MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH CANADA/RECHERCHE EN SANTE MENTALE CANADA

Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) is a national charitable organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Canadians by advancing mental health knowledge. Our vision is to create a Canada with better mental health for all with a mission to lead and partner to improve mental health practices where Canadians connect live and work. We pride ourselves on being nimble collaborative forward-looking and committed to excellence in all that we do. We advance new knowledge that is focused on practical outcomes for Canadians and also share existing knowledge to encourage stakeholders to implement best practices. Health systems and services cannot improve without research and ongoing monitoring of the state of mental health – research is an investment in the future. At MHRC we do our work in both official languages and provide support to Indigenous researchers working with Indigenous populations. In just a short few years our work has contributed to every province and two of three territories. We prioritize a variety of program areas that serve to advance mental health and mental health knowledge in Canada. We have three main areas of work: 1. Building the talent pool in mental health research: Studentships and Fellowships MHRC fosters the growth of early-career researchers through its support for Studentships and Fellowships. These programs are uniquely designed to provide early-career researchers with invaluable community-based experience enabling close collaboration with people with lived experience. Uniquely researchers are required to divide their time between academic institutions and community service providers ensuring that their work meets the specific needs of the target communities. As of September 2024 we have co-funded 63 projects since 2020 in critical areas such as children's mental health digital health climate anxiety and Indigenous community well-being amongst others.

2. Seed-funding Grants through partner donations MHRC also supports Grants supported by partner and donor contributions to research teams comprised of academics community service providers and peoples with lived experience. Through this initiative we have been able to bridge the gap between research and practice to resolve mental health issues and challenges faced by diverse communities across Canada. As of September 2024 we have seed-funded 24 research projects since 2020 that have delved into forward-looking areas in mental health such as responsible use of AI workplace mental health Veterans’ mental health predictive Opioid overdose youth mental health and many others. Many of these projects have subsequently secured additional funding and have received significant recognition at both provincial and national levels positioning them well to impact communities and better the lives of Canadians. 3. Population data collection analysis and rapid reporting MHRC is THE organization in Canada monitoring analyzing and reporting on the mental health of Canadians using population data collection (ongoing) examining a vast array of mental health indicators compared and analyzed against demographic information. This extensive dataset initiated during COVID-19 helps us conduct in-depth analysis and report to stakeholders nationally on the unique mental heath needs and challenges of diverse vulnerable demographic groups in this country. Our data is shared at no cost with nearly 50 data partners and this work is all in support of data informed decision-making in mental health services. In addition we engage in workforce mental health data collection and reporting to advance workplace based mental wellness in Canada.