Inlight

In partnership with students, U of T launches strategic initiative to improve mental health outcomes through research

siddiq22 — Wed, 03 May 2023 21:26:58 +0000

In partnership with students, U of T launches strategic initiative to improve mental health outcomes through research

siddiq22 Wed, 05/03/2023 - 17:26

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Emma McCann, left, chairs a panel discussion with students Sapolnach Prompiengchai, Rya Buckley, Joanna Roy and Yaxi Zhao during a launch event for Inlight, which aims to improve post-secondary student mental health through research (photo by Dewey Chang)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Our Community

Inlight

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Mental Health

Research & Innovation

The University of Toronto has launched Inlight, an Institutional Strategic Initiative that aims to improve post-secondary student mental health and wellness by investing in impactful research and driving scalable research innovations.

Inlight recently held a kickoff event at Massey College to mark the start of Mental Health Week. It featured remarks from senior U of T leadership, Inlight researchers and Ontario’s associate minister of mental health and addictions – as well as a panel discussion with students.

“As a world-leading research university, we recognize that we also have this enormous opportunity to develop a new research model and evidence to inform services not just at our university, but across Canada and the world,” Cheryl Regehr, U of T’s vice-president and provost, said at the event.

Inlight funds leading-edge research on youth and student mental health to uncover the evidence and data needed to inform and improve mental health services on university campuses – both at U of T and at universities across Ontario and around the world. The initiative stems from the recommendations of a 2019 report by the Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health.

Michael Tibollo, Ontario’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, noted the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on youth and students.

“The innovative research you are conducting helps form the foundation of the continuum of care we're building in the province of Ontario,” Tibollo said. “I look forward to seeing the positive changes you bring to the field of student mental health, further enhancing supports for Ontario's post-secondary students.”

Michael Tibollo, right, speaks to students at the Inlight launch event at Massey College (photo by David Lee)

Inlight’s five-year plan was developed in consultation with students, researchers and other U of T community members, leveraging mental health expertise across U of T’s three campuses and with students as collaborators in the research process.

Student engagement is vital, said Inlight Director and Chair Kristin Cleverley, an associate professor in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“Our mission is guided by key principles, including prioritizing the student voice through partnerships. Improving student mental health outcomes requires driving system change through investments in bold research-driven solutions.”

From left to right: Linda Johnston, Cheryl Regehr, Michael Tibollo and Kristin Cleverley (photo by Dewey Chang)

The launch included a panel discussion moderated by Emma McCann, Inlight’s engagement lead, with students Rya Buckley, a master’s student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; Sapolnach Prompiengchai, an undergraduate student in the department of psychology at U of T Scarborough; Joanna Roy, an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; and Yaxi Zhao, a PhD student in the Faculty of Information.

“Together, we can better understand the determinants of student mental health, enhance our strategies and translate those findings into a student-partner knowledge mobilization initiative that can directly impact our students’ mental health and well-being,” Prompiengchai said.

Prompiengchai and Roy sit on Inlight’s student advisory committee, while Buckley and Zhao are among the seven inaugural recipients of the Inlight Fellowship, an annual funding program created to support exceptional graduate scholars who are leading student mental health research at U of T.

From left to right: Yiyi Wang, Joanna Roy, Lexi Ewing, Yaxi Zhao, Rya Buckley, Emma McCann and Ruiqiu Shen (photo by Dewey Chang)

Nine U of T researchers have also received grants from Inlight in support of research that aims to spark advances in post-secondary student mental health and wellness.

Each of the one-year projects include students as co-investigators or collaborators and will address critical areas of mental health for post-secondary students – including the needs of 2SLGBTQ+ students, understanding anti-Black racism and mental health within higher education, the intersection of mental wellness and disability services, and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In addition to the student-led research that Inlight is driven to support, we are also proud to be able to provide funding to faculty researchers at U of T, who are actively leading projects that will rapidly build knowledge in areas pertaining to the mental health needs of diverse student populations,” Cleverley said.

Inlight Research Fellowships in support of mental health research

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 20:54:22 +0000

Inlight Research Fellowships in support of mental health research

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/20/2023 - 16:54

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Clockwise from top left: Lauren Brown, Maya E. Amestoy, Yiyi Wang, Andrea McCracken, Xue (Sunny) Xiang, Rya Buckley and Yaxi Zhao (supplied photos)

Topic

Our Community

Inlight

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Faculty of Information

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mental Health

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Rya Buckley’s graduate research at the University of Toronto focuses on examining the experiences and access to mental health supports of racialized and marginalized students – expertise she will now put to work on behalf of her peers.

