Anishnawbe Health Toronto, ON

provide advice, and champion initiatives in partnering organizations and communities. Convening project advisories is essential in ensuring that the needs of Indigenous communities are met. Expected outcomes: Dr. Mushquash’s work is intended to generate applicable findings to Indigenous communities and organizations nationally and internationally, which will be of interest to communities, service organizations, policy and decision-makers, and governments. Dr. Mushquash will disseminate results of his program of research across several tiers: 1) He will provide educational sessions and workshops for communities that are interested in finding ways to provide support their members with mental health and addiction difficulties; 2) In order to share knowledge regarding successful intervention approaches, he will organize workshops and teaching sessions for service providers who are likely to apply them to other high risk groups and develop the methods further; and, 3) In presentations at conferences and publications in academic journals, he will describe design, processes, and results of each Direction to communities, researchers, and clinicians dealing with mental health and addiction issues. Utilizing accessible knowledge translation approaches will enable the most effective sharing of knowledge within unique cultural and contextual environments. Through continued participation in local, regional, provincial, and national-level advisories, Dr. Mushquash will continue to disseminate new knowledge to others engaged in Indigenous mental health and addiction-related work through formal and informal networking, and advocate for culturally and contextually appropriate services and research approaches in Indigenous communities. His cross-appointments at various academic institutions including Lakehead University, NOSM, and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology allow Dr. Mushquash to contribute to the development of Indigenous mental health and addiction research capacity in the next generations of clinical psychologists, mental health researchers, public health researchers, and health science researchers through careful mentoring and collaboration on important cultural and contextual issues in community-based research.

2. Project: Examining the experiences and impacts of the Pandemic on Indigenous mental health

Members: Dr. Alanaise Goodwill, Graduate students, Sto:lo Service Agency and Nisga’a Valley Health. While researchers have argued that COVID-19 has broad impacts for the mental health of all populations, this has heightened impacts for communities of colour and Indigenous populations. Indigenous leaders across Canada have raised concerns over the mental health impacts of COVID-19 for Indigenous communities while drawing attention to underfunded and understaffed health services; lack of core funding for mental health counsellors; overcrowded and inadequate housing; boil water advisories; the disproportionate rates of suicides; as well as the stressful experience of living with food, housing, and income insecurities. These social conditions existed pre-COVID-19 and shape the context through which the pandemic is experienced within Indigenous communities. According to the National Report of the First Nations Regional Health Survey (2018), less than one-fifth of First Nations adults reported accessing mental-health services within the past 12 months prior to the survey. And more than three-quarters of First Nations youth reported never having accessed mental-health services. This project builds off of knowledge gained through the process of conducting a knowledge synthesis focussed on the mental health and substance use needs of Indigenous peoples within the context of COVID-19. This preliminary knowledge synthesis identifies several areas in need of further research including: increased mental health provider support; data that addresses the shift from in-person services to Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) telehealth services; the