Research Initiatives
Children's Health Policy Centre at SFU
The Children's Health Policy Centre at SFU provides research, education and policy consultation to support improved children's mental health in BC and Canada.
Their research indicates that, at any given time, 14% of children in Canada experience mental disorders that cause significant symptoms and impair their functioning in multiple domains. The Centre advocates for a comprehensive population health strategy for children's mental health that includes: addressing the social determinants of children’s health; preventing mental disorders in children at risk; providing effective treatment for children with mental disorders, and monitoring mental health outcomes for children.
To support the development and implementation of MCFD's Child & Youth Mental Health Plan for British Columbia, research staff and consultants have completed reviews of the best available research evidence on preventing and treating a variety of children's mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and early psychosis.
Reports on suicide prevention and new approaches to improving the mental health of First Nations children and youth have also been produced. New reports on treating mental disorders in children with development disabilities, preventing and treating childhood sexual abuse and childhood substance abuse, and a review of effective service modalities, will be available in summer 2006.
Also in conjunction with the Plan, the Program is sponsoring a number of Ministry- and community-based partnership initiatives focused on developing and sharing new knowledge around the design and delivery of children's mental health services, and ensuring a robust and ongoing connection between researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and community leaders.
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