Announcing the 2018 CHILD-BRIGHT Training Innovation Fund Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 CHILD-BRIGHT Training Innovation Fund (TIF) competition, an initiative to facilitate the development of innovative training activities that will foster patient-oriented research training and mentoring within research projects focused on childhood brain-based developmental disabilities.

We received a number of strong proposals and following an in-depth review, the evaluation committee recommended two proposals for funding based on the impact that their proposed deliverables would have on increasing capacity for patient-oriented research within the CHILD-BRIGHT Network and beyond.

We congratulate the two following successful TIF winners:

Project:

Learning Together: the use of simulation to enhance and enable authentic and meaningful research partnerships

Kathryn Parker

Leads:
Kathryn Parker, Senior Director, Academic Affairs and Simulation Lead, Holland Bloorview & Nadia Tanel, Manager, Research Operations, Holland Bloorview

Funding amount granted:
$9,979

Project timeline:
Jan-Dec 2019

Nadia Tanel

Project summary:
The proposed project aims to develop a suite of five simulation-based learning modules designed for multi-stakeholder research teams that include patients/families as partners. Adopting a co-learning approach, these modules will be designed to address complex challenges experienced by patients and scientists while engaging in patient-oriented research.

Project:

Development of a partnership model for collaborative research with youth with disabilities

Gail Teachman

Lead:
Gail Teachman, Assistant Professor, Western University

Funding amount granted:
$10,000

Project timeline:
Jan 2019-Jan 2021

Project summary:
The project aims to pilot a model for meaningfully engaging youth with diverse disabilities as collaborators in an integrated knowledge translation (iKT) research project. This project will actively engage youth collaborators as well as other stakeholder groups in the creation of training modules that train health care providers to approach childhood disability as an interaction between physiological and social determinants of disability.

Congratulations!

Introducing the CHILD-BRIGHT National Youth Advisory Panel

It has always been our intention to put youth at the center of our work, and we are thrilled to announce that this structure is now in place at CHILD-BRIGHT!  

Dolly Menna-Dack

Last year, we formed a Youth Engagement Steering Committee and mandated this committee to help us establish our youth panel as well as its mandate, terms, priorities, and membership.

Dolly Menna-Dack, Clinical Bioethicist & Youth Engagement Strategy Lead at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital chaired this committee. This steering committee also included representatives from multiple provinces, members with lived experience in brain-based developmental disabilities, and experts in the field of paediatric engagement, ethics, and science.

“It has been a pleasure for me to lead this exciting initiative, and today, I’m happy to help introduce this new panel, which will be called the CHILD-BRIGHT National Youth Advisory Panel (NYAP),” says Dolly Menna-Dack.

“CHILD-BRIGHT is committed to the ideals of patient-oriented research, firmly believing that research designed, conducted, reviewed, and disseminated alongside patient-partners will increase the impact of that research. CHILD-BRIGHT has also, in numerous ways, demonstrated its commitment to patient partnership. For example, it is guided by its Citizen Engagement Council, and recently put in place a Parent Mentor. These innovative ideas have allowed for pan-Canadian involvement of families, scientists, and adults living with brain-based developmental disabilities to come together and contribute to the CHILD-BRIGHT Network,” adds Dolly Menna-Dack.
 
The NYAP will further support CHILD-BRIGHT by providing the youth lived experience lens to the work being done by the network. Meeting on a regular basis, youth advisors with brain-based developmental disabilities from across the country will review research protocols, recruitment strategies, communication plans, and dissemination activities.

And without much ado, please click below to meet each of our new National Youth Advisory Panel (NYAP) members, and click here to read about their first in-person gathering and training session!

MATHIAS

MAYA

MIKE

HANS

LOGAN

Our First National Youth Advisory Panel Gathering

This past summer, on June 23 and 24, 2018, Mathias Castaldo, Maya Pajevic, Hans Dupuis, and Logan Wong, four members of our new National Youth Advisory Panel (NYAP) traveled from Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary to attend their first training event together in Toronto. 

This inaugural training session was a combined effort by CHILD-BRIGHT and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, put in place to help introduce the new youth panel members to their new roles within our patient-oriented research network, in which their voices as youth with lived experience with brain-based developmental disabilities will be key!

The session was hosted by Dolly Menna-Dack, Chair of CHILD-BRIGHT’s Youth Engagement Steering Committee, and was held at Holland Bloorview, where Dolly is the lead for the hospital’s Youth Engagement Strategy. 

