{"id":84175,"date":"2025-10-08T13:48:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kidshelpphone.ca\/?post_type=publications&p=84175"},"modified":"2025-10-09T10:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:10:14","slug":"kids-help-phone-sets-a-new-standard-of-care-for-youth-mental-health-at-elevate-2025","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/kidshelpphone.ca\/publications\/kids-help-phone-sets-a-new-standard-of-care-for-youth-mental-health-at-elevate-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids Help Phone Sets a New Standard of Care for Youth Mental Health at Elevate 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TORONTO (ON), October 8, 2025 <\/strong>\u2013  One year after introducing acceleratorKHP<\/a> on the Elevate<\/a> stage as a bold catalyst for youth mental health innovation in Canada, Kids Help Phone (KHP) returned to announce a transformative shift in mental health support that seamlessly integrates human connection with the power of generative AI, setting a new benchmark for care in the digital age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth in Canada are facing a mental health crisis. Since 2020, KHP has interacted with young people more than 22 million times. Over the past decade, the number of young people reporting good mental health has steadily declined. Today, suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTechnology continues to redefine how young people relate to their world,\u201d says Justin Scaini, Group Head and Executive Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and Transformation. \u201cGenerative AI is transforming how youth seek information, communicate, and engage. Mental health is one of the top reasons young people turn to GenAI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over 36 years, KHP has been a trusted leader in youth mental health in Canada. No one understands the evolving needs of young people across the country quite like KHP, because the organization interacts with youth more than 4 million times annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fulfill its promise of offering new pathways to help that are authentic and intuitive in young people\u2019s worlds, KHP is building a new standard of care. Through acceleratorKHP, the organization is revolutionizing how youth mental health supports are designed and delivered\u2014leveraging one of a kind coast to coast-to-coast clinical infrastructure, real-time de-identified and anonymized data, research, AI, and partnerships to ensure youth can access help whenever and wherever they need it most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developed through acceleratorKHP, KHP\u2019s GenAI tool will offer a personalized experience built with and for young people\u2014providing choice, flexibility, safety, and credibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of this innovation is KHP\u2019s extraordinary data resource: over 50 million data points that have been aggregated and anonymized from conversations with youth. Rather than offering one-size-fits-all support, acceleratorKHP is unlocking new possibilities for personalization, accessibility, and relevance. The GenAI tool is being co-created with youth and is actively in prototyping\u2014because that\u2019s the only way to truly understand and meet their needs. By putting youth at the center and prioritizing safety from the start, KHP is building a tool that truly understands and protects those it\u2019s meant to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blending human connection with KHP\u2019s GenAI product in development, young people will experience a new standard of support\u2014one that understands their unique words, feels intuitive from the beginning, and evolves with their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GenAI tool will be able to appropriately assess risk levels, whether it\u2019s a minor concern, suicidal ideation, or suicidal action and initiate the right steps to keep the young person safe. A trained KHP clinical professional will always be available to respond, 24\/7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKHP is committed to blending technology with empathy, privacy and safety to ensure support meets the pace of innovation and matches the needs of young people across the country,\u201d says Alisa Simon, Group Head and Executive Vice President, e-Mental Health Transformation and Clinical Services. \u201cThis tool is not about AI replacing humans as KHP intimately understands the importance of youth being able to connect with a counsellor or trained responder 24\/7\u2014it\u2019s about enhancing and strengthening support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KHP\u2019s work is possible because its models are trained on KHP\u2019s one-of-a-kind, diverse data set, integrated with clinical frameworks and quality assurance processes that have made the organization a trusted space for youth for over three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the GenAI tool is still in early development, the vision is clear: to connect young people to the support they need, in the moments they need it most, and in ways that reflect the realities of their world today. Because to young people, help means everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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