Let's Talk Poster

Objectives

The Let’s Talk poster is the culmination of 2 years of inspiring work with young women and professionals. Young women have said, “we don’t want to be treated, we want to be heard”. The VALIDITY♀ (Vibrant Action Looking Into Depression in Today’s Young Women) team listened, and set to work on developing a poster aimed at service providers working with young women. The purpose of the poster is to:

Encourage girls/young women and service providers to consider their/girls' health from a holistic standpoint
Raise awareness with service providers about the fact that various factors (including the social determinants of health) impact young women's well-being
Encourage service providers to ask about and listen to girls/young women talk about various aspects of their lives that might be impacting their health
Encourage young women to talk to service providers about what's going on in their lives

Why should you put this poster in your workspace?

Professionals who use the poster have told us that it acts as an excellent conversation starter with young women. Often young women come for help for difficult issues and by using this poster; it helps them to open up and start talking. Talking is what young women want to do and it’s up to service providers like you to really listen.

Enjoy this fabulous resource!

Promotes Holistic Approach for Young Women

“Let’s talk. I’m more than what you see.”

That message headlines a striking new poster from CAMH’s Validity♀ project intended to encourage health care service providers to take a more holistic approach in their work with young women. Staff unveiled the poster at an event at CAMH marking International Women’s Day, where more than 200 service providers and other stakeholders participated in a webinar on issues and challenges facing young women today.

The poster is a new tool from Validity♀ (Vibrant Action Looking Into Depression In Today’s Young Women), a participatory research project developed by CAMH regional staff and driven by young women to empower them to share their experiences and contribute to our body of knowledge about depression.

“We really wanted to develop a tool that was useful and practical … that would encourage service providers to consider young women’s health from a holistic standpoint,” said Cheryl Vrkljan, CAMH Program Consultant for West Central Provincial Services, adding that the intention is to raise awareness that many factors, including the social determinants of health, impact the health and well-being of young women.

“We want to encourage service providers to ask young women what’s going in their lives,” Cathy said.

The poster follows on the guide Hear Me, Understand Me, Support Me developed to explore the many challenges in working with young women to cope with depression and other mental health challenges. Service providers told VALIDITY staff they wanted more information to apply to their work with young women, and it was young women who were consulted in diverse focus groups across Ontario to design the content of the poster, which is the fore-runner to another tool being developed for launch later this year.

For Crystal Chin, one of the young women who consulted on the poster and figures in one of the photos, it’s a much-needed development.

“I think it’s great, something we really need. I think it’s really important as a young woman, that our voices are heard in all aspects of our health care,” Crystal said.

Ordering Information

You may download the poster from our site or send an e-mail to Cheryl_Vrkljan@camh.net. Also available in French, click here for the French version.

Let's Talk Poster

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