Step Up Step Down
Step Up Step Down is a bilingual live-in-treatment program for youth aged 12 to 17 with complex mental health needs by the Youth Services Bureau (YSB), CHEO, and Le CAP, three partners of the Kids Come First Health Team. Step Up Step Down addresses a service gap between hospitalization and community care.
The focus of the program is to support youth in the transition to home from an inpatient hospital stay (step down) and from community based support to manage a deterioration in mental health which, without intervention, will likely lead to an inpatient hospital admission or readmission (step up). The program provides stabilization and intensive individualized treatment during the youth’s stay (up to six months) with an emphasis on youth and family recovery and skill building that will lead to a successful return home. CHEO inpatient services have been operating at maximum capacity for several years now; half of the children and youth going to the CHEO emergency department are there seeking help for a mental health concern.
For more information, please contact Julia Chevrier at jchevrier@ysb.ca.
How to access the program
This program is available by referral only to youth who continue to struggle in spite of receiving intensive mental health services. Youth and caregivers should speak to their mental health provider at CHEO, the Royal, YSB, or Le CAP if they feel that Step Up Step Down might meet their treatment needs.