Co-Designing the Core Components of a Youth and Family Mental Health and Addictions Navigation Program to Advance Integrated Care

Background: “Core components” – the indispensable, non-negotiable elements of an innovation – are fundamental to effective program implementation. To serve as a worked example and establish our own internal guiding principles, the Family Navigation Project (FNP) applied an innovative approach to identify the core components. FNP supports youth and families in accessing and transitioning through the mental health and addictions system, advancing integrated care by streamlining entry points and enhancing communication among healthcare providers.

 

Approach: Key FNP interest-holders (youth and family advisory councils, management, front-line staff, researchers, and operational team) participated in a collaborative co-design process. Through a structured, five-step approach we collectively identified, refined, and validated FNP’s core components:

(1)Identification and extraction of preliminary component sources: Review of existing literature and program artifacts (e.g., program logic models, strategic plans, mission/vision/value statements) for initial core component generation. Consultation with two FNP frontline staff members provided insights about theoretical and practical aspects of FNP services. Initial ideas about core components were documented and organized.

 

(2)Knowledge generation and interest-holder input: Interest-holders were asked, “What makes FNP, FNP?” To answer this question, interest-holders first independently listed their ideas, then shared their ideas in small groups. Groups were asked to collectively prioritize their top five ideas, followed by a large, open discussion to gather opinions, insights, and feedback.

 

(3)Conceptual analysis and core component identification: Collective ideas were consolidated and placed onto a Mapping Board, where the research team could visually organize and interpret the data. Individual ideas were systematically sorted into broader concepts/themes, which consisted of placing similar ideas together, identifying recurring language, and clustering overlapping concepts. Emerging clusters were labelled with preliminary core component names, each accompanied by corresponding a definition outlining its specific contribution to FNP.

 

(4)Member checking: Interest-holders reviewed the preliminary core components and corresponding definitions, providing feedback through annotations and group discussions.

 

(5)Finalization: Through multiple, iterative rounds of revisions, interest-holder feedback was integrated into preliminary core components to refine the document. The final version was shared with each FNP interest-holder group to communicate results and gather feedback.

 

Results: Eight core components were identified: championing equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-oppressive practices; rooted in the lived experiences of youth and families; interdisciplinary collaboration; relationship-based care; expert guidance of the mental health and addictions systems; personalized care pathways; low barrier; and compassionate persistence. Collectively, these core components depict the comprehensive approach to integrated care embedded in FNP, and will be elucidated in the presentation.

 

Implications: These core components represent the foundation of FNP, ensuring innovation integrity is maintained as it scales and spreads. The documented co-design process used to develop the core components provides a model that other healthcare innovations can adopt to define their own essential features. By drawing on interdisciplinary collaboration, this approach ensures the core components are comprehensive and well-rounded, rather than reflecting the perspective of a single group. In doing so, it demonstrates integrated care in action through a collaborative, thoughtful design process where all experiences and knowledge are valued and included.