The Sandbox Project, a Toronto-based non-profit organization dedicated to making Canada the healthiest place on earth for children and youth to grow up, has raised $450,000 from institutional investors, with plans to build a mental health app for youth.
The new funding and the plans for a “new virtual health support network and app for young people and their families” will be made at the Sandbox 4th National Conference and Workshop taking place in Toronto on Thursday at TELUS House in Toronto.
The new joint funding is coming from TELUS, the RBC Foundation and the Graham Boeckh Foundation to help phase two of the Sandbox Project Mental Health Initiative become a reality.
The Sandbox feels that because an estimated 1.2 million Canadian children and youth are affected by mental illness, the initiative is needed. Less than 20 percent of those 1.2 million will receive appropriate treatment. With more than two-thirds of adults living with a mental health problem reporting that symptoms first appeared during their youth, establishing the foundation for healthy emotional and social development is vital early on.
The funding announcement will happen at 11:30 am on Thursday.