For Professionals

Vision Statement

A caring community working together for children and youth.
 

Mission Statement

Nexus Youth Services creates opportunities for youth by providing high quality services that are inclusive and responsive to the needs and voices of youth.

To fulfill our vision and mission, we do everything we can to meet the needs of the youth that we serve. We are always looking for new ways to make our services better. The following values and philosophy guide the work that we do.
 

Our Values

• Flexible
• Accessible
• Responsive
• Accountable
• Efficient
• Respectful
• Effective
• Continuity of Service

 

Who We Are

Nexus Youth Services is a community-based, publicly funded, mental health agency serving youth.  We have a strategic alliance with Peel Children’s Centre and are accountable to an elected, voluntary shared Board of Directors.  As a youth-serving agency, Nexus Youth Services is committed to youth engagement practice and is dedicated to:

• improving the well-being of youth who are experiencing, or may experience, a range of emotional difficulties, by building on the strengths of the individual, the community and whenever possible or desired, the family;
• providing services on a voluntary basis, that are free of charge, in a manner that engages youth in all aspects of their treatment and involvement in Nexus Youth Service programming;
• delivering services that celebrates diversity, strengthens youth leadership, and promotes positive development of youth on their path toward independence;
• ensuring youth enter service through a single seamless point of access;
• delivering service using a multidisciplinary approach that upholds the core principles of youth engagement;
• evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of our clinical services to improve the quality of services delivered, and ensure that the needs of youth are being met;
• sharing with other community agencies the responsibility and opportunity to provide coordinated services, to improve awareness of mental health issues, and to advocate for an optimal service delivery system.

 

Who Nexus Can Serve

Services are available to youth between 14 and 24 years of age, residing in Peel Region, who are experiencing, or may experience, a range of emotional, social and/or behavioural difficulties. These youth may be: experiencing concerns in their social relationships; at risk of losing or having lost their place in the home and/or school; experiencing a mental health crisis, violence, alcohol/substance abuse, emotional and/or sexual abuse; addressing the onset of adult psychiatric disorders; and/or are marginalized.  A continuum of services is available to address this broad range of needs providing an opportunity to partner with youth in a timely and responsive manner to address the concerns they have identified.
 

Overview of Services

Nexus Youth Services provides two primary programs:

The Community Counselling program offers individual, evidence-informed counselling rooted in youth engagement practices.  Catering to the unique needs of youth and young adults, this service builds on individual strengths to develop coping skills to enable a smooth transition into adulthood with minimal or no familial involvement.  Youth meet with the clinical staff at a mutually agreeable location, usually at the main office, Nexus Youth Centre (NYC), or another community location that meets the youth’s needs. Entry to counselling is through a single session model called Step One to Success (SOS). A plan to achieve goals is centered on the youth’s needs, wishes and preferences. Some of the recommended interventions may be seamlessly accessed through Nexus Youth Centre’s formal programs (such as life-skills or social groups).

Located in the Mississauga Central Library, Nexus Youth Centre (NYC) offers drop-in services, and formal programming through the utilization of youth engagement strategies.  At NYC, youth can meet peers in a safe, welcoming place; participate in a wide range of activities to improve their social skills; learn strategies to cope with the challenges of their daily lives; and improve their job and leadership skills. Through both informal individual counselling and formal programming including groups, youth have access to a range of services dealing with social competence, diversity, and skill development. Youth engagement strategies focus on youth developing leadership skills to engage them in meaningful opportunities through their involvement at NYC. As part of this approach, an active youth engagement working group assists in developing relevant programming, and participates in decision-making processes to further the exposure and services of NYS within the Peel community.

Collaborative partnerships with community agencies, committees and planning tables support and enhance clinical service for youth in Peel. Where possible, NYS provides support and leadership to other agencies and groups working to engage youth, sharing successes and lessons learned from our youth engagement efforts to date.   

Pour en savoir davantage sur les services offerts en français, veuillez cliquer ici.
 

Evidence-Based Clinical Services

Mental health research informs the type of interventions that can provide optimal treatment outcomes. Nexus Youth Services avails itself of opportunities to participate in, learn and implement both empirically based and evidence-informed emerging practices. Using research to guide clinical work optimizes best practices through which clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based/evidence-informed interventions can be merged. Knowledge uptake and implementation of evidence-based/evidence-informed practices are at the core of our commitment to offer high quality children’s mental health intervention. Training is available to staff to increase their knowledge, understanding and capacity to implement these informed interventions.

Three evidence-based/evidence-informed practices have been the focus of training and implementation efforts: Youth Engagement strategies, Single Session Therapy (SST) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
 

Our Commitment to Quality

At Nexus Youth Services, our staff and volunteers want to make a difference in the lives of youth and their families. We want to make sure that our treatments work. And we are always trying to improve our services.

