Adolescence is a key developmental period with respect to the onset of mental health disorders, with over half of life-long disorders beginning during this time. Access to early intervention and consistent mental health services are essential to improving outcomes. Young people from marginalized and historically underserved communities face considerable barriers accessing mental health services, leaving many without support during critical periods. When services are available, they often feel misaligned with their needs or lived experiences, reflecting broader patterns of institutional distrust, over-surveillance, and punitive responses to distress. The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and integration with digital mental health tools has aimed to address gaps in care where traditional mental health services still present considerable barriers. Unlike traditional care systems, smartphone access has become ubiquitous globally, including in more rural and remote regions, offering an invaluable opportunity to expand the reach of mental health resources. The majority of young people now turn to the internet as a first step when seeking support for mental health concerns, including the use of online self-assessment tools and AI chatbots. While expanding access to these tools may offer new entry points to care, particularly for those underserved by traditional services, many digital tools intended to address these gaps are developed rapidly to meet commercial or institutional demand, and often lack rigorous validation or safeguards for vulnerable populations. Despite significant interest and high initial adoption rates, youth frequently report feeling sceptical about the safety, efficacy and cultural relevance of digital mental health programs, resulting in poor long term engagement and limited impact on outcomes. This is particularly true for youth from marginalized and underserved backgrounds, who are rarely involved in the research and design process despite their unique perspectives and needs. Without deliberate and consistent integration of youth voice in the development process, digital mental health tools may not only reinforce but exacerbate the same dynamics of exclusion and harm they aim to disrupt. In this talk we will describe our experience integrating youth participatory action research (YPAR) and community based participatory research (CBPR) models into our existing research and development framework. We invited interns from the Child Mind Institute’s Youth Mental Health Academy to join as research partners and collaborators to develop and pilot a research program investigating accessibility, cultural attunement, and points of concern in common digital mental health assessments. Youth researchers co-designed and facilitated weekly sessions that integrated data collection, group dialogues, and critical reflection. Importantly, both adult and youth researchers engaged in reflective journaling throughout the process and engaged in dialogue about tension points identified by this practice, creating opportunities to realign with the goals and values of the project. By directly engaging underserved and underrepresented youth in the research process, we set out to develop mental health tools capable of advancing just and responsive care for everyone.