Promoting mental health and wellbeing for children and youth: Protective factors (infographic)

Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada

The Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF)

The Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund (MHP-IF) is a long-term strategic funding program that enables diverse community-based interventions to enhance protective factors for children, youth, and their families while reducing systemic barriers for population mental health and wellbeing in Canada. The MHP-IF integrates a life-course approach that recognizes protective factors at the individual, community, and structural levels as key drivers for mental health promotion.

You may use this resource to explore the interconnections among protective factors implied within the conceptual model.

Protective factors for mental health promotion

Protective factors are conditions or attributes that promote the mental health and wellbeing of children and families. The protective factors included are examples drawn from research and funded MHP-IF project evaluation.

Community and structural protective factors: All stages of life

Freedom from discrimination and violence

• Physical security
• Valuing diversity
• Self determination and control of one's life

Quality of life

• Work
• Education
• Housing
• Money
• Safe environments
  • home, public, digital, cultural and religious, as examples

Social inclusion

• Supportive relationships
• Involvement in community and group activities
• Civic engagement and empowerment

Best start to life: Protective factors in parenthood, the prenatal stage, and first years of life

• Parental wellbeing
• Early cognitive stimulation
• Nurturing and attachment
• Parenting skills and quality childcare
• Social support for parents
• No screen time for children 0 to 2 years old
• Less than 1 hour of screen time per day for children 3 to 5 years old

Flourishing children: Protective factors for school age children

• Social and emotional skills
• Cognitive abilities
• Healthy relationships with peers and adults
• Pro-social behaviour
• Healthy digital habits

Developing well: Protective factors in adolescence and young adulthood

• School connectedness
• Problem solving abilities
• Interpersonal and pro-social skills
• Healthy relationships with adults and peers
• Expression of social identities
• Healthy digital habits

Individual protective factors: Across the life course

• Sleep
• Nutrition
• Physical activity
• Connection to land and nature
• Cultural connectedness and identity
• Spirituality