Mental health and substance use are pressing issues in this globally declared decade of youth. Youth are increasingly presenting at crisis point to emergency room services when other options may be available in specialty services and schools. The Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) study randomly selected mid-adolescent youth receiving child welfare services in a large urban centre (N=561) and tracked mental health and substance use over time, especially to highlight groups at higher risk and potential intervention areas to reduce risk. This presentation will highlight some key learnings from the MAP Research Study, funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, Ontario Ministry of Child and Youth Services, and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.
Dr. Wekerle is an Associate Professor in Pediatrics and an Associate Member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University. She obtained her Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) in 1995 from the University of Western Ontario, an American and Canadian Psychological Association accredited program, and conducted her accredited internship at McMaster in Pediatrics. Dr. Wekerle's research areas are broadly in the areas of parenting and the prevention of family violence. She has edited a book on the overlap among child maltreatment, dating and courtship violence, partner violence, and substance abuse ("The Violence and Addiction Equation;" Wekerle & Wall, 2002; Taylor Francis), written a book for a broad audience on maltreatment ("Child Maltreatment;" Wekerle, Wolfe, Miller & Spindel, 2006; Hogrefe, translated into Japanese and Spanish), as well as a book and treatment manual on a dating violence prevention program ("The Youth Relationships Project") which remains one of the few programs evaluated in a randomized control trial with at-risk youth. Dr. Wekerle is Co-editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Child and Adolescent Resilience and Editor for special issues of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. She has also been an active scientist, publishing in peer-reviewed journals since 1987. Dr. Wekerle's current research focuses on child welfare populations, particularly adolescents who are receiving child protection services and their outcome across physical, mental, and financial health domains. She is invested in supporting health and resilience within maltreated populations, and disseminates actively to policy and practice. In 2012, she co-founded the International Network of Child and Adolescent Resilience (www.in-car.ca).
Dr. Sherry Heather Stewart, Ph.D.
Dr. Stewart is a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University, as well as a licensed clinical psychologist in the province of Nova Scotia. She is well known for her research on psychological factors contributing to emotional disorders and substance misuse, the comorbidity of mental health and addictive disorders, and pathological gambling. Dr. Stewart has published several clinical trials of novel approaches for the treatment and prevention of substance abuse and co-occurring mental health problems, and has adapted these interventions for use in the prevention context in high schools. Dr. Stewart holds a Governor-in-Council appointment with the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse, and is Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Gambling Issues. Dr. Stewart receives funding from several research agencies including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF), National Center for Responsible Gambling (NCRG) and the Manitoba Gambling Research Program (MGRP). She has received over $20 million to support her addictions and mental health research from granting agencies worldwide. Dr. Stewart has published over 290 scientific articles, 9 books, and 36 book chapters.
sexual abuse in residential child protection care. She received both a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and a Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. Lise has 15 years of experience in child welfare in both Manitoba and Quebec as a child protection worker, supervisor and trainer. She has been a member, chairperson, and consultant of specialized groups on child sexual abuse and is presently a co-chair for a clinical integration group at Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, where she has also provided training to staff. For her doctoral research, she plans to explore traumatic experiences and symptoms among youth in out-of-home care in Ontario.