Overview

Background: The Do You Mind? program is adapted from the successful community health leadership program Totally Outright, but with a focus on community-based mental health promotion. Participants and program partners will be equipped with knowledge and skills to develop novel community mental health promotion projects. The objectives for these projects will be to improve the mental health and well-being of queer and trans youth in their communities, while also generating knowledge of best practices to share with the broader public health sector.

If learning about mental health and developing skills to promote mental health in your community excites you (or you’re an organization or researcher interested in helping to develop such leaders) then Do You Mind? is the program for you!

At a glance

Do You Mind? is a participatory, capacity-building health leadership program for 2SLGBTQ+ youth with a focus on community-based mental health promotion. Over a range of sessions, participants complete a series of interactive workshops with other community members and community leaders to develop a critical understanding of gender and sexual minority health. They learn practical strategies for health promotion including storytelling, listening, and community care. Upon completion of this core training, Do You Mind? provides participants with opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills by developing their own community mental health promotion projects in partnership with local organizations in their cities/regions.

The primary objectives of Do You Mind? follow an asset-based approach to:

Build connections between participants through ongoing group participation in a community health leadership program
Improve health literacy through education sessions which cover a range of mental health topics
Train in practical skills through capacity building exercises which enhance community health promotion skills
Empower to solve challenges in community through the collaborative development and delivery of participant-led pilot capstone projects aimed at improving 2SLGBTQ+ mental health in their community

These objectives are met through a multi-pronged program pathway which includes:

Core Curriculum (Community Health Foundations and Community-Based Health Promotion)
Community Mental Health Capstone Pilot Project Development & Delivery

Note: Do You Mind?’s curriculum includes a number of “core” sessions that local delivery partners are expected to deliver as a part of the program. Session materials are provided to program delivery partners and are highly adaptable to ensure they are relevant to the local context. In addition to this, there are a number of “open” sessions that partners can develop and deliver themselves based on their own strengths and local participant interests.

A core curriculum comprised of two domains

Domain One: Community Health Foundations

Domain One of the program is specifically focused on the objective of “Improving Mental Health Literacy.” Do You Mind? understands that one cannot address mental health (or any area of health for that matter) in a vacuum. Instead, social, mental, emotional, physical, and sexual health are intertwined, with each influencing and influenced by the others. Therefore, to respond to participant interests and the increasing understanding of these links, the Community Mental Health Foundations domain aims to provide an initial overview of such elements and consists of enhanced language, skills, and strategies for well-being relevant to 2SLGBTQ+ youth.

There are 12 unique modules across the following areas and/or broad themes of: Cultural Identity, Social Inclusion/Social Skills, and Emotional Literacy. Each of the modules are interactive, participant-centered, and community-building. It is important to note that delivery partners are only requested to deliver one or two modules from each of the broader areas/themes (a total of 6 to 8 modules at most), and not all twelve modules. Though if they want to deliver more, the resources are available!

Domain Two: Community-Based Health Promotion

In the first domain of the program, participants gained an understanding of mental health knowledge relevant to 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Participants were equipped with some mental health strategies they can utilize to centre their own health and wellness goals. The aim of the second domain is for participants to be able to share their knowledge and expand their focus on becoming mental health leaders within their broader communities.

Throughout this domain of the program, participants are introduced to the concept of health promotion, explore their understanding of what constitutes “community”, and are encouraged to link the two. Participants develop a shared definition of community-based health promotion which will guide their learning and efforts throughout the concluding sessions of the program. Participants then engage with local research(ers), community-based organizations, and individuals leading community-based health promotion work to enhance their understanding of the gaps, assets, challenges, and opportunities local 2SLGBTQ+ people experience. Participants then complete a series of activities with this enhanced understanding, and the foundation of knowledge gained throughout the first domain of the program. Through these activities, participants identify and prioritize a number of mental health challenges they wish to address through the development and implementation of their own self-determined community-based mental health promotion project.

The core curriculum culminates with a final session wherein participants take all of the knowledge, strategies, and skills learned and apply them through the development of community-based health promotion project concepts that respond to the health challenges they prioritized in the previous session. These concepts will provide the foundation for the projects that participants will further develop and then deliver to cap off the program.

Community Mental Health Capstone Pilot Project Development & Delivery

The project concept(s) participants develop at the end of curriculum delivery should provide valuable insight into the capstone pilot project participants will ultimately deliver. This phase of the program has proven to be exciting and empowering for both participants and delivery partners. It can look very different from site to site depending on delivery partner capacity, participant interest, program resources, and the local context. Therefore, it’s been built to be highly adaptable. Guidance on finding a community health intervention development and delivery pathway that works for a specific delivery partner’s local context is provided in the Do You Mind? facilitator guide, which can be accessed free of charge by program partners.

Note: All Do You Mind?’s program materials, including the facilitator guide and curriculum content will soon be available in both French and English language.

Dive Deeper: If you like what you’ve read, visit the Get Involved section of the site to contact CBRC to learn more about participating in or delivering the program. Otherwise, read on below to learn more about the impact of the program and to review past Do You Mind? capstone projects.