After only a few months of lockdown, back during the first pandemic summer, Abrar Mechmechia was already worrying about Covid-19’s long-term impact on mental health: the effects of isolation on the psyche, the lack of support networks, especially for marginalised youth. There are plenty of crisis lines, but in a time of crisis is that enough, wondered the 27-year-old certified mental health counsellor and the founder of ABRAR trauma and mental health services.

The need was ‘huge,’ Mechmechia says. So much so that she launched a campaign in February 2021, calling on the Canadian government to include a mental health recovery plan with youth input in its bid to ‘build back better’ as it worked to adjust to the pandemic. As it happens, mental health issues became an election issue, with several parties including mental health service reforms in their platforms.

‘The idea behind the campaign was first to raise awareness about the impact that Covid-19 had on marginalised youth. Two, to start a conversation toward coming together to co-create with youth themselves this pandemic’s mental health recovery plan,’ Mechmechia says. ‘Also, to highlight the importance of an early-intervention approach during the pandemic.’

And thus, In This Together was born, a campaign that has so far included an open letter to federal and provincial leaders, research on the effects of the pandemic on marginalised youths’ mental health, and a two-day conference supported by the Laidlaw Foundation – all made possible with the help of many volunteers, including strategic advisor Irwin Elman and content advisor and research supervisor Omar Reda. (Elman is a fellow at the Laidlaw Foundation, which provided some funding for one of Abrar’s events, along with other backers, including Justice for Children and Youth.)

Read the full article about the mental health of marginalized youth by Rachel Chen at Alliance Magazine.