Northern Perspectives, Northern Realities

Presentation by Andy Langford on northern perspectives and northern realities.

About the conference

We hosted the first Canadian Consensus Conference on the Mental Health of Emerging Adults: Making Transitions a Priority in Canada in 2015 to create an open dialogue and generate a broad consensus on their unique mental health needs. Facilitated by our Knowledge Exchange Centre, the conference brought together 200 emerging adults, their families and caregivers, service providers, and policy makers from across the country stakeholders from across the country to develop a consensus statement with concrete recommendations to  advance policy and services for EAs in Canada. The conference Jury and EA panel identified a number of foundational characteristics of a reformed system – one that is better able to meet the mental health and problematic substance use needs of emerging adults.

About Andy Langford

Andy Langford, M.A., R. Psych Andy Langford has worked in the Northwest Territories public service for 34 years, in a career that has spanned clinical service delivery, program management, and executive leadership. He is currently the statutory director of child and family services and the executive lead responsible for mental health and addictions programs. As the legal parent for youth in permanent government care, Andy is all too familiar with the systemic barriers to service delivery young people can face as they make the transition to adulthood. He is well-versed in the administrative, political and cultural dynamics of the NWT.