Think Upstream
Think Upstream, PEI — A 10-Month Campaign
Your postal code shapes your health more than your genetic code.
Think Upstream, PEI is a 10-month campaign to change that conversation — and to put the real drivers of health at the centre of policy on the Island.
Understanding Upstream
What Does “Upstream” Mean?
Going upstream means acting on the policies, systems, and drivers (root causes) that create the conditions for health of individuals, communities, and populations.
The structural and social determinants of health — racism, colonialism, inclusion/exclusion, housing conditions, income, and community connection — are shaped by decisions made in boardrooms, council chambers, and legislatures as well as the approaches and decisions on the part of practitioners in their everyday roles. Upstream thinking asks: What is at the root of the health outcomes we see? What if we changed those approaches and decisions? What if policy itself became a tool for better and more equitable health outcomes?
That’s the difference between treating illness and focusing on behaviour change, helping people cope with the conditions of their daily life, and changing the factors that create the conditions that make people sick in the first place.
How have the conditions of your daily life shaped your health?
Free Download
Download the Policy Brief
Our policy brief lays out the evidence on upstream determinants in PEI — and what government, employers, and communities can do about them. Plain language. Real data. No jargon.
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Your Story Matters
How have your life conditions shaped your health?
Lived experience is evidence. We’re collecting stories from Islanders about how housing, income, work, and community have shaped their health — to make the case for upstream policy change.
Your privacy is protected. Your name will never be published. Stories may be shared anonymously with your explicit permission only. Submissions are reviewed by ASI staff only and will never be shared publicly without your permission.
Think Upstream in Action
What We’ve Been Doing
Since 2023, ASI has been bringing the upstream conversation to communities across Atlantic Canada — through workshops, partnerships, and real conversations with people doing the work.
The Think Upstream workshop has been delivered in PEI, Cape Breton, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland — in English and in French. It has become a core part of ASI’s annual summer program, offered every year as an entry point for new participants.
What are the upstream mental health promotion workshops?
These 2-hour sessions explore mental health and its connection to broader systemic factors, including structural and social determinants and policy contexts, and underscore the importance of upstream interventions. The workshop supports participants to understand mental health beyond individual behavioural factors and recognize how everyday systems and structures influence well-being.
Over the past two years, Islanders and Atlantic Canadians have been sharing their stories — on index cards, in rooms, at tables — about how policies outside the health system have shaped their mental health. $10-a-day childcare. Transit gaps. Housing instability. These are policy stories that have a direct impact on health.
That’s the point.
Where We’ve Delivered Workshops
- Prince Edward Island
- Cape Breton, NS
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland
2023-26
Running since
4
Atlantic provinces
If you’d like to bring a Think Upstream workshop to your organization or community, contact us here.
About ASI
The Atlantic Summer Institute (ASI) is a bilingual, not-for-profit organization established in 2003 with a mission to serve as a catalyst for social change, ultimately resulting in more inclusive and equitable Atlantic Canadian communities. Since 2014, ASI’s area of priority has been upstream promotion of child and youth mental health. In 2022, ASI released a policy brief, Investing Upstream – Putting Infant, Child and Youth Mental Health at the Forefront, and since then has been mobilizing the uptake of the brief.
ASI collaborates with communities and stakeholders across sectors to build connections and host conversations that move us forward toward healthier and safer futures for ourselves and our children. ASI is managed by a board of directors with representatives from the four Atlantic provinces. We encourage intergenerational and intersectoral collaboration and are dedicated to creating inclusive, vibrant networks.
