What we do
Celebrating 65 years in the community this year, the Youth Services Bureau (YSB) is one of the largest and longest serving agencies in Ottawa, serving more than 3,000 youth and families each month in support of their wellbeing. YSB runs two emergency youth shelters and four apartment buildings, offers a range of free youth mental health services, provides employment support, as well as programs for youth in conflict with the law. Central to YSB’s work has been ensuring we have youth voices advising us, allowing us to continually adapt to serving the needs of young people and their families. YSB staff – a group of more than 425 full and part-time professionals working from 22 locations – live the ethos of supporting youth without judgement and regardless of where they live, what they look like, or whom they love.
We serve youth in all their diversity—across cultures, identities, and lived experiences.
How you can help
Every young person has a unique story. Each journey looks different, but with your support, those paths can lead toward brighter futures.
Your donations ensure that mental health services – including our crisis phone and chat lines, walk-In clinics, and youth and family counselling – are always there, free of charge, without long waitlists when young people are struggling.
Safe and stable housing is one of the greatest challenges youth face. Every year, more than 1,400 young people in our region experience homelessness, often because of conflict at home. Nearly 40% of the youth for whom we provide shelter and housing identify as LGBTQ2S+. At YSB, they are welcomed into a safe, supportive community through our two shelters and four long-term housing programs, where housing, health, and belonging come first.
Community support also enables our team members to provide employment services and job connections, as well as compassionate justice programs for youth involved with the law.
Support from caring community and corporate partners is more than life changing, it’s often life saving. Every young person deserves to feel seen, heard, and cared for. That’s the promise our staff live out every day, with every young person who connects with us for help.
This article first appeared in the 2025 Giving Guide produced by the Ottawa Business Journal. That publication is available in its digital edition below.
To learn more about this charity, please visit the latest issue of the Giving Guide:
