Portrait of Health in All Policies in Canada: Advancing Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health through the Atlantic Summer Institute's Upstream Investment Policy Brief

Key messages

• The Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities (ASI) is a leading example of civil society advancing Health in All Policies in Canada. Through its strategic focus on infant, child, and youth mental health, ASI promotes upstream, intersectoral policy solutions that embed mental wellbeing across sectors, levels of government, and community systems.
• The Upstream Investment Policy Brief proposes a strategic roadmap and a set of concrete, evidence-informed recommendations to encourage intersectoral, upstream policy development that supports mental wellbeing across the lifespan.
• The Policy Brief contributed to key outcomes, including the development of a guiding Mental Health in all Policies framework and the successful advocacy for Motion 83, adopted by the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly in March 2022. The motion calls on the government to fundamentally shift its approach to healthy public policy and to implement ASI’s recommended upstream investments outlined in the Policy Brief.