In the lead up to Bell Let’s Talk Day, the Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership today announced a $1.5 million donation to St. Paul’s Foundation in support of Foundry to continue to transform youth mental health in BC and share knowledge and best practices around Canada.
This donation will help to bolster Foundry’s Research team and its Knowledge Translation and Exchange (KTE) team over the next three years to improve integrated health and social services for youth and their families and caregivers in BC and support other emerging Integrated Youth Services (IYS) initiatives around the country and beyond.
Youth at Foundry Vancouver-Granville. Photo credit: Jeff Topham
This increased capacity within Foundry’s Research and KTE teams will enable the organization to translate and mobilize research findings as well as data and lessons learned from their 11 (soon to be 19) IYS centres and virtual services to continuously inform and improve services for youth and their families and caregivers.
Funding from the partnership will also give Foundry greater capacity to continue to support emerging IYS networks, sharing lessons learned and mobilizing knowledge that will help improve access to quality, integrated care and ultimately improve outcomes for all Canadian youth.
“We are so grateful for the Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership’s lifetime support of Foundry,” says Steve Mathias, Executive Directory at Foundry. “As we enter our seventh year, Foundry is at a pivotal moment in our organizational life cycle, with an extraordinary opportunity to translate and share our findings and learnings to benefit not only our network of centres and virtual services, but emerging IYS models across Canada and internationally.
This donation is integral in moving us closer to our vision of transforming youth health and social services. Together, we are supporting youth and their families and caregivers in living a good life.”
The gift is a part of the Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership’s $10M commitment to advance integrated systems of care for youth mental health across Canada through IYS. Cumulatively, Bell and the Graham Boeckh Foundation have contributed more than $3M in philanthropic support to St. Paul’s Foundation, helping to forge the Foundry provincial initiative.
“I am incredibly grateful to the Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership for this gift,” says Dan Nixon, Youth Engagement Specialist at Foundry. “It will allow Foundry’s research to continue to be a responsive, flexible and dynamic entity empowering youth voices to move evidence into practice quickly.
“With their support, Foundry’s research and knowledge exchange efforts will not only be cutting edge but will continue to ensure meaningful, accountable and intentional partnerships are built alongside youth, family and communities in BC.”
Foundry BC is grateful for the continued support of our partners, the Bell-Graham Boeck Foundation Partnership and St. Paul’s Foundation for enabling our work in integrated youth services.
To learn more about this exciting announcement, read the full news release here.
Media coverage:
$1.5M to explore best practices for youth mental health – CTV Vancouver interview with Dan Nixon, Engagement Specialist at Foundry
Bell Let’s Talk Day is January 26 – Join the conversation!
On Bell Let’s Talk Day, Bell donates 5 cents to Canadian mental health programs for every applicable text, local or long distance call, tweet or TikTok video using #BellLetsTalk, every Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube view of the Bell Let’s Talk Day video, and every use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat lens. All at no cost to participants beyond what they would normally pay their service provider for online or phone access.
About Bell Let’s Talk
The largest-ever corporate commitment to mental health in Canada, Bell Let’s Talk is focused on 4 key action pillars – Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research and Workplace Leadership -and is part of Bell for Better. Since its launch in 2010, Bell Let’s Talk has partnered with more than 1,300 organizations providing mental health services throughout Canada, including hospitals, universities, local community service providers and other care and research organizations. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Keywords: Bell Let’s Talk, Foundry BC, St. Paul’s Foundation, Graham Boeckh Foundation, Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership, integrated youth services, mental health, research, knowledge translation and exchange, youth mental health