Helping Hands for Indigenous Youth Services
Our Mission
Indigenous Youth Services is an Indigenous-led organization committed to restoring what systems have repeatedly disrupted: family connection, cultural identity, and community belonging.
Too many Indigenous children are separated from their families not because caregivers lack love, but because systems respond to hardship with removal instead of support. When families face intergenerational trauma, housing instability, caregiver burnout, or unmet mental health needs, the answer is too often placement rather than presence. These decisions fracture identity, weaken relationships, and deepen the very harm they claim to address.
We exist to change that.
Through family-centered, culturally grounded mental health and support services, we work directly with youth and caregivers to prevent unnecessary placements, strengthen protective relationships, and deliver meaningful care where it matters most: in homes, in community, and within culture.
Collaborative Care Approach
Our work is guided by a simple understanding: children do not heal in isolation. They heal in relationship. They heal when caregivers are supported instead of replaced, when culture is centered instead of sidelined, and when safety is built through consistency, understanding, and genuine connection rather than surveillance or control.
Too often, institutional responses focus on managing behavior instead of understanding it. Distress is mislabeled as defiance. Survival responses are met with punishment or separation. At Indigenous Youth Services, we recognize behavior as communication. We understand that trauma lives in the nervous system, that identity is protective, and that lasting change grows from feeling seen, supported, and safe.
Healing does not occur through removal, containment, or compliance. Healing occurs through connection, stability, cultural identity, and sustained relational care.
We do not build programs around control. We build them around strengths, understanding, and cultural collaboration. We work alongside families, Elders, and communities to identify what is already strong, restore what has been strained, and strengthen what is needed for stability and growth.
We walk with families through crisis and through rebuilding. We provide practical in-home support, therapeutic guidance, and culturally grounded care that strengthens caregiver capacity and helps youth regulate, reconnect, and re-engage with life. Our goal is not temporary stabilization. It is long-term wellbeing rooted in belonging.
At the heart of our work is a clear truth: families are not the problem. Disconnection is.
When families are resourced, when culture is honored, and when care is delivered with humility and respect, Indigenous youth do more than survive. They grow. They heal. They thrive.
This is not about managing children. It is about restoring connection, rebuilding trust, and creating pathways forward that honor Indigenous strength, resilience, and wisdom across generations.
Core Areas of Support
CareLink
CareLink is our innovative virtual care model designed to eliminate geographic, systemic, and placement-based barriers to support.
Group Care Support
Through this initiative, Indigenous Youth Services brings individualized, in-person support directly to youth within institutionalized and group care environments.
In-Home Support
Training Programs
The Strong Home Project's mission is to prevent unnecessary apprehension or relocation by bringing individualized, holistic supports directly into the family home.
Training Programs
Cultural Connections
Training Programs
Indigenous Youth Services offers specialized training programs designed to equip caregivers, professionals, and organizations with the knowledge and practical tools needed to support Indigenous youth effectively.
Cultural Connections
Cultural Connections
Cultural Connections
Our Cultural Mentorship program connects Indigenous youth with trusted mentors who share, honor, and celebrate cultural identity, heritage, and community.
Parenting Support
Cultural Connections
Cultural Connections
Through one-on-one virtual consultations, our team of Indigenous and allied professionals provides personalized guidance, cultural understanding, and practical support to help parents and caregivers identify their needs, locate appropriate resources, and access available funding.
The Jordan James Pickell Mental Health Achievement Recognition Award
Indigenous Youth Services was named the recipient of the Jordan James Pickell Mental Health Achievement Recognition Award by the Mood Disorders Society of Canada.
This national recognition is awarded to organizations demonstrating meaningful contributions to mental health innovation, advocacy, and service delivery across Canada.
For Indigenous Youth Services, this award reflects more than professional excellence. It recognizes our commitment to understanding-driven, relationship-centered care and our leadership in supporting youth and families navigating complex mental health and child welfare systems. It affirms the importance of culturally grounded approaches that prioritize connection over control, prevention over placement, and healing over containment.
The recognition also honors the resilience of the families we serve and the dedication of our team, who walk alongside youth through crisis, rebuilding, and long-term growth. It reinforces our belief that lasting change happens when care is rooted in dignity, cultural identity, and sustained relational support.
We carry this award as both an acknowledgment and a responsibility. It strengthens our resolve to continue challenging systems that separate families, advancing community-based solutions, and creating pathways that allow Indigenous youth to heal, grow, and thrive within their own homes and communities.
The Canadian Choice Award
Indigenous Youth Services also received the Canadian Choice Award in 2024, recognizing excellence in organizational leadership and service delivery across Canada.
This recognition reflects more than operational success. It represents trust in our integrity, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to ethical, individualized care. It affirms the strength of our relationship-centered approach and our dedication to serving Indigenous youth and families with dignity, accountability, and cultural respect.
For us, this award is not simply a milestone. It is a responsibility.
It reinforces our commitment to putting families first, honoring lived experience, and delivering care that is grounded in understanding rather than control. It acknowledges the tireless work of our team, the resilience of the families we walk alongside, and the power of culturally grounded, community-based support.
Most importantly, it strengthens our resolve to continue challenging systems that separate families, advocating for prevention over placement, and building pathways that allow Indigenous youth to heal, grow, and thrive within their communities.
The Global Recognition Award
Indigenous Youth Services has also been honored with a Global Recognition Award, acknowledging the broader relevance of our care models and advocacy efforts beyond national boundaries.
This international recognition reflects the growing awareness that relationship-centered, culturally grounded approaches are essential to meaningful mental health and child welfare reform worldwide. It highlights how our work contributes to global conversations around trauma-informed care, behavioral understanding, and alternatives to institutional and containment-based systems.
For us, this award affirms that the principles guiding our work locally with Indigenous youth and families carry universal importance: that healing happens in connection, that behavior must be understood within context, and that sustainable change comes from strengthening families and communities rather than separating them.
This recognition also reinforces our commitment to sharing knowledge, collaborating across borders, and continuing to advocate for care models that prioritize dignity, identity, and long-term wellbeing. It reminds us that the work of keeping children connected to family, culture, and community is not only a local responsibility, but part of a global movement toward more humane, effective systems of care.
Mental Health Monthly: Community Improvement Award
Indigenous Youth Services has been recognized with the Community Improvement Award for its transformative contributions to youth mental health, family preservation, and culturally grounded care.
This recognition honors organizations that move beyond traditional service delivery to create meaningful, measurable change within complex systems. For Indigenous Youth Services, it reflects our commitment to prevention over placement, understanding over containment, and relationship-centered care over institutional control.
The award acknowledges our work strengthening families, reducing unnecessary separations, and building community-based alternatives that support youth within their homes and cultural environments. It also affirms the impact of our collaborative approach, one that partners with caregivers, communities, and cultural supports to address root causes rather than symptoms.
We carry this recognition as both validation and responsibility. It reinforces our dedication to advancing care models that prioritize connection, dignity, and long-term wellbeing, and to continuing the work of reshaping systems so Indigenous youth can heal, grow, and thrive within their families and communities.