for recovery oriented, person centered care, that focuses on the whole person and the environments in which they want to live, work and play.
Meghan Provost (she/her/hers), a first-year Communications student at MacEwan University, serves as a dedicated Youth Action Council member at Kickstand, passionately advocating for youth mental health.
What is Give Amplify Connect?
There’s a story behind every action. Give Amplify Connect is a podcast from the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation that gives a voice to the Alberta-based charitable organizations creating community impact, changing lives, and making a difference. Driven by honest conversations with host Kristy Wolfe, it’s a chance for passionate changemakers to share their story.
Learn more at wolfepackwarriors.com
Podcast music used with artist permission
"Okay" by Ellen Braun
Imagine a space where the voices of our youth don't just resonate, but actively shape the future of mental health care. That's the reality Meghan Provost has helped forge as a member of Kickstand's Youth Action Council, and in this episode, she sits with Katherine Hay, the organization's visionary Executive Director, to discuss Kickstand's transformative impact on mental health services for young people in Alberta. Katherine paints a future where access to mental health support is not a maze but a straight line, and Meghan reveals how her personal journey with the council has been nothing short of empowering.
As the conversation unfolds, you'll be inspired by Kickstand's innovative strategies, like their "More Good Days" text service, which sends a jolt of positivity to subscribers daily. Learn how a partnership with the Mental Health Foundation is not just a handshake but a powerful alliance that elevates Kickstand's mission to new heights. And if you're moved to take action, discover the myriad ways to contribute to the cause—be it through advocacy, participating on the Youth Action Council, or steering donations to fuel progressive mental health initiatives. This is more than a podcast episode; it's a call to join a movement that's redefining what it means to support our youth.
Key Messages
About Our Guests
Katherine Hay (she/her/hers) has worked in the mental health and substance use services field since 1997. Katherine has been a tireless advocate for recovery oriented, person centered care, that focuses on the whole person and the environments in which they want to live, work and play.
Meghan Provost (she/her/hers), a first-year Communications student at MacEwan University, serves as a dedicated Youth Action Council member at Kickstand, passionately advocating for youth mental health.
What is Give Amplify Connect?
There’s a story behind every action. Give Amplify Connect is a podcast from the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation that gives a voice to the Alberta-based charitable organizations creating community impact, changing lives, and making a difference. Driven by honest conversations with host Kristy Wolfe, it’s a chance for passionate changemakers to share their story.
Learn more at wolfepackwarriors.com
Podcast music used with artist permission
"Okay" by Ellen Braun
I know like that and even to me, like that is amazing, because I feel like I'm like actually important with Kickstand. I'm not just like oh yeah, like okay, give your piece, then shush. You know. It's like yeah, like we want you here, we need you here. And obviously kickstand is amazing and everyone who works with it is great and I know it would thrive no matter what. But like with that, just extra, it makes me feel more and I'm sure all the other people valued yeah, valued yeah.
Intro:Welcome to Give Amplify Connect, the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation podcast that dives deeper into the stories of the charitable organizations in Alberta that are making a difference. Host and producer Kristy Wolfe sits down with the leaders of the nonprofit world to learn more about their purpose, hopes and dreams. Settle in for an honest conversation with Kristy about the impact people are making in their communities and how they keep moving forward.
Kristy Wolfe:With me today. I have Meghan and Katherine, both with Kickstand. Meghan, will you take a second and introduce yourself?
Meghan Provost:My name is Meghan Provost. I use pronouns she and her. I'm with the Youth Action Council for Kickstand. I started about a year ago when I first signed up. There was a lot of kind of meetings and just kind of being with young people and just people with kickstand, really learning about different perspectives of youth and stuff like that, and then I had the opportunity to sit on a few interview panels as well.
Kristy Wolfe:Okay, I am definitely going to come back because I have some questions about what you've been involved with and what that looks like, but first I'm also going to get Katherine to introduce herself.
Katherine Hay:My name is Katherine Hay, my pronouns are she and her and I am the Executive Director at Kickstand. I feel really privileged to be able to lead this not-for-profit organization. It's really designed to improve access to youth mental health services for young people across the province. I have worked many years in the addiction and mental health field as a service provider and feel that we have a huge opportunity to change the trajectory of young people's lives by improving access to care.
Kristy Wolfe:Katherine, I'm going to ask you to explain a little bit more about Kickstand as well.
Katherine Hay:Sure Kickstand is Alberta's integrated youth mental health hub initiative, so it's aimed at facilitating the realignment of community-based services and programs in a way that empowers young people and their families and caregivers to be able to access holistic, recovery-oriented, developmentally designed care under one easily accessible physical or virtual location.
