Our Research Focus and Projects

Leads:    Dr. Jo Henderson
                Dr. Deb Chiodo                   
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Integrated Youth Service (IYS) hubs such as Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) are one-stop shops, coordinating care to meet the broad needs of youth aged 12 to 25 in community settings. This includes mental health care, primary health care, substance use treatment, peer support, education, navigation, and employment services. Collaboratively, Drs. Jo Henderson and Deb Chiodo and their team have secured resources to create the infrastructure to conduct impactful research across IYSs throughout Canada, called IYS-Net. This includes the establishment of a “Learning Health System”, where clinical data collection processes and real-world service delivery form a feedback loop for continual improvement to strengthen the quality of care.

Lead:          Dr. Lisa Hawke
Funders:   Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
                    University of Toronto Reasons for Hope Fund in Prevention and
                    Early Detection of Mental Illness

Self-stigma occurs when individuals internalize negative stereotypes about their mental health conditions. Self-stigma is common among youth with mental health conditions and is considered a major barrier to recovery. This is a youth-engaged randomized pilot basket trial of a youth-led adaptation of Narrative Enhancement and Cognitive Therapy (NECT-Y). Youth participants aged 16-29 diagnosed with bipolar disorder (Basket 1) or two or more mental health conditions (Basket 2) are randomized to receive either a 14-week NECT-Y group intervention or treatment as usual, completing a range of self-report questionnaires at multiple timepoints. The study’s primary outcome of interest is feasibility. Secondary outcomes include acceptability and the intervention’s impact on self-stigma, wellness, symptomatology, and treatment-seeking attitudes. Testing NECT-Y with youth populations provides an opportunity to extend the evidence base and prepare for the next stages of efficacy research. Recruitment for this research leverages the infrastructure of the TAY and CALM studies. 

Lead:       Dr. Brendan Andrade (Collaborator Scientist)                       
Funder:  LesLois Shaw Foundation

The EMPOWER project enrolled over 200 youth and staff in a randomized controlled trial to assess a social-emotional learning program. This initiative delivers a tailored intervention that builds youth emotion regulation skills, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills, for 11 to 14-year-olds in after-school programs across 21 equity deserving neighborhoods in Toronto. This study assessed the program’s feasibility and efficacy.

Lead:         Dr. Kristin Cleverley
Funders:  Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)
                   University of Toronto Connaught Fund

The Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study (LYiTS) tracks the impact of transition experiences on youth mental health and service use over seven years. The team is seeking to understand ways of improving continuity of mental health care for youth, and evaluating the impact of co-occurring major life-stage milestones, such as first experiences in the workplace, moving away from home and beginning post-secondary education. This study aims to improve transitions from youth to adult mental health services by creating a better understanding of how young people transition out of mental health services at age 18 - a difficult time in which up to half experience a disruption in their care. 

Leads:    Dr. Kristin Cleverley
                Dr. Lexi Ewing
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Drs. Kristin Cleverley and Lexi Ewing are leading the CIHR-funded NavigateCAMPUS project, which evaluates the University of Toronto Navigation Service at CAMH to improve transitions between hospital and campus or community-based mental health care. This project aims to enhance the continuity of care, improve long-term trajectories of mental health and functioning, increase student satisfaction, and reduce burden on campus health and wellness services. Following the IAYMH 2025 Conference, Dr. Cleverley hosted a SSHRC-funded international networking event that brought together faculty, staff, and student researchers from global campuses to strengthen collaborations and establish a foundation for future joint initiatives focused on post-secondary student mental health.

Leads:    Dr. Darren Courtney
                Dr. Kiefer Cowie
Funder: McCain Centre

Measurement-Based Care (MBC) uses repeated self-report questionnaires to track symptom changes and guide shared decision-making in treatment. Dr. Darren Courtney and other McCain Centre scientists have been collaborating with youth partners to identify relevant measures, create a data capture platform, and create dashboards to communicate results to youth receiving services. This measurement platform will improve our understanding of the service needs of youth presenting to care, support youth-centred care, and lead to better treatment outcomes. 

