On Friday at North Bay youth safe space OUTLoud, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli met with representatives from Lived Experience Recovery Network (LERN) to formally congratulate them on the work they've achieved since receiving a $225,700 Grow grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) in 2020.
The three-year-long grant was awarded to help LERN deliver a free Youth Peer Support Training (YPST) program for young people between the ages of 12 and 24 living in the Nipissing and Muskoka–Parry Sound districts.
“The Lived Experience and Recovery Network is a valued part of our community. The Ontario government is proud to make investments through the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Grow grant that make meaningful contributions to mental health and addiction supports in our region,” said Fedeli. “Through peer support program training, youth provide inspiration for others to grow and prosper.”
At the meeting, Fedeli and Ishmael Van Der Rassel, an OTF volunteer, heard from representatives from LERN about how this program has trained and certified 47 individuals who completed the Brief Introduction to Peer Support Training. Funds from the grant have been used to deliver the program by assisting with staffing and administrative costs, as well as developing information materials, doing translations, promotion and website design.
See related: Teamwork makes the dream work in training youth to support peers
OUTLoud has been a supportive partner in bringing the program to youth in the community. In 2022, Seth Compton, OUTLoud's founder and executive director said, "It's been a rough two years. Covid, isolation, online learning, all of those things have played a huge part in the state of mental health in our kids today," observes Compton. "This is a great opportunity for us to work toward creating healthier children."
The lead trainers for the project LERN's Kari Sterling and Erin Russell, certified Peer Support Core Competencies Trainers and Peer Support Workers. Both bring lived experience in trauma and youth mental health to the training sessions.
“Having the skills and knowledge to best support others reduces barriers and stigma associated in the mental health and substance use communities,” said Sterling, LERN's regional director. “Empowering and training these youth now as Peer Support Ambassadors is paving the way to a healthy future for all.”
Lived Experience Recovery Network is a non-profit organization that links, supports, and educates all peer support membership-driven organizations across Northeast Ontario. LERN empowers communities toward wellness and recovery, specifically through peer support lived/living experience(s) in mental health and
addiction-substance use.
Training youth and having them support others within the community is extremely important and has been very impactful, according to LERN. Since the start of the training, more youth are meaningfully engaged in the community and those facing barriers are now volunteering in leadership roles. These youth report having increased confidence in supporting themselves and others and can skillfully recognize how best to support others through struggles they encounter including crisis and distress.
Members of the June 2024 cohort of Youth Peer Support Training Program attendees shared their experiences upon completion of the YPST program:
- “It has given me more to think about and sparked the idea of being a peer support worker.”
- “It gave me more tools and more confidence to address situations at volunteering and daily life.”
- “It made connecting and supporting others more explicit in the steps that are involved. I learned new strategies for interacting and sharing with others that apply not only to peer support but to other dimensions of my life.”
LERN "appreciates the Ontario Trillium Foundation for recognizing the importance of this grant and granting us these funds to deliver this exceptional three-year project to train these youth and to see them grow exponentially from the training and the work they are doing to support others."
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Ontario government with a mission to build healthy and vibrant communities across the province. Last year, OTF invested more than $110M into 1,044 community projects and multi-sector partnerships. Projects aim to enhance economic well-being, foster more active lifestyles, support child and youth development, provide spaces for people to come together and connect, and create a more sustainable environment.
Visit otf.ca to learn more.
For more information about LERN’s Youth Peer Support Training Program and to register, visit: livedexperience.org
- The next training dates in North Bay are August 21–22 (ages 18 – 24)
- The next training dates in Rosseau are October 24–25 (ages 12-18)