Katherine Hay:So really, we are trying to take what's available in the community and make it easier for young people to find the services that they need, so be able to go to one location called Kickstand whether that's a physical building or clinic or whether it's an online service and within that one kind of place, be able to access services that support all sorts of different dimensions of health and wellness, because we know that people are complicated and they're complex and they have goals in all sorts of different areas. So maybe they'd be able to see someone to help with obtaining employment, but also have a counselor there that helps with their mental health and maybe a primary care provider that they could talk to you a little bit about physical health concerns that they might have, and all of that in one place where it's integrated together, instead of making that young person go from place to place to place to try to find that care.
Kristy Wolfe:Perfect. Thank you, Katherine. Meghan, can you tell me how you found out about Kickstand and how you began to get involved?
Meghan Provost:Well, actually Katherine's daughter is my best friend, yeah, so basically I just kind of heard about it through her daughter, just kind of talking about what her mom does. But then eventually I started hearing about the Youth Action Council and that how one of her other friends had done it for a bit, and I was like that was pretty cool. So Katherine then mentioned it to me and then said like, oh, like, go here and like you could sign up. The meetings that I've been a part of sometimes we kind of gather as a group and just whoever can make, of course is there, and Taylor Sparklingeyes is the Youth Engagement Coordinator and so she's just kind of the head of the Youth Action Council. She'll bring up kind of these opportunities and then if you want to do them, you can grab on to them and they just really want youth to be a part of decisions and stuff like that.
Kristy Wolfe:So not just the campaigns that are going out, but everything from hiring staff that are going to be working on Kickstand. There's youth involved in the panels for that. Yeah, do you have any other examples of how you have been involved personally?
Meghan Provost:A few months ago there was this mental health run. I was not running, thank God, me and this other girl. She was also in the Youth Action Council and we were just running a booth for Kickstand. Everyone, even people who Kickstand, doesn't necessarily direct that, but maybe they have children or grandchildren or nieces, nephews. They were just coming by. Yeah, it was really interesting to be a part of, and Batman was there, so that was pretty cool, I find that when I'm talking about Kickstand, I'm talking to parents.
Kristy Wolfe:So I have a 9 and 11 year old son. I'm obviously if you saw me on camera, I'm not in the age bracket of 11 to 25. So when I'm talking about kicks down, I'm really talking to friends who are parents. I'm talking to educators so anybody that's working with youth and I'm just trying to let them know about the service so that they can then pass it on as well. So that's something having a booth at different places where people can ask you questions. I was wondering if there's anything that is your particular favorite area to tell people about Kickstand.
Meghan Provost:I think I just like that it's all in one spot. I just like that everything's so easy to access and it's not scary I don't know if that makes sense, but it's not intimidating at all to be a part of. And it's not necessarily like, oh, you need help right now, but it's like, oh hey, if you're going through grief right now, here's some grief support.
Kristy Wolfe:It's user-friendly and I will put a link to the website, but I'll also put a link to the Instagram because I'm very visual and the visuals that they use and the information that they share on Instagram I find to be really helpful as well. Now you're telling me about a part of Kickstand that you've really enjoyed. Will you tell people about the text messages?
Meghan Provost:There's a text message chain and it's called More Good Days and it just sends you a text every morning at 9 AM and it's just a little nice message or motivational quote it's nice to wake up to, depending on what time you wake up, or it's nice if you're at work or school, just to get that little message and be like okay, especially if you're having an over-work morning or I've mentioned that I am not in the age bracket of 11 to 25, but I also signed up for those text messages and I have told a lot of people because it is a little quick message, something inspirational, sometimes a link to another service, sometimes an idea about how to take care of yourself.
Kristy Wolfe:That day I would smile at 9 o'clock in the morning, it would come through and it just make me smile. So definitely sign up for that. I will put that in the show notes as well. Meghan, thank you for telling us about those things.
Katherine Hay:All of those messages were actually created by young people in collaboration with service providers, so that they really resonate with the population that they're designed for. We worked with over 40 young people across the province who wrote all of those text messages. A lot of the feedback we get is that, yeah, it makes you feel like you're just not alone. Somebody is thinking about you, because you get that text message every day In order to sign up. Use text more good days. All one word to 39393.
Kristy Wolfe:I want to know, actually, if there's going to be a 2.0 version. Can I sign up again or should I get? That's one of the questions that I'm always like. I miss those messages. I've gone through the entire cycle.
Katherine Hay:We are working on 2.0.
Kristy Wolfe:Okay, Thank you for telling me that. Can you tell us a little bit about what the behind the scenes? How did this get started? What's happening now? What's happening next? Tell us more about Kickstand.
