Advocate News

The Advocate has released her latest special report: “Stop Giving Me a Number and Start Giving Me a Person”: How 22 Girls Illuminate the Cracks in the Manitoba Youth Mental Health and Addiction System

The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth released her report titled “Stop Giving Me a Number and Start Giving Me a Person”: How 22 Girls Illuminate the Cracks in the Manitoba Youth Mental Health and Addiction System on May 7, National Youth Mental Health Day. The report dives into lessons learned from the suicide deaths of 22 Manitoba girls, ages 11-17. These girls were primarily from rural and northern Manitoba communities and died between 2013 and 2019. After investigating their deaths, the Advocate made seven recommendations to the provincial government on ways to fix its youth mental health and addictions systems and therefore improve children and youth’s wellbeing. The recommendations include spreading more equitable services around the province, releasing a public inventory of available therapeutic services and creating more acute services for children and youth with severe needs.

To read the full report, click here.

To read the news release, click here.

To read the Manitoba Advocate’s remarks, click here.