Lead:      Dr. Nicole Kozloff
Funder:  Slaight Family Foundation

Dr. Kozloff leads “Specialty Care for Youth Wellness” (SCY-Well), a model of coordinated specialty care for youth with complex mental health needs. The model incorporates measurement-based care, shared decision making, is strengths-based, and attentive to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The team piloted the program at CAMH and will assess feasibility and acceptability of embedding a multisite research trial in the CALM study at CAMH and SickKids. SCY-Well aims to realize a practical, youth co-developed, evidence based intervention for youth with complex mental health needs.

Lead:      Dr. Nicole Kozloff
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Dr. Nicole Kozloff, with funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is leading a scoping review to identify approaches to defining complexity in youth mental health, and a Delphi survey to reach consensus among youth, families, service providers, administrators, researchers, and policymakers on a definition of complexity in youth mental health. Learn more about the study by watching this video.

Lead:        Dr. Jo Henderson
Funders: RBC Future Launch
                  Power Corporation of Canada
                  Canadian Brain Research Fund (CBRF)
                  
This innovative project is co-led by Dr. Jo Henderson with collaborators from across the McCain Centre, the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, Shkaabe Makwa, scientists, clinicians, youth and families from across Canada and aims to enhance youth mental health research and services by creating a shared data system that improves efficiency, collaboration, and scalability.  A key focus is co-developing a governance framework with youth input, guided by workshops and a consensus-building process, called a Delphi study, developing tools for widespread and sustainable youth engagement, and designing a platform to meet the needs of youth- and family-identified use cases. For more information, contact youthinsight@camh.ca.

Leads: Dr. Aristotle Voineskos alongside multiple McCain Scientists (Drs. Cleverley, Courtney, Hawke, Kahana, Kozloff, & Lai)
Funder: CAMH Discovery Fund

The Toronto Adolescent and Youth (TAY) CAMH Cohort Study follows 1,500 youth aged 11 to 24 who presented to mental health services at CAMH. The study collects detailed information, including on mental and physical health, social factors, health service utilization, brain imaging, genetics, education, and cognition, to build a thorough, multi-scale picture of the whole individual from genes to brain, behaviour, and community over time. It involves collaboration between the McCain Centre and multiple other CAMH centres, including the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition, Centre for Youth Bipolar Disorder, Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, Brain Health Imaging Centre, and Institute for Mental Health Policy Research. This study aims to provide a better understanding of how certain mental health symptoms can develop, who is at increased risk for certain mental health challenges, and how young people can be better supported. For more information, contact TAYCohort@camh.ca.

Leads:    Dr. Jo Henderson
                Dr. Meaghen Quinlan-Davidson
Funder: Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit (OSSU)

YouthCan IMPACT is a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of the Integrated Collaborative Care Team (ICCT) model compared to standard hospital outpatient services in Toronto. Co-designed, implemented, and evaluated with youth and families using the McCain Model of Youth Engagement, the study found improvements in functional impairment and mental health in both groups. Youth in the ICCT model had shorter wait-times and reported positive service experiences, emphasizing dignity, respect, and autonomy. The team will continue to analyze data from this seminal trial and share findings through various knowledge translation products, peer-reviewed publications, and conferences. The model developed for this project led to broader implementation of integrated youth services through Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) and inspired similar services across Canada.

Leads:    Dr. Meaghen Quinlan-Davidson
                Dr. Jo Henderson
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

This project focused on generating youth-derived recommendations for public health planning in future pandemics. Using a national Delphi study, youth provided insights on mental health and substance use needs during COVID-19, helping to shape strategies for better addressing these challenges in future emergencies. Recommendations include clearer communication, equitable access to services, and enhanced mental health support in schools. The study aimed to amplify youth voices in policy and decision-making, ensuring a more effective response to public health crises. 

Lead:      Dr. Brendan Andrade   
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

The MATCH-DB clinical trial aims to enhance the delivery of high-quality care by personalizing psychosocial interventions for children and youth with disruptive behavior and their families. This study uses a specialized assessment to match children and their families to group-based or individualized care. The study is being conducted at CAMH and two community agencies. This study will advance knowledge to solve pressing clinical problems of how to use multifaceted emotional and behavioural assessment data to guide treatment decisions for children with disruptive behaviour and their parents. Findings from the trial will lead to more personalized approaches to intervention.

