Submitted by Dr. Amer M. Burhan, Physician-in-Chief and Endowed Research Chair for Applied Mental Health at Ontario Shores
Ontario Shores Centre is a leader in implementing quality standards for mental health care. We have partnered with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to expand the capacity for mental health quality standard implementation at a national level starting with schizophrenia quality standards (please refer to https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/what-we-do/careers/schizophrenia-care-request-for-expression-of-interest/ for further info). We have also launched the Advancement for Dementia Care Centre (ADCC) in collaboration with Ontario Tech University, which focuses on applied research in the area of technology-enabled care for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Some of our early successes include winning the “Aging in Place” challenge supported by the National Research Council of Canada and CIHR for a project that engages multiple stakeholders in the co-design and co-development of a virtual reality adaptation of a caregiver skill-building program called “CARERS”. We continue to explore several projects related to this theme such as virtual reality adaptation of reminiscence therapy for dementia patients and the development of an Artificial Intelligence algorithm to predict and early detect emotional distress in patients with dementia. Our work has been featured on Global News (please refer to https://globalnews.ca/news/9670283/dementia-canada-tech-home/) . Ontario Shores Centre is an active partner with the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance and leads the neurotechnology and caregivers research groups. Our staff and leaders are part of many Centre of Excellence Advisory Tables, participating in shaping mental health care in Ontario and beyond. We have successfully created an Endowed Chair position for Precision Medicine and Individualized Mental Health and the new Endowed Chair will join our site in the fall of 2023. In summary, we have positioned ourselves to bring science and innovation to the point of care and to move beyond the hospital toward recovery in mental health and social impact while providing ample opportunities for learners at all levels and different fields to acquire knowledge and skills in a truly transformative mental health care environment.
