IT MATTERS TO ME: INFORMING YOUTH SERVICES DELIVERY
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Section Two: Significance In this section, I discuss the significance of how this ELP contributed to a systems change to the Surrey youth services system. The impact this project had on the Surrey community members, my project partner, and myself are also outlined in this section. The purpose of this ELP was to support a transformative system change for young people accessing youth support in Surrey, BC. Shifting to an integrated youth service delivery model encourages better experiences for young people between the ages 12–24 as they transition into adulthood (Graham Boeckh Foundation, 2019). Currently, Surrey has the largest youth population in the province, with 45% of its residents being under the age of 24 (Statistics Canada, 2017). There is a worldwide renown trend that adolescence are the most underserved group when it comes to accessing required services to support their health (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009). BC is not immune to this issue; it is estimated that 84,000 (70%) of our young people struggled with a mental disorder, such as anxiety, depression, suicide ideation, and others, yet were not able to receive required mental health support (Waddell, Shepherd, Schwartz, & Barican, 2014). In their strategic priority plan for 2018–2021, the Fraser Health Authority (2018) identified their commitment to supporting a more developed strategy in Surrey to support youth accessing health services. The combination of all this evidence led me to working with my project partner to explore the redesign of our current youth services system. The literature supporting this ELP and the data gathered through both the online survey and the focus group revealed an urgent need to implement a strategy that would significantly improve the current state of how young people access services in Surrey. Evidence informed the current state for our youth as bleak and hopeless if nothing changes (Nguyen et al., 2019). Evidence presented that the mental health crisis amongst youth continues is on a steady rise, with the highest
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