Mental Health and Substance Use Training

Training and education sessions are offered to individuals and groups supporting children and youth with mental health and substance use (MHSU) needs across the continuum of care.

Sessions cover a range of topics, such as communication, screening, brief intervention, and considerations for specific MHSU concerns.

• View the current education and training schedule
• View additional learning resources for youth
• Watch previous recordings of child & youth MHSU education sessions on YouTube
• Need clinical care guidance for child and youth? Contact Compass Mental Health

As health-care providers, it's important to provide compassion and empathy for the people we serve. The language we use and the emotional, relational and spiritual elements we take into consideration as we interact with each other are all important. Being aware of trauma informed practice is essential to providing care that does not unintentionally re-traumatize the individuals who seek it.

The principles of trauma informed care (safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice and choice; and cultural, historical and gender awareness) are essential to working with complex grief and complex trauma caused by settler colonialism. Using a strengths-based approach versus a deficit-based one is crucial to building trust with people we care for. The following online modules and resources are available to you at no cost.

• Introduction to Trauma-Informed Practice
• Neurobiology of Trauma
• Impact of Trauma at the Organizational Level
• Stigma and Substance Use
• The Colonial Impacts of Trauma on Indigenous Peoples

Additional resources

• TIP Reflective Journal: This resource is meant to support participant reflection throughout this course.
• TIP Manager Huddle Resource: This resource is supportive to teams to continue conversations about how principles of Trauma Informed practice can be integrated into practice and service.
• TIP Sources and Reference List: This resource is a list of cited sources with additional learning links.

To increase knowledge of human development with a focus on children and youth. Learn skills and strategies to support and provide knowledge of how substance use and mental health disorders affect human development.

• Introduction to MHSU Developmental Pathways
• Improving Engagement in Care
• Stress and Resilience Though the Lifespan
• Being Attachment Informed
• Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences and Being Trauma Informed
• Understanding Early Brain Development
• Developmental Milestones and Mental Wellbeing
• Executive Function and Self-Regulation