Many youth experiencing mental health and/or addiction (MHA) concerns rely on their caregivers to find and access services. Considering that caregivers often play a significant role in their youth’s treatment trajectory, a descriptive qualitative study was used to explore how caregivers (n = 26) in the Greater Toronto Area perceive their role in navigating MHA care for their youth (ages 13 to 26). The Person-Environment-Occupation model was used to guide the thematic analysis. The findings reveal three main themes (1) the internal experience of caregiving, which describes caregivers’ emotions and thought processes; (2) the external factors impacting the caregiver’s ability to find and access youth MHA services, which explores systemic and social factors that impact navigation; and (3) the demands of the caregiving role. The discussion highlights the importance of supporting the wellbeing of caregivers as they navigate youth MHA services and can provide useful information for healthcare professionals and policy-makers to increase equitable access to youth MHA services.

许多遇到心理健康和/或成瘾 (MHA) 问题的青少年依靠他们的照顾者来寻找和获得服务。考虑到看护者通常在青少年的治疗轨迹中发挥重要作用，我们使用了一项描述性定性研究来探讨 大多伦多地区的看护者 ( n = 26) 如何看待他们在为青少年（13 至 26 岁）提供 MHA 护理时所扮演的角色。人-环境-职业模型用于指导主题分析。研究结果揭示了三个主题（1）护理的内部体验，它描述了护理人员的情绪和思维过程；(2) 影响看护者寻找和获得青少年 MHA 服务能力的外部因素，探讨了影响导航的系统性和社会性因素；(3) 照顾角色的要求。讨论强调了在护理人员使用青少年 MHA 服务时支持他们的福祉的重要性，并可以为医疗保健专业人员和政策制定者提供有用的信息，以增加获得青少年 MHA 服务的公平机会。