A master's student in school and clinical child psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), Buckley is one of seven recipients of the inaugural Inlight Research Fellowship Program.

Rya Buckley (supplied image)

The award, which has been presented to students across U of T’s three campuses, will support Buckley’s ongoing research aimed at investigating access to mental health supports, including how and whether students are able to access supports consistently, and what makes it easier to maintain a focus on their mental health.

Buckley says she believes that student mental health directly correlates with student success, whether that’s good grades, being able to complete courses or finding a subject they are passionate about.

Buckley says she is also interested in understanding the experiences of students who exist at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities.

“For the students who exist at the intersections of marginalized identities or who are racialized, I want to understand how those identities influence their situations and experiences as post-secondary students and their access to mental health,” she says.

“Knowledge translation is very important to me. I want to be able to give this research back to the students because it's their stories and it needs their thoughts and interpretations to be meaningful.”

The Inlight Research Fellowship Program supports independent student researchers in the field of post-secondary student mental health. Officially launching May 1, Inlight is a U of T Institutional Strategic Initiative (ISI) that is building research capacity for post-secondary student mental health on campus by ensuring student perspectives are included in research.

“The Inlight Research Fellowship Program supports exceptional graduate students in becoming independent researchers in the field of post-secondary student mental health, because they are the future of this field of research and their perspectives matter,” says Kristin Cleverley, director and chair of Inlight and an associate professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing.

Buckley says university students invest significant time and money into their education and expect a quality experience.

“The post-secondary experience can be some of a student’s most formative years,” she says, “and our research will help shape that experience so that it might be more supportive.”

Here is the full list of Inlight’s inaugural research fellowship award recipients:

Maya E. Amestoy is a master’s student in clinical psychology in the department of psychological clinical science at U of T Scarborough. Her research explores the relationship between positive school support and internalized stigma and psychological well-being in LGBTQ+ post-secondary students. Supervised by Associate Professor Amanda A. Uliaszek, Amestoy’s research aims to mobilize support for inclusivity in post-secondary settings.

Lauren Brown is a PhD student in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s (OISE) department of curriculum, teaching and learning. Her research examines how students at U of T describe, learn about and act in support of their own wellbeing. The goal is to improve the teaching and learning of wellbeing on campus, and to take a strengths-based approach in learning about how students engage with their own mental health. Brown is supervised by Associate Professor Antoinette Gagne.

Rya Buckley is a master’s student in school and clinical child psychology at OISE. Her research sets out to examine the unique experiences of racialized university students in accessing mental health services and supports, including multiple intersecting identities. Buckley aims to add strength-based perspectives to the literature on racialized student mental health, highlighting both positive support-seeking experiences as well as room for improvement. Buckley is supervised by Assistant Professor Chloe Hamza.

Andrea McCracken is a master’s student at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Her research aims to explore a pharmacist’s role, including the use of digital technologies, in supporting post-secondary students with psychotropic medication management. Her study will increase the understanding about how pharmacists within the primary health-care system can care for post-secondary students during the transition to adulthood by managing mental illness using psychotropic medications. McCracken is supervised by Pharmacy’s Dean and Professor Lisa Dolovich.

Yiyi Wang is a PhD student in the department of psychology at U of T Mississauga. Her research takes a student-centered approach in developing student-informed conceptualizations of wellbeing and a holistic approach to understanding what students need. Her research will test whether proposed mental health interventions, such as online tools and a self-developed chatbot, are beneficial to students’ coping skills and wellbeing. Wang is supervised by Associate Professor Norman Farb.

Xue (Sunny) Xiang is a PhD student in organizational behaviour and human resource management in the Rotman School of Management. Her research explores how post-secondary students’ liminal experience facilitates recovery and wellbeing. In this context Xiang is looking to develop a preliminary understanding of student’s use of liminal activities as a way to cope with role-related stresses. Xiang is supervised by Professor Soo Min Toh.

Yaxi Zhao is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Information. Her research focuses on the impact of students’ interpersonal relationships, including romantic relationships, on their mental health. Specifically, Zhao is examining the challenges and opportunities in triad remote couple’s therapies and designing a therapeutic platform prototype as an intervention to better understand the communication needs of therapists and student clients during remote triad couple therapy sessions. Zhao is supervised by Professor Rhonda McEwen.