Early Warning Screening & Support (EWSS) PATHWAY

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  Our poster submission

🌟 Inspiration Youth homelessness often begins in classrooms, long before a crisis. Teachers see early signs of distress but lack structured tools. We wanted to create a pathway that empowers schools to intervene early, support families, and prevent homelessness before it starts.

💡 What it does Provides early mental health screening to detect warning signs sooner Connects students to coordinated support systems Equips teachers with training and digital tools Builds stronger family stability and reduces school dropouts Prevents youth from entering shelters by addressing root causes upstream

🛠️ How we built it Designed a phased implementation pathway: Approval → Build → Pilot → Coordinate → Monitor → Evaluate Developed trauma-informed, multilingual consent forms and caregiver videos Created a navigator role to coordinate community resources Leveraged existing school infrastructure for a low-cost, low-complexity pilot

⚡ Challenges we ran into Balancing privacy with effective data collection Ensuring cultural safety and accessibility for diverse youth populations Coordinating across multiple stakeholders (schools, families, community organizations) Securing sustainable funding while keeping costs low

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of Built a clear, scalable pathway that schools can adopt Centered equity by designing supports for newcomers, Indigenous, racialized, low-income, and neurodivergent youth Created a financial breakdown that demonstrates feasibility Established Youth Advisory Circles to co-design with students

📚 What we learned Early intervention is most effective when teachers, families, and communities work together Equity and trauma-informed approaches are essential for trust and engagement Small investments in prevention save significant costs in crisis response later

🚀 What's next for EWSS Pathway Expand pilot programs across Ottawa schools Validate outcomes with ongoing evaluation Scale to provincial and national levels with support from ministries, city governments, and funders (RBC, TELUS, OCDSB, federal programs) Continue refining tools with student and family feedback

Built With

• canva
• html
• python