Three Perspectives to Make Teens a Priority
For the first time, Tel-jeunes has combined its frontline expertise with scientific data and the voices of teens to better understand their realities and propose five action priorities to political parties.
For nearly 40 years, the requests for help received by Tel-jeunes have provided unique insight into the concerns of Quebec teens. In recent years, our professional intervention team has observed growing psychological distress, an increase in mental health challenges, and persistent barriers to seeking help.
But do the trends observed through our interventions reflect the broader reality of teens across Quebec? To look beyond its own data, Tel-jeunes compared its observations with findings from other sources. This process led to the development of the first-ever 2026 Cross-Analysis of Adolescent Realities.
Three Sources, Converging Findings
Developed in collaboration with the RBC Centre for University Expertise in Mental Health at Université de Sherbrooke and Léger, this report brings together three complementary perspectives: the latest scientific research, the results of a survey conducted among Quebec teens, and Tel-jeunes’ frontline expertise.
“By bringing together the observations of our intervention teams, the latest scientific research, and the voices of teens, we sought to deepen our understanding of the challenges they face. This report is the result of that process, with one simple objective: to gain a clearer picture of their realities so that we can better support them and inform the decisions that will shape their future,” says Annie Papageorgiou, Executive Director of Tel-jeunes and the Tel-jeunes Foundation.
The three sources highlight several concerning findings: mental health challenges are intensifying, some protective factors are weakening, and many barriers still prevent teens from seeking support when they need it.
One finding from the Léger survey is particularly striking: 84% of teens would hesitate to seek help even if they felt their problem was impossible to overcome on their own. Fear of being judged, concern about worrying loved ones, feeling misunderstood, and fear of being a burden were among the main barriers reported.
This comes as the proportion of high school students reporting “flourishing” mental health fell from 47% to 36.6% between 2016 and 2022–2023. At Tel-jeunes, half of all interventions now involve mental health concerns, compared with 40% over the previous three years, and one in five interventions requires a suicide risk assessment.
Girls and sexually and gender-diverse teens also face greater vulnerabilities. Loneliness affects a significant proportion of teens and is considerably more prevalent within the LGBTQ+ community. Even when surrounded by others, many teens still do not feel sufficiently heard or understood by adults, or do not feel confident enough to talk about what they are going through.
Five Priorities for Action
For Tel-jeunes, these findings must serve as the starting point for collective reflection. The organization wants to make its expertise and close connections with teens available to political decision-makers and the communities and sectors that influence their daily lives and their future.
With a commitment to collaboration and innovation, Tel-jeunes proposes five action priorities:
Recognize adolescence as a distinct stage of life in Quebec public policy.
Develop a Quebec-wide peer-support network to strengthen support among teens and reduce isolation.
Enhance the support provided to school staff so they can better respond to anxiety and mental health challenges.
Strengthen frontline services for teens and their parents to facilitate timely access to support.
Support Tel-jeunes in organizing a National Summit on Adolescence that would bring together teens and representatives from the community, institutional, youth, and education sectors.
Through this roadmap, Tel-jeunes aims to inform conversations and help shape public policies that better reflect adolescent realities. The organization is calling on political parties and decision-makers to draw on these findings and make concrete, lasting commitments to the well-being of Quebec teens.
Read the 2026 Cross-Analysis of Adolescent Realities.
The data collection conducted by Léger was made possible through the generous support of GreenShield, a Tel-jeunes partner.