Katherine Hay:Actually, this is, I would say, a national or international movement that has a lot of evidence that's been generated in terms of its effectiveness, both on increasing access so increase the number of young people who are accessing services or connected to services within a community but also increasing people's feelings of health and well-being so decreasing feelings of distress, increasing the way that young people feel about their mental health and physical health and increasing people's sense of connectedness and empowering them to feel more confident in managing their own health and wellness. Moving forward, so there are initiatives all across Canada that are implementing the same model and we are hoping our future vision would be that we would have a network of physical centers across the province, located within communities where there would be, like, enough recognition of people maybe live in a particular community and then you move to Edmonton to go to university. You would still be able to find the same services within those two different communities and we're hoping to complement that network of physical centers with the virtual care, knowing that not only we won't have centers in every community, but also knowing that some people would prefer to access services virtually. Some people from small communities may not want to walk into a physical center because they're a little bit concerned about people finding out that they're asking for help and so that anonymity can be useful within a virtual service.
Kristy Wolfe:Well, and that was one of the things that I really like about Kickstand the fact that it is low barrier, it's accessible. You don't have to be in Edmonton or Calgary, where there often tends to be a lot of services. It's just something that you can kind of take a look at and Megan was mentioning the website like it is really easy to follow. It's got information when you're not in crisis and then it's got supports for when you are in crisis, so that you can find different information at different times. So that's one of the things I definitely have noticed that I'm talking a lot about just that.
Kristy Wolfe:There's one-on-one counseling, that there's free options, that there's a bit more continuous, there's workshop groups that you can sign up for. There's family skills programs where you can actually you don't have to be a youth, you can be the family member that's supporting somebody that's going through some mental health challenges. So all of those things are available to see on their website, on their Instagram. Take a look at that. And then the other thing that I wanted to bring up is, as I've gone through, who you can access as a counselor. There is a lot of diversity, and so can we just talk about that for a second as well.
Katherine Hay:Yeah, for sure. I think that one of the big principles Other than youth engagement and really co-creating our products with young people is a focus on Equity and equitable access to services. So in order to do that, we've heard very loudly from young people that they need to be able to see themselves in the providers that are offering those services, and so we've paid really close attention to ensuring that we have Representatives from a number of different groups of identity, people who have different identities and belong to different Groups of the population and that they really represent young people across Alberta so that can include different cultural backgrounds, different genders, different sexuality Just really trying to make sure that if you're, if you're looking through who the providers are, that you can kind of see hey, you know there are people like me there and that sometimes increases the ability for a young person to feel safe to ask For help, and so that's been a really key Priority of our organization.
Kristy Wolfe:I've noticed that often there's like an open house where people can come and just hear a bit more about it.
Kristy Wolfe:So it seems like every few months there's just an open house where you can learn more, no commitment, just kind of find out a little bit more.
Kristy Wolfe:And I would, I would recommend people go and check that out and just kind of learn a bit more about what kicks done is, because it might not be you, but there are people in your life that are this age bracket and and this would be a huge help.
Kristy Wolfe:For I also have a friend who actually went through and called like, did the whole process of connecting with the counselor and then created a video talking about what it's like to access, and this I think is a really neat idea, because so often we hear about like Help phone lines and all of those kinds of things, but you don't know what to expect. So they have gone through and actually step by step talked about what it's like, how you access services, who you can get to and and it's a really neat way to think about that you don't have to be in crisis to reach out. You can just do information gathering and find out a bit more about what the organization is offering, which is also true for suicide lines, which I think people think. You have to be Absolutely in crisis, and that's not necessarily the case. Feel free to reach out, gather some information. Katherine, can you tell us how other people could give, amplify or connect with Kickstand?
Katherine Hay:Yes, absolutely so. I think ideally we would love you to follow our social media, ideally our Instagram account, and repost our posts, because everybody knows somebody and Chances are that there are people who you're connected to that may Need help that you don't even know, and so you never know when somebody's gonna need a service. And just that kind of that acceptance and that promotion of these free mental health services I think is a really important option or opportunity for people to really contribute is just getting the word out there, getting the services more familiar and making sure that young people hear about them over and over so that the day that they need them they remember that they're there.
Kristy Wolfe:I'm gonna interrupt you for a second, Katherine, and I'm gonna explain to everybody how easy it is to share something on Instagram. Our age bracket Like let's be honest to Katherine you and I are probably in the group of Facebook users or LinkedIn users, and so Instagram is super visual I love it, but not everybody understands how to use it. So here's how you share kickstand. You go on Instagram, you type in kickstand and it'll bring you to their account. You click on follow.
