Working Together for Better Care
The CMHO’s 2025-26 Impact Report
The need for child and youth mental health care in Ontario has never been greater. And the pressures on the system that provides it have never been more complex.
Children's Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) recently released its 2025–26 Impact Report, Working Together for Better Care, highlighting a year of collective progress—and an honest acknowledgement of the work still ahead. As Hamilton's Lead Agency for child and youth mental health, Lynwood Charlton Centre is proud to be part of this provincial network of publicly funded, community-based agencies working to strengthen care for infants, children, youth, and families.
This post explores the system pressures facing child and youth mental health care in Ontario—and what Lynwood Charlton Centre is doing to work inside those pressures to provide good care, every day.
The Pressures We Are Working Within
The CMHO report is clear: significant pressures remain.
Workforce sustainability.
Across Ontario, community-based mental health agencies are facing ongoing challenges in recruiting, retaining, and supporting the clinicians and staff who provide care. Training needs ongoing consultation and supervision. Agencies have different capacities to fund training, release staff from caseloads, and provide clinical supervision.
Access to care.
Families continue to face long wait times and complex pathways to services. While the 4% base funding increase for community mental health and addictions services was an important step, the demand for care continues to outpace available resources.
Equity and accountability.
CMHO's equity commitments need sustained implementation and clear ways to measure progress. Children, youth, and families experience barriers differently across communities, and a more accessible mental health system must respond to those differences.
Supporting families.
Families need consistent pathways to caregiver support. Parents and caregivers need support of their own as they help a child or young person navigate mental health challenges.
Youth voice.
Young people bring expertise that can help make mental health services more responsive to their needs. Creating meaningful opportunities for youth to shape policy and practice is essential—and ongoing.
As CMHO Board Chair Bashar Alrehany writes:
"Our role is to keep these needs connected to the decisions that determine the future of community care."
What Lynwood Charlton Centre is Doing
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we do not wait for the system to be perfect before providing good care. We work inside the pressures—with creativity, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to the children, youth, and families we serve.
Here is how we are doing that:
Centering Youth and Family Voices
CMHO's report highlights the importance of meaningful youth engagement—including the Youth Action Committee's Build With Us policy paper and toolkit, and the 1,146 families connected with peer support through Parents and Caregivers for Mental Health (PCMH).
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we are committed to centering youth and family voices in everything we do. From individual care plans to system-wide program design, we create meaningful opportunities for children, youth, and families to influence policies, programs, and practices. As CMHO's report reminds us: "Children, youth, and families bring irreplaceable expertise to their mental health journeys, and their insights shape how services evolve."
One example of this commitment in action is our Caregiver Connection support group.
Caring for a child or youth with mental health challenges or complex needs can feel isolating—like no one truly understands what your days look like. That is why we partnered with Children's Mental Health Ontario (Parents and Caregivers for Mental Health) and the Young Caregivers Association to offer a free, monthly support group for families, caregivers, and siblings.
While adults connect and share resources, siblings have their own dedicated space to build skills, meet peers, and enjoy fun activities in a supportive environment. It is a place to feel seen, heard, and supported—and a reminder that no caregiver has to do this alone.
Learn more about the Caregiver Connection support group here.
Investing in Our Workforce
CMHO's Provincial Training Initiative trained over 1,215 clinicians across 90 organizations and 10 Regional Training Networks this year. This coordinated provincial model helps address differences in agencies' capacities to fund training, release staff from caseloads, and provide clinical supervision.
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we invest in professional development and support for our frontline staff. We know that a supported workforce is essential for providing consistent, high-quality care. As CMHO's report notes: "A clinician needs the skills and support to respond to complex needs."
Advancing Equity and Anti-Racism
CMHO's work on equity—including the Provincial Health Equity Strategy and collaboration with partners—is intended to make differences part of system improvement. As the report states: "A more accessible mental health system must respond to the barriers that children, youth and families experience differently across communities."
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we champion Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Truth and Reconciliation (T&R) principles. We work to ensure that all children, youth, and families—especially marginalized communities—receive culturally safe, barrier-free care. This includes amplifying voices that are too often unheard: those of Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, newcomer, Francophone, Northern, and low-income youth.
Connecting Services Around Children and Families
CMHO's report highlights the importance of collaboration—working across service boundaries and connecting services around children and families. As the report notes: "A community agency needs its experience reflected in provincial decisions."
As Hamilton's Lead Agency, we are responsible not only for providing care, but for ensuring that care is coordinated, accessible, and equitable across our entire community. We connect young people to the right services at the right time through our Access and System Navigation (ASN) team. We partner with schools, healthcare providers, child welfare organizations, and community partners. And we work alongside Hamilton's Core Service Providers to create a seamless system of care.
Supporting Caregivers
CMHO's PCMH program supported 1,146 families across Ontario with 684 hours of direct volunteer support this year. As the report states: "Parents and caregivers need support of their own as they help a child or young person navigate mental health challenges."
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we support caregivers through counselling, parent coaching, and respite resources. We know that a supported caregiver is essential for a supported child. And we are committed to ensuring that families have access to the resources and connections they need to flourish.
Leading with Evidence and Innovation
CMHO's report highlights the importance of following funding with evidence and making provincial developments useful locally. As the report notes: "Training needs ongoing consultation and supervision."
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we use evidence-based treatment approaches proven through research and practice. We track what matters—not just symptoms, but functioning, resilience, and quality of life. We regularly review data to adjust care plans, because healing is not linear, and neither should treatment be. And we contribute to research that improves treatment programs, clinical practices, and the broader field of child and youth mental health.
The Work Ahead
CMHO's report is honest about the work ahead. As CEO Emily Foster writes: "The progress in these pages must be sustained through investment in people, meaningful youth and family partnerships, and services that work together around a child's needs."
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we share that commitment. Our 2025-29 Strategic Plan reflects our dedication to:
Strengthening our foundations—our workforce, services, and partnerships
Investing in what works—evidence, innovation, and equality
Building for tomorrow—expanding access, impact, and hope
We know that meaningful change happens through partnership. By working alongside families, caregivers, service providers, and the community, we create a unified system of care that puts children and youth first.
A Final Thought
The pressures on child and youth mental health care are real. But so is the progress. And so is the commitment of the people who show up every day to provide care, support families, and advocate for change.
As CMHO's report reminds us:
"A stronger system starts with the people in it."
At Lynwood Charlton Centre, we are proud to be part of that system—and proud to work alongside CMHO and our partners across Ontario to build a future where every infant, child, youth, and family can access the care they need.
If you are concerned about a child or youth's mental health, Lynwood Charlton Centre is here to help. Contact our Access and System Navigation team to learn more about our free services for children, youth, and families in Hamilton.
To read CMHO's full 2025–26 Impact Report, visit:
