About the guide

Hear me, Understand me, Support me: What young women want you to know about depression

This guide is an invitation for you to join us as allies of young women in preventing depression and providing support to those who experience its effects.

We invite you to use this guide to initiate a dialogue with the young women in your circle of influence. We realize that this is just the beginning. Hear Me, Understand Me, Support Me just touches on the diverse realities of young women today; and there may be issues that it does not cover that are relevant to the young women you serve. We hope that this guide will inspire you to engage with those young women to explore their unique issues more closely.

As you have read, our experience with the VALIDITY♀ project has taught us that involving young women in meaningful ways provides authenticity. Our former Youth Team Coordinator, Danah Beaulieu, described the process this way:

There is an entire dynamic - energy created when young women come together and are creative; more importantly there are these things that ignite within the young women, within themselves when participating . . . the sense of contribution, accomplishment, feeling a part of something special, self-worth, self-esteem, acknowledgement, fun, acceptance, freedom . . .

Our principle of involving young women every step of the way has allowed us to find “true north” - we hope that you too will use this principle in your work.

Within the guide we explore diverse challenges that young women experience in relation to depression; prevention strategies; healthy helping relationships; the dos and don’ts of working with young women; and referrals and resources that can provide more information. Each section has three key features: “Hear Me,” “Understand Me” and “Support Me.”

The “Hear Me” section provides quotes from young women describing their feelings and perspectives. We invite you to read their full stories in the section “In Their Words: Young Women’s Stories, Advice and Wisdom.”

The “Understand Me” section offers insight and information - gathered from CAMH members of the VALIDITY♀ team, clinicians and researchers - related to the respective topics.

The “Support Me” section gives tips, strategies and resources to help young women.

For example:

• suggestions for supporting young women with low incomes ( Unspoken Challenges )
• a chart listing issues to consider in talking with young women ( The Last Word - From CAMH members of the VALIDITY♀ team )
• the “My Health, My Life” framework ( Girl-Centred Health - Determinants of Young Women's Health ).

It also provides examples of successful initiatives that young women and service providers recommend ( e.g. Girls Talk; Girls’ Nite ).

The following lists will help you find resources and practical information on specific issues.

Resources

(All links in the Resources section go to A Critical Link - Referrals and Additional Resources).

• Referrals
• Telephone support
• CAMH resources
• Other print resources
• Other web-based and telephone resources
• Resources for doctors and nurses in primary care settings

Practical Tips and Resources (By Issue)

• Ableism
• Anger
• Concurrent disorders
• Cultural expectations
• Determinants of young women’s health
• Family communication and dynamics
• Friendship, intimacy, fitting in and peer/social pressure
• Homophobia
• Low income and poverty
• Prevention
• Stigma
• Racism
• Recognizing depression
• Relationships
• Sizism, body image and the media
• Therapeutic relationship
• Trauma
• Talk therapy and medication

We believe that within this guide you will find a community of committed allies who are working toward creating healthy environments and providing support for young women experiencing depression. We acknowledge that there are many barriers and challenges that you will face in addressing systemic, socio-cultural issues - but remember that you are not alone!

Note: This guide is copyright, but because we hope it will reach as many people as possible, you may freely copy and share any part of the guide as long as you do not charge for it. Please see the copyright page for more information.

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