Kristy Wolfe:We're gonna teach step by step. You're gonna follow them so you always get their messages, and then you're gonna take a look at the screens to see which one might stand out to you. If there's one that you're thinking about sharing, click on that post and you will see like a paper airplane icon and you click on the button that says add to story. It will put that graphic in your story and that's where more people will see it. So if you are thinking, I would love to share this I have no idea how those are the steps and I will put that in the show notes as well, so you can follow along. We're gonna teach everybody how to share stories on Instagram.
Katherine Hay:Oh yeah, that's a really big help, I think is just to make you sure that people know that the services are there and sharing them. I think another thing we work in really close collaboration and have Been funded through a partnership with the mental health foundation Since we started this work and they've been instrumental in getting kickstand connect up and running, and so making a donation to the mental health foundation allows kickstand to continue to grow and develop and enhance our services and Continue to provide free and easily accessible services. You can make a note in your donation Just that you would like that donation to go to kickstand and that makes it really clear for them that you're trying to support our Organization.
Kristy Wolfe:I also have to say that the podcast before this one, so we're recording this one around Kickstand. The podcast has just gone out about mental health foundation. So if you would like to know more, we talk a lot about Kickstand, but we also talk about the mental health foundation in that podcast.
Katherine Hay:So just listen to the episode before this and then I think the last thing this really that I'd like to encourage people to do Is to make an appointment and again, that can be for yourself to find out more. You can make an appointment with a mental health provider and just ask them. You know what do you do and what is the process. Or if you're just feeling like you could do with a conversation with somebody, just because you're having a bad day, just because you're nervous about going to school, you have a test coming up or you got in a fight with somebody in your life that's important to you, or just you want to learn more about anxiety, you're welcome to make that appointment. You don't have to be referred. You don't have to meet any kind of certain criteria.
Katherine Hay:It's free and it's open. We try very hard to continually have appointments available. When you go onto the website, follow the book now process and make an appointment. I'd also like to encourage people to make. We have a peer support worker as well, which is another young person who has experiences with accessing mental health services and can just be a friendly ear, and she is quite remarkable. She could just be a friendly ear to talk to you about what it's like to be a young person nowadays and what kind of things are going on for you, and just be there for a casual conversation. From there, you might decide to access a more like a different type of service
Kristy Wolfe:It might not necessarily be that you need the support, but maybe you're interested in finding out more and you'd like to be a part of Kickstand or look at volunteering with them. Meghan, how would you tell people to get involved? If they were interested in being involved with Kickstand, what would you tell them?
Meghan Provost:Well, for specifically like the Youth Action Council, there's recruitment done every year so you can put your name forward for that. It's a little sign up process. I'm not sure if it's changed, but it took me about like 10 minutes. You put in your name and why you want to be a part of Kickstand, what you would bring forward, kind of thing, and then just kind of experience. Yeah, I think that was all it was, and then there is a little interview that's done with Taylor.
Kristy Wolfe:Well, and high school students need to have volunteer hours, so I'm assuming that this is a great way. If mental health is something that you're interested in talking about, you'd like to learn more, this might be a good way to also look at getting some of those volunteer hours for graduation right, finding an organization that you are excited about the work they're doing, and connect with them to see how you can volunteer with them. Meghan, you were going to jump in on that. Tell me what you're thinking.
Meghan Provost:Well, the Youth Action Council, it is also paid. So by the time, with Kickstand, I am paid for it.
Kristy Wolfe:I am so glad to hear that Kickstand is not just asking young people to volunteer their time. Volunteering is incredibly important. I know we need it for certain things, but thank you, Kickstand, for paying youth to be involved and for adding their voice. That is actually incredible and just totally made my day.
Meghan Provost:I know like that, and even to me, like that is amazing, because I feel like I'm like actually important with Kickstand. I'm not just like oh, yeah, like okay, give your piece, then shush. You know. It's like, yeah, like we want you here, we need you here and obviously Kickstand is amazing and everyone who works with it is great and I know it would thrive no matter what. But like with that, just extra, it makes me feel more and I'm sure all the other people Valued yeah, valued yeah.
Kristy Wolfe:Absolutely, when I have been on different volunteer panels and things like that. It doesn't have to be financial recognition, but I think that recognition that we need your voice. I have often been a parent of a child in the medical system on different groups, and often you are the only person I am the only caregiver that shows up for something, and everybody else is a physician and you just you do feel out of place. And so that recognition like hey, we're glad you're here welcoming you in, and it sounds like Kickstand has a great job of that, but also it's not just one youth on the panel, so I'm really happy to hear that as well. All right, catherine Katherine and Meghan, I would like to hear from both of you about either an organization or a person that inspires you in the work that they're doing, maybe specifically in mental health.
