The inaugural Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression conference, Transforming Policy and Practice Through Science, was held on November 17 at 18 at CAMH’s Queen street campus. Supported by the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health and the Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition, the conference delivered new and exciting knowledge about child and youth mental health research and initiatives.
Day one of the conference featured an international roster of speakers from the United Kingdom, Australia, and across Canada. Honoured guests included CAMH donors the Peter Cundill Foundation and the Honourable Margaret McCain, who spoke at the event. Over 300 people from various professional backgrounds attended the conference, including policy makers, clinicians, researchers, youth and their family members. The second day consisted of small, intensive workshops, led by CAMH staff in in the Cundill, McCain and Slaight centres.
Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees giving the first day an average score of 4.1/5, and high marks for each of the speakers. Audience engagement was also high, as people commented on the conference with Twitter hashtag, #CundillatCAMH.
Some highlights from day one:
Dr. Ian Goodyer, professor of psychiatry from the University of Cambridge, and Chair of the Cundill Centre’s International Advisory Board, spoke about his findings from the largest ever randomized control trial of youth depression interventions. His findings will be published soon in Lancet Psychiatry and give evidence to support the lasting effects of key interventions.
Dr. Kathryn Bennett, a Cundill Scholar and professor at McMaster University, presented her team’s work in identifying the best clinical practice guidelines for young people with depression. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting Cundill Centre project.
Professor Ian Hickie, professor of psychiatry at the Sydney Medical School, delivered a last-minute and powerful presentation of (the indisposed) Dr. Kathleen Merikangas’ work looking at the epidemiology of youth mental health. He also spoke about the potential of technology to be a powerful tool to help diagnose mood disorders.
Dr. Jean Addington, professor of psychiatry from the University of Calgary, discussed her contributions to a study of high-risk youth with the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study. This multi-site, international collaboration is creating hope for greater recovery for young people with serious mental illness.
Dr. Joanna Henderson, director of the McCain Centre, spoke about the importance of clinically relevant research projects, and bridging the research and practice gap. To do this, we must work with youth and their families as partners to improve research design and impact.
Miss the conference and want to learn more?
Look for conference presentations and videos, in addition to plain language summaries, on the Cundill Centre website in December.