Grant: Chair: Implementation Science Chairs in HDCYH - General Pool

Mental illness is one of the biggest health challenges in Canada, affecting 1 in 5 people each year. Over 70% of mental health issues begin in childhood, but most kids don't get the help they need on time. Untreated parent mental health problems can lead to developmental problems for children, like irritability, trouble sleeping, and mental health problems of their own. Because of the harms of colonization, Indigenous families face even more challenges, with double the rates of mental health problems and very little access to care that matches their cultural needs. Waitlists for proper mental health care can be up to 2 years, with many families receiving no care at all. We need to change how mental health care is delivered in Canada, making it available and useful to all who need it. Dr. Roos is an implementation scientist who is interested in reaching as many families as possible through wide-scale rollout of high-quality proven programs within Canada's healthcare system. She works with communities to choose and tailor programs to different contexts so they help with specific family needs and preferences, including immigrant, rural, and Indigenous communities. This CIHR Implementation Science Chair in Human Development, Child and Youth Health will allow her to grow her work with diverse communities and determine how to best embed high-quality programs into systems of care. She will mentor new researchers in implementation science who will work with their own communities to adapt and test these mental health and parenting support tools to ensure they are useful and effective. Advancing training and support for Indigenous and under-represented students will diversify the healthcare workforce, further enhancing the cultural relevance and accessibility of family mental health services for current and future generations. Dr. Roos' work with community members will make effective mental health services more available to families across Canada.