The BEAM (Better access to and integration of mental health and addiction services) Navigation Study: Community-based implementation in Sudbury-Manitoulin, Canada

Background: Since 2013, the Family Navigation Project (FNP) has helped youth and families in the Greater Toronto Area navigate the complex mental health and addictions (MHA) system. FNP is an integrated youth MHA system navigation model, focusing on barrier reduction, inter-professional collaboration, and expert guidance through the MHA system. FNP is implementing its services in districts in northern Ontario, including Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, and Manitoulin (henceforth referred to as Sudbury-Manitoulin). This region experiences considerable health disparities and challenges with integration of MHA care for youth and families. For example, rates of youth ED usage for MHA concerns and youth deaths by suicide are the highest in the province.

 

 

Furthermore, there exist regional challenges regarding lack of availability and/or accessibility of appropriately intensive MHA care and support options. Local advocates have expressed the community’s desire for an integrated youth MHA system navigation service for many years, and have partnered with the Family Navigation Project to bring this support to the region.

 

Approach: This community-based participatory research study is grounded in Implementation Science, guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The project is four years long (currently in year 2) and is funded by a federal research grant and philanthropic donors. Local partners include youth mental health agencies, a hospital, an Indigenous health centre, a rural/northern health research centre, parent and youth advocacy and support groups, and individual patient partners. Relationship-building and sustainment with these partners is continuous, along with ongoing relationship-building with new community partners that express interest in the project. Phase one of the research focused on pre-implementation needs assessment, discovery, and planning, and included literature review, environmental scanning, and experience-based co-design of the locally adapted navigation service model. Phase 1 concluded in autumn 2025.

 

Phase two will implement the program and assess outcomes through a mixed-methods, adaptive pragmatic clinical trial to be launched in mid-2026. As with the navigation program to be implemented, clinical trial processes and measurement tools will be co-developed with community representatives.

 

Results: Results to be shared will highlight how CBPR and Implementation Science have informed research and operational activities, as well as outcomes to date of these approaches. The implementation process is intentionally slow and methodical to foster trust, build strong relationships, and transparently communicate with diverse local interest-holders, which has resulted in deep and extensive engagement with the community.

 

Alignment with the CFIR has ensured that the integrated youth MHA navigation model is co-developed, adapted for and responsive to the local context, and sustainable. This community-based and implementation science-informed approach to the project phases have helped ensure the integrated youth MHA system navigation model to be implemented and evaluated reflects shared community values.

 

Implications: This project centers meaningful engagement, partnerships, and relationship-building with communities to ensure local relevance, trust, and sustainability. This work will result in an implementation toolkit to enable further spread of the FNP’s model of integrated youth MHA system navigation, ensuring integrated and positive care experiences for youth and families in a range of local contexts and settings.