Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

About 70% of all lifetime mental health problems arise by the age of 251, with many cases persisting into adulthood. While 1 in 4 transition-aged youth (16-25 years old) are currently affected by mental illness, less than 20% of these individuals received the appropriate care and support. Digital mental health innovations have been identified as a promising means to bridge many of the aforementioned gaps in the delivery of mental health care for transition-aged youth. However, despite the development of many rigorous solutions, there is currently a lack of widespread adoption of these solutions. As a result, there is a strong need to disseminate the current findings from a mobile health (mHealth) app evaluation locally conducted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and closely examine how evidence-based mental health technologies can be mobilized to make an impact on mental health help-seeking needs and experiences. The current project aims to disseminate the findings from the 'Bridging the Gap' study, a mixed-methods randomized controlled trial that examines the impact of 'Thought Spot', a mental health help-seeking app designed for the needs of transition-aged youth, and identify next steps in the development of an optimization plan to ensure operational readiness of Thought Spot. Additionally, relevant stakeholders are engaged for the planning of an appropriate dissemination strategy to effectively scale and enable usage of Thought Spot across universities and colleges in Canada