Photo caption: The team that leads Recovery College, Post‑Secondary Recovery College and Recovery High School programs.
For six years, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) has used co-design, a model that centres the voices of people with lived experience, to shape its Post-Secondary Recovery College courses. That same approach now guides its Recovery College and Recovery High School programming, creating supports with, not for, the people who use them.
Recent Canadian research shows co-design is becoming more common in youth mental health programming, especially in virtual formats shaped directly by people with lived experience.* The continued expansion of virtual mental health services in Canada is improving access and complementing clinical care by reducing barriers such as distance, transportation and scheduling.**
The Recovery High School’s newly launched Building Better Relationships virtual workshop series reflects this shift. Developed with youth advisors, the program focuses on communication and emotional awareness; skills young people identified as central to their recovery. Youth contributors also helped determine how the sessions should feel, from tone to pacing, and emphasized that virtual delivery made participation more realistic alongside school and daily life.
Caregivers played a similar role in creating Caregiving for the Caregiver of Adolescents, a virtual education and support series designed around the practical and emotional realities of supporting a young person through mental health challenges. Caregivers emphasized the need for navigational tools, communication strategies and a space to share experiences, and that virtual access was essential for maintaining involvement amid work and family demands.
A peer-supported group for individuals who have lost someone to suicide is also in development, shaped by a recent survey of people with lived experience of suicide loss. Respondents described feeling isolated and underserved, and their feedback is now informing every aspect of the group’s design. Delivering the program virtually will allow more people to access support privately and safely.
Across these offerings, Ontario Shores’ Recovery College and Recovery High School are embedding co-design as a core principle rather than a final-step consultation. Paired with virtual formats, the model is helping the organization reach more people and develop supports that feel relevant, resonant and easier to access.
These programs do not replace clinical care; they complement it, opening more flexible pathways into recovery and supporting people where and how they need it most.