Dr. Fiona Thomas awarded SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant

Dr. Fiona Thomas, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grant (external link)  (PEG). Her research focuses on examining culturally responsive and sustainable mental health interventions locally and globally, with an emphasis on addressing structural inequities and reducing mental health disparities among marginalized communities.

The Partnership Engage Grant offers short-term and timely support for collaborative research efforts to inform decision-making within a single partner organization, whether in the public, private or non-profit sector. These small-scale partnerships, driven by stakeholders, are intended to address the immediate needs and time constraints faced by organizations outside academia.

Dr. Thomas is working on a research project titled, Bridging the Gap: Leveraging community-academic partnerships to improve evidence-based psychological interventions for diverse communities. This project will delve into the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy (external link)  (OSP) program in the Brampton, Halton and Mississauga regions. OSP is a publicly funded program which provides cognitive-behavioural therapy and related services for adults in Ontario experiencing depression and anxiety-related concerns. Alongside student trainees Diandra Fernandes, Lamia Firasta, Ophelie Ng Ha Kwong, Puneet Parmar and graduate student, Sofia Melendez, Dr. Thomas is collaborating with a team from CarePoint Health (external link)  on this project. 

CarePoint Health (CPH) is an integrated primary care centre consisting of allied health professionals and community primary care providers working together to improve the health and wellness of the Mississauga communities. CPH is the Network Lead Organization for OSP from Halton, Brampton and Mississauga. Project co-investigators from CPH include Angel Ali, Dr. Nancy Bahl, Dr. Naomi Ennis and Luciana Rodrigues.

The TMU And CPH teams will co-lead and co-design the research project, from conceptualization to knowledge mobilization. Through community-based participatory research, the partnership will explore engagement in therapeutic services, including the points in the treatment journey where clients are most likely to disengage. This will involve analyzing attendance and completion trends, investigating the factors leading to engagement and disengagement from therapy, and exploring various obstacles to accessing treatment by delving into sociodemographic and intersectional aspects. CarePoint Health’s client and clinician perspectives will be integrated to examine the lived experience of engaging in OSP services in Brampton, Halton and Mississauga. The resulting evidence will be used to inform interventions and train clinicians in the region on factors that could impact engagement and barriers to accessing services, especially among historically underserved populations. 

“This grant is the culmination of close collaboration with our community partners at CarePoint Health, who have been instrumental in co-designing the research project and providing support to students in my (very new) lab,” said Dr. Thomas. “I am thrilled to work so closely with wonderful colleagues and contribute towards expanding access to mental health services for underserved populations and informing social policy through community-driven approaches. It is exciting to bring our vision of community engagement, equity and knowledge dissemination to life in the Peel and Halton regions.”

The project is anticipated to reach completion by March 2025. Dr. Thomas’ website, Advancing Research for Culturally Aligned Interventions Lab, will launch later this spring, offering updates and a community report.