We have a plan called QUEST©, which is short for QUality Enhancement STrategy. There are several parts to this plan.

• We measure the results of what we do to make sure that our treatments work.
• We take part in studies, or research, with universities.
• We have training for our mental health workers and for other workers in the community to help them keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date.
• When youth finish with our services, we ask them to tell us how well we did.
• We also ask other services in our community to tell us how well we are doing.

When we ask you about our services, please give us your honest opinions. Your advice helps us make sure we give youth the best possible service and treatment.
 

Our Clinical Philosophy

The foundation of providing client-centred, strengths-based approach at Nexus Youth Services (NYS) is rooted in youth engagement practice and committed to:

• ensuring that client needs are overarching and central to directing all clinical activities;
• being responsive to the needs of youth, including their safety and emotional well-being, by providing the least intrusive most engaging, relevant, and effective service;
• considering the whole context of the individual, offering diverse, culturally competent services designed to meet the needs of youth where they are at and ensure that services provided are respectful and affirming including providing treatment in the youth’s first language;  in partnership with youth, ensure that their cultural beliefs and experiences are valued and incorporated into services that meet their diverse and changing needs;
• providing accessible mental health services with individualized intervention for each and every youth;
• engaging youth in a meaningful way in all aspects of their involvement including but not limited to treatment, planning, implementing and evaluating services; 
• keeping families informed and involved in the treatment of their youth where possible and  clinically meaningful;
• working with youth to maintain a safe family connection; 
• preparing youth on a path towards independence by offering opportunities for increased leadership throughout Nexus;
• a multi-disciplinary, team approach to providing service, recognizing that practitioners from different disciplines are valued members of the youth’s team
• being responsive to the needs of youth by providing opportunities for continuous youth feedback to deliver the most engaging, relevant and effective service;
• collecting feedback in a consistent manner and on a regular basis from youth and other stakeholders to ensure that services are continually improved; 
• working with youth to measure outcomes to ensure the effectiveness of our services;
• the principle of inclusion-service is provided to all youth with varying abilities;
• promoting advocacy for youth to reduce the  stigma of mental health;
• reciprocation of knowledge uptake and knowledge exchange between youth and Nexus staff to ensure that youth have access to evidence-based, evidence informed practices, emerging and innovative practices to improve services, aid in planning, and support policy development;
• partnering in collaborative community initiatives to enrich opportunities and ensure continuity of care for youth who need to access additional programs or services to meet their needs.
• engaging youth to take on active roles in stigma reduction, health promotion, and advocacy throughout Peel
• providing engagement opportunities for youth to meaningfully participate in decision making processes within the agency’s governance structure, ensuring that the ideas and opinions of youth help inform the services at NYS.

 

How We Are Governed

Since 1996, NYS has operated within a mutually beneficial Strategic Alliance with Peel Children's Centre (PCC). Together, NYS and PCC provide continuity of service for youth as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Both agencies achieve cost savings by combining Board governance and administrative services, while NYS benefits from PCC's larger infrastructure, including centralized intake, multi-disciplinary consultations, program evaluation and professional training.
 
NYS and PCC are governed by a Board of Directors. The Directors are community volunteers who are elected at the PCC/NYS Annual General Meeting. The Board of Directors for 2019/20 is as follows:
 

• Ms. Guneet Hansrani, President
• Ms. Jessica Roselli, Vice-President
• Ms. Karen Adams, Secretary/Treasurer 
• Mr. Nkunda Kabateraine 
• Mr. Nainesh Kotak
• Ms. Cathy Kwiatkoski 
• Mr. Rory McNabb
• Ms. Susan Mohos
• Ms. Elaine Moore
• Mr. Gopala Narayanan
• Ms. Wendy Peyer 
• Ms. Sue Prouse

 
NYS is a charity that meet the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency, which administers federal tax laws for the Government of Canada (www.cra-arc.gc.ca). The charitable business number for NYS is 13039 7631 RR0001.The Registered Charity Information Returns for Nexus Youth Services are available for viewing on the Canada Revenue Agency website. Nexus Youth Services's audited financial statements are posted on this page (top right). 

NYS is an officially regonized, or accredited, child and youth mental health agency that meets the accreditation requirements for Children's Mental Health Ontario. 

NYS had complied with the requirement of the Ontario government's Broader Public Sector Expenses Directive to post the organization's rules with respct to travel, meals, and hospitality expenses on the organization's website. NYS has also complied with the Ontario government's requirements to post our Customer Service Standard in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).