Day 1 began with a welcome breakfast, introductions, and icebreakers and then quickly launched into the rest of the day – there was lots of learning to do! Over the course of several hours, our youth members learned about key themes in research such as communication methods, core concepts in ethics, and common issues in pediatric ethics. The day ended at Holland Bloorview’s Youth Advisory Council’s end-of-year party.

Day 2 focussed on CHILD-BRIGHT's Introduction to health research training module, followed by a tour of Holland Bloorview. Frank Gavin, the Chair of the Citizen Engagement Council at CHILD-BRIGHT joined the group at lunch. After that, the youth participated in an education session on reviewing research, as well as a workshop on understanding implicit biases and why these are important to keep in mind as advisors.

“It was an action-packed couple of days in Toronto, but it proved to be quite an inaugural event for the NYAP! Not only was the panel given a valuable introduction to their new roles and to the world of research, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to come together as members of the CHILD-BRIGHT community,” says Dolly Menna-Dack.

“It was great to put names to faces of the other members of the network, and also to get introduced in a very positive way to the realm of research, what research looks like, what research is, and what our role as members of the CHILD-BRIGHT Network will be to improve the lives and experience of those living with a brain-based disability,” says NYAP member Maya Pajevic.  

Thank you to Dolly Menna-Dack and her team at Holland Bloorview, and also to the wonderful members of both the CHILD-BRIGHT and Holland Bloorview youth committees for such a successful event!

Meet Hans Dupuis, National Youth Advisory Panel Member

We are thrilled to introduce the members of our new National Youth Advisory Panel. To read more about this new panel, and its mandate, click here.

Hans Dupuis, 23

What are you studying and/or what are your professional ambitions?

I completed high school in 2011 and went to CEGEP until 2016, but didn’t complete it. I’ve had several small jobs but my goal was to get a job as an librarian’s assistant in a local Montreal library. I signed up to Action Main-d’œuvre, an organisation that helps people ‘with differences’ find employment and with their help, I got a position at Air Canada. I’ve been working there since 2017.

I’ve also been a mentor at Action Main-d’œuvre Worktopia workshops, a program that helps people with autism get ready for the workforce.

What are your passions, interests, and hobbies?

In my free time, I read a lot of manga and graphic novels. I also play video games on the computer with a friend. I like playing Dungeon and Dragon with a group of friends, and also enjoy live-action role playing (LARP). I enjoy going to the movies with my girlfriend. I like doing Cosplay at conventions. I also take medieval fencing lessons and have done Kendo in the past, a type of Japanese fencing.

I love history and because I studied it in school, I’m quite knowledgeable in this field. I have a very good memory.

I also love learning foreign language; I studied Spanish and German in CEGEP, and am learning some Russian at home. I strive to one day add Japanese to this listing since Japan fascinates me. I dream of going there one day!

Can you tell us about your experience with brain-based developmental disabilities?

I have pervasive developmental disorder (mild Asperger syndrome), now called Autism Spectrum Disorder, with a mild attention deficit. During my school years, I’ve always received help, from grade school to CEGEP.

What are your hopes for the National Youth Advisory Panel?

I don’t have specific ambitions but I want to help others with brain-based disabilities or autism, in any way I can, and hope to learn from this team along the way also.

Meet the other youth advisory panel members:

MATHIAS

MAYA

MIKE

LOGAN

Read about our first in-person gathering and training session here.

Meet Logan Wong, National Youth Advisory Panel Member

We are thrilled to introduce the members of our new National Youth Advisory Panel. To read more about this new panel, and its mandate, click here.

Logan Wong, 21

What are you studying and/or what are your professional ambitions?

I’m in my third year of the Bachelor of Social Work at Ryerson University. After graduating, I plan to pursue a Master’s in Social Work.

What are your passions, interests, and hobbies?

I do a lot of volunteering in my community and I’m on various committees to support my passions, and for professional development. I also enjoy sports.

Can you tell us about your experience with brain-based developmental disabilities?

I have cerebral palsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a non-verbal disability.

What are your hopes for the National Youth Advisory Panel?

I want to help bring youth voices to conversations about research! By working as a team, we can make research proposals more accessible to the youth population.

Meet the other youth advisory panel members:

MATHIAS

MAYA

HANS

MIKE

Read about our first in-person gathering and training session here.