Katherine Hay:I would have to say that I've been really inspired by a national research project called Access Open Minds, and Access Open Minds was a five-year research project led by amazing professionals as well as young people, families and caregivers and Indigenous advisors that really focused on integrated youth services implementation across Canada, and I think that they were just instrumental in developing the foundation, or the seeds of a national movement that really has people all over Canada working together to try to make life better for young people in our country. And I just have so much respect for not only the high degree of intelligence and expertise that went into the research project, but also their willingness to lead the way in terms of engagement with young people and making sure that that focus on co-creating a solution that really is informed by the expertise of the service user, which is the young person, and I think it's just something that's so commendable. And the research that they're now publishing that was gathered during that five-year period is instrumental in really changing policy and practice across Canada.
Kristy Wolfe:I have not heard OpenMind Access Open Mind, so I am really excited that you brought that to my attention. Megan, Meghan what about you?
Meghan Provost:My inspiration is much more personal. I think I've kind of just kind of grown up around mental health Well, obviously, grown up around mental health, it's everywhere Just kind of seeing people who never access that help and never really got the opportunity to access that help, and it's just seeing how it can now change and how new that this next generation will be, just with being more open and kind of starting with that. Hey, just like Kather says, like come on, just sign up and just ask a question, Like seeing that much more open and then seeing it with friends and having really poor mental health sometimes and seeing that, oh well, what could have been different?
Kristy Wolfe:Meghan, that point that you made about growing up and talking about it. You just said growing up, mental health is everywhere. I would not have said that growing up we would not have talked about mental health and in my family I share about this publicly. But my dad died by suicide. He was a cardiologist and that's when our family started talking about mental health and that was less than 10 years ago. We had never had conversations in our family about mental health. We didn't talk about it publicly, and that incident changed it for us and so for me personally. So I'm so glad you brought up a personal story.
Kristy Wolfe:Mental health is an incredibly important part of what I do every day. My background is as a teacher. I worked with students, with families and talking about mental health from the beginning, about the good parts about mental health and the tougher parts about mental health. I think it all needs a voice, and so recognition that there's good days, there's bad days, but that we all have mental health, is something that is still being determined Like. People are still not comfortable talking about that. So I am really excited that you recognize that mental health is everywhere, because I still don't think people do.
Meghan Provost:Well, even you saying that, I had to correct myself and by saying mental health is everywhere, because I just it's such an easy thing to just go with to correlate mental health with bad, but it's like that's not necessarily true.
Kristy Wolfe:Deann Hunter was on the podcast last I mentioned from the Mental Health Foundation, and she talked about the fact that not everyone has cancer, not everybody has children. Everybody has mental health, and that is how we can start opening up these conversations. Everyone has mental health, so I'm so glad you brought that up. Folks, is there anything else that you feel the audience of Give, amplify, connect needs to hear about?
Katherine Hay:I would just want to say, I think, a thank you to not only the Mental Health Foundation, who has made Kickstand a possibility, but also to the amazing partners who have kind of shaped where we are today. And the organizations that provide services within kickstand connect in order to improve access to care. They do that in kind, and so they are organizations that provide services normally in their communities, and then they recognize that what they have is valuable and it should be able to be accessed by more people. And so those workshop providers, just a real appreciation for their commitment to bringing services to all of Alberta in a different way. And, like you mentioned earlier, those can be for young people or also families and caregivers, and those are free because of the commitment of those organizations, and I don't think that they get people even know that that's the case, and so just a real shout out to them as well.
Kristy Wolfe:You know. That made me think about the fact that I mentioned that I have two boys and our school principal sends out a weekly email and in her email signature she links to a few different resources, and one of the resources that she links to is my Kickstand, and every week that's going out to parents. Youth are finding about it, adults are finding out about it and that's, I think, how we move these conversations forward. Katherine and Meghan, thank you so much for spending time with me today and just coming on and letting us know more about kickstand. Thanks for joining us today. The purpose of the Wolfpack Warriors Foundation is to give, amplify and connect. Visit our website, www. wolfepackwarriors. com to learn more about this initiative or connect with us about a registered charity that is important to you. Don't miss the next episode. Follow Give Amplify Connect on your favorite podcast platform to hear from other Alberta-based nonprofits about the work they are doing. On a final note, remember to take care of yourself and your pack.
Intro:OK, you're gonna be OK, you're gonna be OK. Hush, my darling, gonna be OK, you're gonna be OK.