Youth Advisors

Youth with lived or living experience of mental health and/or addiction issues in Halton Region

We're looking for young people with lived or living experience of mental health and/or addiction issues to join youth-led committees and community projects as youth advisors; the people at the table helping to inform what happens. 

Why this role exists;  Youth-led means youth voices matter. A committee that has youth on it but not leading or informing the work it isn't youth-led, and a project designed for young people without young people in the room usually misses the thing that mattered most.

Youth advisors are how that stays real. You bring the perspective no professional has - what it's actually like to need support, what worked for you, what got in the way, what you'd have wanted instead - and you help shape the work based on your own personal knowledge. That perspective is the expertise this role is built on.

What you'd be doing:

- Advising youth-led committees and projects — reviewing plans, shaping priorities, and saying when something won't work for the youth it's meant for
- Bringing the youth perspective into the room — representing what you know, in your own words, alongside staff and community partners
- Helping design what gets built — programs, projects, questions, and how they're shared
- Holding the work accountable — telling those you are working with when they may be drifting away from what youth actually need
Contributing to community projects — bringing youth voice into work happening across Halton
- As much or as little as you would like or can handle. - in ways that work for you. 

Who we're looking for:

- Youth living in Halton Region, roughly 15–26
- Lived or living experience of mental health and/or addiction issues - this is required, and it's the expertise the role is built on
- Interest in advising, advocacy, or community work — you don't need experience doing it
- Willingness to let your voice  be heard as you work alongside adults as peers rather than as a student or client


You don't need:

- A diagnosis
- Formal credentials, a résumé, or past volunteer experience
- To be "a good example" of anything
- To explain your whole story in an application

About sharing your experience: 

Because lived experience is core to this role, it's worth saying plainly how we handle it: you decide what you share, how much, and when. Nothing about your history needs to be in your application, and we will never ask you to disclose more than you choose — at any stage, At all times we will work to be trauma-informed and a safe and brave space in any meeting. 

You don't have to be connected to services, or to have had a good experience with them (but you can). The perspective of youth who tried programs or services and they didn't work  or who never tried because it didn't seem built for them are who what we need as much as those youth for whom programs worked.