Pre-Announcement: Catalyst Grant – Towards Pan-Canadian Standards for Children and Youth Mental Health Services

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is pleased to announce the launch of the Catalyst Grant: Towards Pan-Canadian Standards for Children and Youth Mental Health Services Funding Opportunity. This funding opportunity forms part of the National Standards for Mental Health Services Initiative, a Government of Canada priority outlined in Budget 2021, to support the development of pan-Canadian standards for mental health and substance use health services. This funding opportunity is led by CIHR’s Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, in partnership with Health Canada.

Overview

The focus of the Catalyst Grant: Towards Pan-Canadian Standards for Children and Youth Mental Health Services is to support research to inform standards specific to mental health and/or substance use health services for children, youth, and young adults (ages 0 to 25), including the perinatal period. Children, youth, and young adults, and their caregivers/families, access mental health and/or substance use health services across various sectors in various settings, most commonly in primary care, schools, and community organizations. Unfortunately, many youths and families also access mental health services for the first time through other sectors, such as child welfare settings, juvenile justice or correctional settings, and emergency departments. Underserved youth, such as those who are Black or Indigenous, face disproportionate challenges to accessing mental health services and are more likely to access care through these other sectors. This funding opportunity supports needed research and knowledge mobilization on existing standards across various settings where children, youth, and/or young adults access services.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• Contribute to the evidence base on standards or guiding principles for mental health and/or substance use health services across diverse settings;
• Enable a Learning Health Systems approach for the delivery of mental health and substance use health services for youth, where standards can be continuously measured and adapted to meet the needs of the populations served;
• Mobilize evidence to inform policy and decision-making on the development of pan-Canadian standards in mental health and substance use health;
• Facilitate effective and meaningful engagement of knowledge users in research related to standards to ensure the perspectives of children, youth, young adults, and their caregivers/families, among others, are considered in the development pan-Canadian standards.

Research Areas

This funding opportunity will support projects that focus on standards or guiding principles in mental health and/or substance use health services, including in virtual delivery of care, for children, youth, and young adults (ages 0 to 25; including the perinatal period), within or across any of the following settings. Research relevant to the workforce or providers who support children, youth, young adults, and/or their caregivers/families in these sectors is also applicable (e.g., standards relevant to training).

• Community settings
• Primary care settings
• Education and school settings
• Child welfare settings
• Juvenile justice or correctional settings
• Indigenous-led settings
• Other specialized mental health and/or substance use settings

Available Funds

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $4,400,000, enough to fund up to 22 one-year grants. The maximum amount per grant is up to $200,000 for one year.

Important Dates

For more details on this funding opportunity, please visit ResearchNet.

Future funding opportunities for this Initiative will be published on ResearchNet. For any inquiries related to this Initiative, please contact the CIHR Contact Centre at support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Date modified:

2023-02-14