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MacKids

Supporting therapist-led activities that build resilience and skills, helping youth overcome mental health challenges

MacKids

TOTAL FUNDS RECEIVED TO DATE

$1,063,871

Working with children in crisis is both challenging and deeply rewarding. It’s more than just treatment – it’s about helping them rediscover their sense of safety, hope, and strength. Knowing that donors support us makes it possible to provide exceptional care and foster hope for the future.

— Curtis Dubreuil, Child and Youth Worker, McMaster Children’s Hospital

Program overview

New Program for 2026: Psychosocial Activity Programming and Recreation Therapy Support `

This program provides functional, structured psychosocial activities that not only support individual treatment goals but also improve socialization and daily functioning. For youth with depression, anxiety, and mood disorders these programs are a complement to clinical care and align with best-practice, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented care models.

How Family of Support Funding Has Helped

Family of Support funds have helped to:

  • Support the recruitment of staff who deliver integrated substance use services bridging from hospital to community and contributing to capacity building within the hospital.
  • Enable the purchase of VR-related technology, including software, headsets, and an app.
  • Support the collection of data to shape treatment, enabling care teams to note how long a user engaged in the exposure, for example, and to gather physiological data to evaluate user responses.
  • Create flexible, sensory-informed spaces for children and youth experiencing complex mental health crises 
  • Support patients with a wide range of needs, including suicidality, depression, anxiety, behavioural concerns, psychotic disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, and concurrent medical issues 
  • Support care teams as they help children and youth rebuild a sense of safety, hope, and strength 
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Double the impact of your donation

This week from September 28 - October 4, we’re matching all in-store and online donations*. 100% of donations support local kids’ mental health programs at your local children’s hospital.  

*Up to $500k