Toward Equity & Advocacy in Mental Health (TEAM) Scholarship Day builds scholarship in advocacy & community engagement in our Department.
Toward Equity and Advocacy in Mental Health (TEAM) Scholarship Day will bring together our community to explore the role of scholarship in building equity, advocacy, and collaboration in mental health. Featuring a keynote presentation on EDIIA in Mental Health by Dr. Greta Bauer, a panel discussion, a poster showcase, and more, this new Department Academic Day offer presentations and discussion touching on all elements of equity, advocacy and mental health.
Our keynote presentation
Dr. Greta Bauer presents Advancing Research Methods on Social Causation of Mental Health Outcomes
Greta Bauer, PhD, MPH, is an interdisciplinary epidemiologist and health equity researcher. She is an adjunct professor at Western University, The University of Toronto, and at the Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at the University of Minnesota, where she served as director from 2022 to 2025. Prior to 2022, Dr. Bauer was a professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Canada, where she held a CIHR Sex and Gender Science Chair. As an epidemiologist, Dr. Bauer’s research has been both substantive and methodological, with a focus on the impacts of social marginalization. She is an international leader in both community and clinical research on transgender and non-binary health, and in incorporating intersectionality into quantitative research methods.
Submissions are now being accepted for poster presentations at TEAM Scholarship Day 2026
Instructions for applicants
TEAMS Day (Toward Equity and Advocacy in Mental Health Scholarship Day) was created to celebrate and showcase innovative scholarship advancing EDIIA (equity, diversity, inclusion, Indigeneity, and advocacy), social justice, community engagement, and mental health equity in the Department of Psychiatry and beyond. It is a free event, funded by the Department of Psychiatry, with protected time for psychiatry residents to attend. We welcome submissions describing creative professional activities (CPA)1, research, education, quality improvement, advocacy, and other scholarly or academic work related to EDIIA.
1. For more information about Creative Professional Activities (CPA), please read the CPA guide created by the CPA Committee, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.
Submit your presentation now
Please submit your work in the form of a CPA abstract. We have provided guiding topics and questions below for submissions. We welcome projects at any stage of development, including works in progress.
The TEAMS Day planning committee will review all submissions, and successful applicants will be invited to present their work during the Guided Poster Showcase. During this interactive session, attendees will rotate through posters in small groups. Each presenter will have a few minutes to introduce their work, followed by discussion with attendees.
Audience members will vote for the Best Poster Presenter Awards, recognizing excellence in communicating scholarly work and engaging attendees during the Guided Poster Showcase.
Presenters are encouraged to design posters that are accessible to a broad audience, including clinicians, researchers, educators, trainees, community partners, and people with lived and living experience.
If you have questions about how to write your abstract, please contact psych.events@utoronto.ca.
Submission Information
Abstract Guidelines
Please provide your ABSTRACT and address the following topics (where applicable), with the associated questions meant as prompts to help with reflection:
- Description of Project
- What is/was the vision and plan?
- What need is/was being addressed?
- Role of Presenter & Mentor(s) in the Project
- What is/was your specific role?
- What role(s) did mentorship play?
- Values, Framework, & Theory
- What are/were the guiding values of your project?
- Does/did your work incorporate, build on, or develop frameworks or theories?
- Role of Partnerships/Community/People with Lived Experience
- With whom are/were you partnering?
- Why?
- How?
- Evaluation
- Is any evaluation planned or was any evaluation done?
- If so, what have you learned or what do you plan to learn?
- Impact & Significance (such as Dissemination/Knowledge Translation)
- How has this work aimed to or been able to advance equity and advocacy?
- How has this work aimed to or been able to transform or disrupt the status quo, or advance prior initiatives?
NOTE: The maximum total length of your abstract must be 500 words or fewer. If using non-alphanumerical characters (e.g., +, -, =, <, >) please add spaces to prevent truncation.
