Supporting impactful community research
Our grants and research awards are designed to seed-fund research projects led by experienced academic researchers and community researchers/service providers collaborating to address gaps in community mental health and addressing community needs, while integrating the insights of people with lived experience into each stage of their project.
Denise Sinclair
Denise Sinclair is exploring how Black male youth aged 12–20 experience the youth justice system and how racial bias may affect their mental well-being. Their accounts of distress, resilience and coping could inform more equitable, culturally responsive youth justice and mental health supports.
Thomas Willman
Suicide-prevention planning requires evidence that reflects the communities and regions it is meant to serve. Thomas Willman is examining Ontario coroner records from 2015 to 2025 to better understand the circumstances associated with suicide among First Nations, Inuit and Métis adults in Northern Ontario.
Malcolm Disbrowe
Safe and stable housing matters for young people’s well-being, yet Indigenous youth can face overlapping barriers when seeking support. Malcolm Disbrowe is examining Indigenous youths’ experiences of Winnipeg housing systems to identify culturally safe, community-informed approaches to housing access and stability.
Molly Stewart
Positive moments at work can be easy to overlook, and many wellness programs struggle to engage employees. Molly Stewart is exploring whether personalized images generated by artificial intelligence, integrated into familiar workplace tools, could help people recall meaningful experiences and adopt everyday practices that support mental well-being.
Maria Paula Godoy
Supporting psychological health at work requires more than awareness: employers and workers also need practical tools. Maria Paula Godoy is evaluating a new workplace training micro-credential developed by the Canadian Mental Health Association Manitoba-Winnipeg and RRC Polytech, with the aim of improving its design, implementation and usefulness.
Amy Ecclestone
How satisfied are people in Canada with the mental health and substance use services they receive? Analyzing MHRC’s national polling, Amy Ecclestone documented differences across service types, symptom severity and income. Her findings highlight gaps in access to care and the need for support that better meets the needs of people facing complex challenges.
Courtney Labrecque
Farmers and ranchers face distinct pressures, and mental health services work best when they reflect agricultural realities. Courtney Labrecque is evaluating SaskAgMatters, a free therapy service for Saskatchewan producers, by gathering therapists’ perspectives on what works, what needs improvement and how the program can evolve.
Alashua Crowley
Inuit mental health workers play a central role in community care across Nunavut, yet recruiting and retaining local staff remains a challenge. Alashua Crowley is working with Nunavut-based organizations to understand Inuit frontline workers’ experiences, strengths and workplace needs, with the goal of informing more supportive and culturally responsive services.
Sarah Prosper
Nature can create space for young people to reflect, connect and talk about mental health in their own ways. Sarah Prosper worked with Indigenous youth from Eskasoni Mi’kmaq First Nation using photovoice to explore how nature and nature-based programming can support well-being, self-expression and youth-led conversations about mental health.
Sianna Williamson
Finding meaningful work can support well-being, but employment systems do not always reflect Inuit cultural and social realities. Sianna Williamson’s research with Ivirtivik explored the employment experiences of Inuit people in Montréal, identifying barriers and supports that can inform more culturally safe and inclusive approaches to employment.
Nikki-Rose Hunter-Porter
Mental wellness services in rural First Nations communities do not always reflect local knowledge, priorities and experiences. Working with St’uxwstews te Secwépemc of Bonaparte First Nation in British Columbia, Nikki-Rose Hunter-Porter explored the social, cultural and systemic barriers shaping access to care and identified community-grounded directions for more culturally safe and responsive services.
Nashit Chowdhury
During the COVID-19 pandemic, racialized essential workers faced overlapping health risks, financial uncertainty and barriers to culturally responsive mental health supports. Nashit Chowdhury combined MHRC national polling data with interviews in Calgary to examine these pressures and the strategies workers used to cope, generating evidence to inform more accessible and inclusive community supports.
Haley Bonnell
Peer supporters bring lived experience into mental health and addiction services, but integration into multidisciplinary systems can also create new workplace pressures. Haley Bonnell’s research with Lifewise is examining how work context shapes peer supporters’ mental health, well-being and experience of their roles.
Sam Hawkins
Online gambling can be accessed from almost anywhere, including during the workday. Sam Hawkins is using mobile sensing in a longitudinal study to examine how gambling during work hours relates to job performance and mental health, including depression, anxiety, stress and work engagement.
Maureen Plante
Restorative justice may offer survivors of sexual violence another way to pursue accountability and healing, but programs need to reflect Indigenous perspectives and community needs. Maureen Plante’s project builds on earlier community-engaged work to bring Indigenous-specific input into guidance for developing restorative justice programs in Alberta.
Nate Taylor
Sport officials work under constant evaluation, public scrutiny and frequent verbal abuse, yet many sport organizations have limited capacity to provide ongoing mental health support. Nate Taylor is examining what would make digital and AI-supported tools credible, confidential and useful to Canadian officials.
Maryam Shahzad
Burnout can look different from one workplace to another. Maryam Shahzad is using national mental health data to examine how burnout varies across Canadian employment sectors, what contributes to it and how it affects people’s ability to work, with the goal of informing strategies that can apply across occupations.
Raymond Jordan Johnson-Brown
For Indigenous youth in care, identity and belonging should be understood in their own words, not defined only by the systems around them. Raymond Jordan Johnson-Brown is working with youth and Tasiutigiit to explore how storytelling, creative activities and youth-directed research can support conversations about mental wellness and a stronger sense of belonging.
Madison Young
Mental health screening during pregnancy and after birth can help identify when support is needed, but the tools and practices used must reflect the people receiving care. Madison Young is examining how perinatal mental health screening can better incorporate First Nations mothers’ cultural, social and health-care contexts to support more culturally safe care.
Karen Aglukark
Healing from trauma is deeply shaped by relationships, culture and community. Working with Aqqiumavvik Society in Arviat, Karen Aglukark explored Inuit understandings of healing and social support, generating community-informed knowledge to support more culturally respectful mental health research and practice in Nunavut.