What are quality standards and why do they matter?

A quality standard consists of several principles and statements that describe what the evidence says “high quality” looks like. It includes best practices and indicators to illustrate progress toward implementing each principle. Quality standards are a complement to accreditation standards and clinical practice guidelines from professional bodies.

Quality standards drive effectiveness, efficiency, and continual improvement. They help reduce systemic inequities and improve service quality and outcomes for children, young people and families.

How do we develop quality standards and guidelines?

Our standard development process is based on a rigorous review of other organizations’ processes, as well as our own unique approach rooted in meaningful engagement, implementation science, and evaluation.

Learn more about the phases and steps in our standard development process.

How do we implement quality standards and guidelines?

We leverage our expertise in collaboration, research, performance measurement, evaluation, engagement, quality improvement and implementation science to develop standards and guidelines specific to our sector. We also develop comprehensive implementation processes and resources to support them.

How can I contribute?

We establish an advisory committee to collaborate with our team on each quality standard or guideline that we develop. The committee includes young people, family members, clinicians, topic experts, researchers, sector leaders and decision makers.

Later in the process, we seek public feedback on the draft standard or guideline. When it comes time to disseminate and implement, we rely on support from people within our sector and beyond to share the quality standard or guideline and champion it within their organizations.

Want to stay in the loop about opportunities to contribute to our work in quality standards? Get in touch with our team today!

Guide to implementing the quality standards for engagement

The youth engagement quality standard and the family engagement quality standard describe what high-quality youth engagement and family engagement looks like in our sector. 

This guide describes three stages of implementation that can be adapted and customized to your local context as you work to bring the quality standards for engagement to life. 

Consult the guide!

Quality guideline for virtual walk-in services

At the beginning of 2020, we assembled an advisory committee of experts to co-develop a quality guideline for virtual walk-in services in the child and youth mental health sector. The arrival of the pandemic made this work much timelier as research limitations and the rapid transition to virtual care made it challenging to plan and implement evidence-based practices and policies as quickly as they were needed. Rooted in implementation science, the guideline discusses key implementation drivers and provides both a checklist of key steps and considerations and a list of recommended further readings.

View the quality guideline