Transition Stream FAQs

A Transition Coach will work with the young person and their clinical supports to help the young peson get connected to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Adult Mental Health and Addictions Programs or to our community partners. This might include connecting the young person with services and treatments that meet their mental health goals, helping them prepare for appointments, and supporting good communication between the youg person, their supports, and service providers.  Transition support is ongoing and may include ongoing check-in appointments until you feel well connected to the adult system and feel confident to navigate the adult world on your own. If a young person is just starting to have difficulties with mental health issues, perhaps our Early Intervention Stream would be more suitable.

Transition Support is intended for those young people facing the most significant barriers to staying connected while transitioning from child to adult mental health services. This means that they are already (currently, or in the past 12 months) receiving intensive, specialized mental health support.  They likely have one or several mental illness diagnoses, and will require ongoing support for some time yet.

Transition stream referrals are accepted from our community partners to support youth who have complex mental health needs or who are at risk of falling through the cracks as they transition from child to adult mental health services. Our key community partners in Hamilton are:

• Child and Adolescent Services
• Contact Hamilton
• Lynwood Charlton Centre
• McMaster Children’s Hospital

We also accept referrals from similar agencies outside of Hamilton working with youth who are transitioning to adult mental health and addictions services in Hamilton.

Traditionally, a person would turn 18 and be discharged from their child/ adolescent service.  Then they would wait to be accepted into an adult program, sometimes for many months. The Youth Wellness Centre designed the Transition Support Stream to provide assistance for young people facing this gap.  The transition then becomes a planned, uninterrupted and intentionally overlapping experience for young people with mental health difficulties.

Transition Support is based on the Health Navigator Model.  In this approach, the “navigator” helps someone to understand the various parts of a complicated system, and assists and advocates so they can make best use of the various options and treatments.  The Transition Coach at Youth Wellness Centre will be the navigator for young people who are “aging out” of child and adolescent mental health and addiction services.  The Transition Coach will encourage cooperation and communication between the youth, their supports, and service providers.

In order for a young person to start the Transition Support Stream, the child/adolescent Service must commit to ongoing involvement, even after an adult service has been started.  The amount of overlap time is not set and can change depending on circumstances; however, must be at least several months at minimum.  Ideally, the connection to our Transition Support Stream is made well before the youth is 18 (when they are 16 or 17 years old).

The Transition Support Stream is not a comprehensive clinical service and cannot take the place of one.  The Transition Coach helps connect young people to the right service in the adult system, but does not provide any direct clinical care.

The Youth Wellness Centre is part of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, the regional lead in mental health care. What we offer is helping youth navigate the mental health services available by connecting them with one of our community partners or referring them directly to an adult mental health service that is right for them at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.