Submission Information
Your submission must include the following information in addition to your abstract:
- First name
- Last name
- Department Affiliation (Medical Student, Graduate Student, Resident, Fellow, Early Career Faculty, Mid-Career or Senior Faculty, Research Staff, Other)
- Are you a Clinician Scholar or Scientist Program Resident? Drop Down to Select
- Primary Mentor (if applicable)
- Setting/Hospital
- Department Division
- Abstract Title
- Focus of Academic Work (Drop Down to Select: Creative Professional Activity (CPA), Research, Education, Quality Improvement, Advocacy, Other)
- Presentation Theme (use three keywords)
- Full Abstract
- Was artificial intelligence (AI) used to assist in preparing your abstract? (Yes / No)
Example Abstract
Note: This abstract is a fictional example created for illustrative purposes. It draws inspiration from themes and approaches represented in previous TEAMS Day submissions but does not describe a real project or any individual submission. This example abstract was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and reviewed and edited by the TEAMS Day planning committee to illustrate one possible approach to organizing a CPA abstract. It is intended as a guide only.
Title: Partnering with Community Organizations to Improve Access to Mental Health Care for Refugee Youth
Keywords: Community Partnerships, Refugee Mental Health, Quality Improvement
1) Description of Project:
Youth from refugee backgrounds often encounter barriers to accessing mental health care, including language barriers, transportation challenges, unfamiliarity with the healthcare system, and stigma. At our outpatient clinic, a review of referrals between January and June 2025 found that only 54% (81/150) of referred refugee youth attended their initial mental health appointment, compared with 78% of all youth referred to the clinic.
We partnered with two newcomer-serving organizations and a youth advisory group to co-design a new referral pathway. The initiative included multilingual referral materials in six languages, community information sessions for youth and caregivers, clinician training on culturally responsive engagement, and a dedicated navigator who contacted families before their first appointment to address barriers. We also developed an implementation toolkit that could be adapted by other outpatient mental health programs.
2) Role of Presenter & Mentor(s):
As the project lead, I coordinated meetings with community organizations, completed the quality improvement application, facilitated four co-design workshops involving youth advisors and caregivers, analyzed implementation data, and led dissemination activities. Faculty mentors with expertise in child and adolescent psychiatry, implementation science, and community engagement provided guidance throughout the project.
3) Values, Framework, & Theory:
The project was grounded in principles of equity, cultural humility, trauma-informed care, and co-production. Improvement activities were guided by the Model for Improvement using iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Community priorities informed every stage of the project, from identifying barriers to interpreting evaluation findings.
4) Role of Partnerships/Community/People with Lived Experience:
Community partnership was central to every stage of the initiative. Eight youth advisors and five caregivers with lived experience participated in co-design workshops, reviewed educational materials, and helped prioritize changes to the referral process. Staff from newcomer-serving organizations co-facilitated community information sessions and provided ongoing feedback regarding implementation challenges. Their involvement ensured that the initiative reflected community priorities rather than assumptions made by the healthcare team.
5) Evaluation:
The initiative was evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods. Referral completion, appointment attendance, and time from referral to first appointment were compared before and after implementation. Participants completed surveys assessing confidence navigating mental health services, while semi-structured interviews with youth, caregivers, clinicians, and community partners explored implementation experiences.
During the first six months following implementation, attendance at initial appointments increased from 54% (81/150) to 73% (117/160). Median wait time from referral to first appointment decreased from 42 days to 31 days, and 92% (58/63) of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they felt more confident accessing mental health services after participating in the program.
6) Impact & Significance (Dissemination/Knowledge Translation):
The project demonstrates how sustained partnerships with community organizations and people with lived experience can improve equitable access to mental health care while generating practical strategies for other services. The implementation toolkit has since been shared with six outpatient mental health programs across Ontario, and findings have informed the development of organizational guidance on culturally responsive referral practices. Future work will evaluate sustainability and adaptation of the model in rural and Francophone communities.