Family of teen who died by suicide in Thunder Bay, Ont., say new youth hub brings hope

WARNING: This story contains references to suicide. The National Suicide Helpline can be reached at 9-8-8.

Ever since Jaida Petersen-Brown died by suicide, her family has been advocating for more mental health resources for youth in Thunder Bay, Ont.

On Friday, they celebrated the grand opening of the City and District of Thunder Bay’s Youth Wellness Hub, something they’ve been championing for the past two years.

Petersen-Brown died in November 2022, just weeks after her 16th birthday. She left behind her mother, Mary Louise Petersen, stepfather Rob Dueck, and brothers Lucas and Nicolas.

Her family remembers her as someone who loved her family, travelling, cooking, baking and spending time outdoors. In her obituary, she’s described as a talented gymnast and “a force to be reckoned with,” and as someone who “loved makeup, but most certainly did not need it.”

“Jaida sang, laughed, danced, loved. Jaida was perfect,” it says.

“It was after Jaida’s passing that we made a promise — my wife and I made a promise to ourselves — we should do what we could in order to prevent this from happening to any other family and any other adolescent or anybody,” Dueck said.

So, her family launched the Jaida Project to share her story and call for more youth mental health support. They spoke at a provincial mental health round table about the need for more services in the region, and have been directly involved in the youth hub’s operations plan.

“What was really important was that we needed to find the pieces of the puzzle that were missing that we couldn’t find when Jaida was struggling,” Dueck said. “The biggest issue was that we didn’t know where to go. We didn’t know what was all available.”

The hub is a youth-led, community-governed initiative that provides several integrated services to people ages 12 through 25, all under one roof.

It’s one of more than 30 other hubs in the province and has well over a dozen community partners supporting it, including Indigenous and Black-led organizations.

Core services include “mental health and substance use counselling, primary care, peer support, and care navigation — reducing barriers to care and ensuring timely, inclusive support,” said Diane Walker, chief executive officer of Children’s Centre Thunder Bay — the hub’s lead organizer — in a news release issued Friday.

It also offers housing and employment resources, life skills programs, and recreational activities. For those who cannot come to the space in person, mobile outreach services are available.

Safe space designed by and for youth

Besides offices, the space includes a kitchen, a computer workspace, a sensory room and what’s been named the Jaida room.

While mental health counselling is one of the main services the hub offers, the staff there recognize it can be overwhelming for young people to share their struggles with a professional, said Dueck.

That’s why the hub’s peer mentors and care navigators also provide what he calls nurtured counselling by building relationships with young people over time.

“In some cases, the adolescent is getting counselling but they don’t even know they’re getting it,” he said.

While the hub’s core services may be what draw youth into the space, “suddenly there’s a safe place for you to talk to adults and your peers and get help,” Walker added.

The most important thing about the hub is that it was created by and for youth, said Dueck.

“Youth also helped design what is important to them as to what services are provided,” he explained. “To see this happen now … it’s a sudden realization that this is going to be something good.”

The hub, located at 1134 Roland St., is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.