Evergreen: Creating a Child and Youth Mental Health Framework for Canada

Mental disorders affect many young Canadians, and most do not access care, partly because of lack of health policy–driven programs and services. Recognizing this policy need, the Child and Youth Advisory Committee of the Mental Health Commission of Canada created Evergreen: A Child and Youth Mental Health Framework for Canada. Evergreen was designed as a framework to guide development, implementation, and review of child and youth mental health policies, plans, and services across Canada. This Open Forum report describes the framework and the innovative features used to create Evergreen, including the advisory committee structure, application of qualitative research methods and tools, informed public input, and use of online collaborative writing technologies.