Who Cares? An ARAO Guide to Supporting Youth Mental Health

Over the past two decades, the Canadian Women's Foundation has invested in girls' and youth programming throughout the country to build self-esteem, resilience, and healthy relationships in response to the growing mental health crisis facing young people, particularly young girls and gender non-conforming youth. Today, the need for inclusive, trauma-informed, and equity-based support remains urgent, especially for Black, Indigenous, and racialized girls, as well as trans, two-spirit, nonbinary, and questioning youth who experience disproportionate rates of gender-based violence and systemic marginalization.  

In response to this critical need, the Canadian Women's Foundation partnered with New Room and Pure & Applied to design Who Cares? An ARAO Guide to Supporting Youth Mental Health—a self-paced, online training created specifically for youth-serving professionals and volunteers. Grounded in research conducted by Taylor Newberry Consulting, this e-course responds to the experiences of youth aged 9-13 who are often overlooked in mainstream mental health and GBV prevention frameworks.  

Co-developed with youth workers, Who Cares? combines anti-racist and anti-oppressive (ARAO) principles with trauma- and violence-informed approaches. The course supports participants in cultivating personal well-being, relational skill-building, and systemic awareness, while equipping them with practical tools to support the mental health of the young people they serve, especially those navigating intersecting experiences of violence, exclusion, and erasure.   

Learn more about the project. 

Who Cares? An ARAO Guide to Supporting Youth Mental Health is generously funded by the Tree of Life Foundation.