YouthSpeak Resources

YouthSpeak Performance Charity is provides youth-led, interactive presentations for grades 2-12, post-secondary, parents and other caring adults on topics on youth mental health; bullying prevention; online overdrive; anti-racism; substance use and other related topics. Since our inception 18 years ago, we have reached over 350,000 students spanning over 500 schools and community groups throughout Ontario. We are also an approved speaker program for a number School Boards throughout the GTA.

Yes, YouthSpeak will provide the following information:

1. Name of all presenters/performers participating in the presentation.

Once, we know the topic, grades and dates we can confirm the specific speakers from our team of trained youth speakers, who would provide the presentation(s) as they are booked according to the topics they have lived experience with, and also based on their availability. All of our speakers have a profile on the Team page of our website, so once you have names, you will be able to see their profile.

2. Name of the organization/agency that the presenter represents.

YouthSpeak Charity

3. Social media/website address (X, Instagram, TIk Tok, Youtube….)

https://youthspeak.ca/

https://twitter.com/YouthSpeakCAN

https://www.facebook.com/YouthSpeakCAN/

https://www.instagram.com/youthspeakcan/

https://ca.linkedin.com/company/youthspeak-charity

4. Topic of the presentation.

The is selected by the school from our list of available  topics

5. Intended audience – grade, number of classes, estimated audience size.

This is also, selected by the school – we provide presentations for grades 2-3, 4-6, 7&8, 9-12

6. Direct Curriculum connection – (ON Curriculum reference)

Yes, we do provide the curriculum connections by topic and grade once the school has determined what they would like to book

7. Planned date, time and location of the presentation.

As above, determined by the school and based on our availability

8. Presentation material (slides, handouts, exit cards,  etc)

Each presentation includes a Teacher Guide, tip sheet and is accompanied by a slidedeck that would be shared in a Confirmation email that is sent at the point of confirming the booking

9. Fee for the presentation(s)

Fees are shared at the point of inquiry, once we have an idea of how many presentations and other relevant details that impact on the total fee

10. Professional Liability or General Liability insurance proof. 

We will provide a copy of our insurance along with the Confirmation email

11. Consideration for vulnerable/at-risk students? 

The Confirmation email includes suggested safety measures. As well, our team of youth speakers’ training includes safety protocols

12. Does the presentation align Mental Health and Equity policies? 

YouthSpeak has been providing presentations for schools for the past 20 years. We are a vetted speaking program of several School Boards, and we work closely with their Mental Health Leads to consistently review our program content and delivery to ensure it is in alignment.

• Most presentations are anywhere from 45-60 minutes depending on the time available, we work with the school’s schedule to set up times. The primary grade presentations are closer to 35 minutes.
• When a school wants to book several presentations for various grades, they are typically booked back-to-back on the same day and divided by division, but that can be adapted as needed depending on the school size, budget, need etc.
• Number of students is based on the max that the space (or the platform for virtual) can accommodate and as long as teachers are available to monitor the students, we leave that up to the school. We would need to know a week ahead if the students are all virtual, all in-person or a mix of the two in order for our team to set up the presentation interactives accordingly.
• Most presentations follow this format (other than the Building-A-SelfCare-Toolkit for Primary which is focused on the toolkit):
• Interactive Introduction/Warm Up
• Speaker One
• Interactive(s)
• Speaker Two
• Interactive(s)
• Q&A
• Resources

We do provide both in-person and virtual presentations for schools and community groups in the GTA. For geographical areas outside of the GTA, it depends on the extent of the travel and the nature of the booking, connect with us directly to discuss options

Virtual Set Up – is done via a platform of your choosing based on your School Boards policies/practises i.e. Google Meets, MS Teams or if you prefer we set up the meeting, it would be via our Zoom account.

Suggested Safety Measures – are also included in the confirmation email to ensure students are connected to support when/if needed.

As per our Media Guidelines which are included in the confirmation email, as a standard practice we do not allow any video/audio-taping or note-taking by schools or media personnel of the youth speakers while sharing their stories. Special requests may be made to the YouthSpeak support staff person who will make arrangements with the youth speakers for permission.

All programs include resource material as applicable: teacher guide, tip sheets, activity sheets, resource list. Some of the resource material will be included in the confirmation email along with other details to ensure a smooth set-up, and further resource material following the booking.

Yes, we do try to work with limited budgets and on occasion, we have access to funds to support schools in priority neighbourhoods. Its best to inquire and discuss your budget at that time.

Feel free to reach out to Una Wright at una@youthspeak.ca or 905-967-0604. We strive to respond within 24 hours to address any questions or needs you may have!