Opportunities - Youth and parent partners to co-develop educational materials in mental health

Youth and parent partners to co-develop educational materials in mental health
University of Calgary

Background
One in five children and adolescents face mental health issues, making timely and appropriate care crucial. Measurement-based care (MBC) involves young people regularly filling out standardized questionnaires to monitor their treatment progress. MBC has been shown to enhance mental health treatments and provides data on how well programs meet young people's needs, helping health systems improve care. However, implementing MBC in child and adolescent mental health services is complex. Our aim is to implement measurement based care in child and mental health service clinics in Calgary, AB.

Roles and Responsibilities
We are looking for children and youth (between the ages of 7-18), and their caregivers (parents/guardians) who have experience with mental health challenges as well as accessing mental health services in Calgary. We invite you to join us as partners to co-develop an educational video and materials for measurement-based care. We want your feedback on how we can educate others about measurement-based care. Depending on interests, there may be additional opportunities to work together.

Time Commitment
We anticipate to start in January 2026 and end date will depend on patient partner interest and availability. We estimate the initial time commitment to be 3-4 hours.
Meetings can also be scheduled in person instead if that works better for the partners.

Compensation/Reimbursement
Compensation is being offered at $35/hr according to AbSPORU Patient Engagement Guidelines. Supports and accommodations will also be provided for partners to engage meaningfully (e.g. technology/Zoom support, interpretation/translation support).

For more information or to express interest
Sadia Ahmed sadahmed@ucalgary.ca