Winners of the MHRC-Atlas Research Award
We are proud to announce the recipient of the the MHRC-Atlas Research Award, offered in partnership with the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families.
This initiative will be awarded $138,000 to support a project that aims to understand and address the experiences of loneliness and social isolation of both current members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are about to transition into civilian life as well as Veterans and their families.
We jointly and proudly announce this national Research Award in support of advancing mental health research for those who dedicate themselves to serving our nation.
Stories that INSPIRE: Reducing social isolation and loneliness through storytelling
Principal Investigator: Jenny Liu, Head of Scientific Development and Knowledge Mobilization at the MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre and Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University
The transition from active duty to civilian life is one of the most difficult and complex challenges reported by Veterans. Not only are Veterans at risk for increased experiences of loneliness and social isolation, but the challenges encountered post-release can also further exacerbate and worsen existing feelings of social isolation and loneliness.
Emerging research suggests that Veterans experiencing social isolation and loneliness may be missing key sources of resilience during this period that others may receive or are expected to receive from friends, families, and extended communities. While we understand the multidimensional impacts of loneliness and social isolation on Canadian Veterans and their families, more work is needed to explore how we can generate additional knowledge to support their wellbeing and reduce loneliness, social isolation, and the associated adverse mental, physical, and social outcomes.
In this project, we seek to invite Veterans to share their stories (‘Stories of INSPIRE’) and transform them into educational clips to highlight the challenges of social isolation and loneliness encountered by Veterans during their release from service.