1:40 PM - 1:45 PM
S10.4 - Facilitator
1:45 PM - 1:55 PM
45182 - Built Together, Built to Last: Scaling a Virtual Mental Health System that Families Can Count On
This session examines how innovation, co-design, and measurement-based approaches can address the youth mental health crisis. Drawing on evidence and experience from Strongest Families’ universal stepped-care model, it highlights strategies to ensure that scaling digital, data-driven solutions delivers meaningful impact.
1:55 PM - 2:05 PM
41963 - Aaniish Naa Gegii: Measurement Based Care for Indigenous Children and Youth
Our presentation will touch on the implementation of an Indigenous wellness tool in various communities and its impact on community health and wellness, service planning, and changes in data being used for decision making. We will begin by briefly describing the measure, how it was created, how it works, and discuss its implementation success in communities.
The Aaniish-Naa-Gegii: Children's Health and Well-Being Measure (ACHWM) is a tablet-based self-reported wellness assessment app. It was developed in 2009 through collaborations between Indigenous health leaders and academic researchers, who integrated the wisdom of Indigenous children and youth. The app has been used by many First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Turtle Island for over a decade. The Aaniish-Naa-Gegii app guides Indigenous children (8-18 years) through a non-judgmental assessment of their wellness. The outcome sparks strengths-based conversations with local health staff/helpers. These conversations are guided by a balance chart, that is a circular diagram inspired by the medicine wheel teachings of spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental (or cognitive) health, that displays the results in a (w)holistic way.
The data generated by children using the app can be used : (a) to inform interventions and treatment planning for an individual child or youth, (b) to evaluate programs for groups of children or youth, and (c) to provide population level data to support leaders in decision-making, determining the allocation of limited resources, and supporting funding applications for their community or organization.
As the app generates wellness data for First Nation, Métis and Inuit children, we have incorporated data sovereignty principles into the framework of the Aaniish-Naa-Gegii Platform. The app and associated processes deliver on the OCAP Principles for First Nations, while also respecting and asserting the data sovereignty rights of Inuit and Métis people. Each community owns and controls their data and can access it through a website or Dashboard.
2:05 PM - 2:15 PM
42232 - