Mental Health Crisis Resource Initiative with Youtube and CAMH

As mental health struggles continue to rise among youth and adults, so does the online spread of medically unverified or harmful content. In response, YouTube partnered with American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Child Mind Institute, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to create a new way of engaging with mental health resources online.

The overarching goal? Ensure that individuals searching for terms related to mental health crises encounter credible, research-driven videos rather than potentially dangerous content.

Watch the full shorts:

For CAMH’s leg of this project, I served as lead designer. My role consisted of shaping the visual identity and directing the collaborative efforts of our motion artists, featuring animator Harry Teitelman and editor Arlen Kerndt, as well as working closely with creative strategist Federico Roa and a panel of CAMH’s clinical experts.

With the combined efforts of this multidisciplinary team, we ensured that every scene was visually inviting, clinically sound, and sensitive to diverse cultural contexts.

Far from the typical instructional content we see in the mental health space, these visually lush experiences blend CAMH’s evidence-based insights with a warm, inviting aesthetic that fosters a moment of profound healing.

Get

Global YouTube users in moments of acute distress or actively searching for mental health information…

Who

…who risk encountering harmful, unverified content online and need credible, research-backed coping strategies…

To

…to pause, reflect, and engage with compassionate, expertly designed videos providing self-compassion and grounding techniques…

By

…by integrating these videos into YouTube’s expanded Crisis Resource Panel, ensuring that anyone seeking crisis-related terms is redirected to credible, multilingual resources.

By fusing a bright, warm color palette with a riso-inspired aesthetic, we established a deeply human touch.

Riso, short for risograph, is a printing method prized for its vibrant colors and subtle imperfections, layering ink much like screen printing does. This process results in a tactile, handcrafted look that mirrors the deeply personal, ever-evolving nature of one’s mental health.

By pairing these layered, slightly imperfect hues with gentle nature-based imagery, the design balanced clinical expertise with an empathetic visual tone, encouraging viewers to pause, breathe, and find comfort in CAMH’s holistic message.

I poured the utmost care into these pieces, knowing they could land in front of someone who desperately needed a moment of calm. Embedding CAMH’s clinical rigor within a rich visual universe allowed me to remember just how powerful design can be — not just as a way to look good, but as a potential port in a storm for a person scrolling through internet search results.

Every texture, every layer, and every color choice felt like a chance to send a gentle reminder that the road of mental health care is equal parts messy and beautiful.

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