Leads:    Dr. Meaghen Quinlan-Davidson 
                Dr. Jo Henderson
Funder: womenmind™

The CARES project (Co-designing Accessible, Responsible, Equitable Services), funded by CAMH’s womenmind™, engages girls, women, and gender-diverse youth through a Youth Advisory Group to inform a qualitative exploration of the health service experiences of youth. The project aims to provide accessible and equitable services to this demographic. Other related initiatives, such as the Youth Taking Action on Climate Change project, have also been developed with youth partnerships, alongside collaborations in Lima, Peru, and several research studies on youth affected by COVID-19 and those not engaged in education, employment, or training (NEET). These findings are being disseminated through publications and workshops.

Lead:     Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai
Funder: womenmind™

Dr. Lai’s team, with support from CAMH’s womenmind™, is conducting a multi-cycle community-based participatory research project to develop a self-advocacy tool for wellbeing for autistic, gender-diverse adolescents. This project engages lived experience expertise from autistic, gender-diverse adolescents, their parents and caregivers, and clinicians involved in care and support for autism-related and gender-related needs to create a tailored tool that can be useful especially for autistic gender-diverse adolescents’ health care – the first of its kind in Canada.

Lead:       Dr. Amy Gajaria
Funders: University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine 
                 Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children (Leong Centre)

Dr. Amy Gajaria led the planning of a knowledge translation event in response to barriers to care for Black youth. The event involved arts-based mental health support and discussions with professionals. The event received positive feedback, leading to calls for it to become annual. The findings also shaped a full-day event on Black youth mental health, in collaboration with the Black Physicians Association of Ontario and CAFCAN, and were shared with the Black community and at Public Health Ontario rounds to support better policy and service design.

Leads:      Dr. Doug Vanderlaan (Collaborator Scientist)
                  Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai
Funders: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
                 Brain Canada

Dr. Doug Vanderlaan and his team are examining how brain structure, function, cognition, and emotion develop over time in transgender and gender-diverse youth. In addition, this project examines the neurological correlates of specialized therapies for transgender youth. They have set up a Community Advisory Board where people with lived and living experience contribute to study governance, interpretation, and knowledge sharing, ensuring that findings are grounded in community priorities and translated in ways that are relevant, ethical, and impactful. This research will provide insight regarding the possible effects of gender-affirming sex hormones therapies on brain maturation.

Lead:        Dr. Tracey Skilling
Funders: Social Science and Health Research Council (SSHRC)
                 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

The study, co-led by Dr. Tracey Skilling and Dr. Hayley Hamilton of CAMH’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and others, and funded by the Social Science and Health Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, focused on standards for mental health and substance use services within youth justice settings. Engaging with decision-makers, mental health service providers, justice-involved youth and family members, the team reviewed the literature on existing standards and their limitations, and identified barriers and facilitators to uptake of standards in youth justice settings. They also conducted focus groups and individual interviews. The work will inform the development of guiding principles for mental health and substance use services within youth justice settings to improve equity and outcomes across groups.

Lead: Dr. Dafna Kahana

CAMH’s Youth Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (Y-RAAM) Clinic launched in June 2025 as Canada's first youth-specific RAAM clinic. Y-RAAM implemented the RAAM model developed by META:PHI, which has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing emergency department visits, morbidity, and mortality related to substance use. The clinic provides same-day access to specialized, multidisciplinary addiction medicine services for young people aged 13 to 21, with no need for referrals or booked appointments. This model is particularly well-suited for youth experiencing fluctuating motivation for treatment, eliminating the barriers of lengthy wait times that often cause young people to disengage during critical windows of readiness for care. By integrating evidence-informed pharmacological interventions, harm-reduction approaches, and immediate access to specialty care, Y-RAAM meets youth where they are in their recovery journey, and is anticipated to improve treatment retention and outcomes, with the potential to save lives. 

The team is currently building an evaluation framework to rigorously assess clinical outcomes, refine service delivery, and generate evidence for this innovative approach. Y-RAAM has generated significant interest from learners and other healthcare providers, positioning the clinic as both an innovative clinical service and a hub for education and training. The model has the potential to be replicated, offering a scalable solution to expand access to youth-specific addiction care across Canada and beyond.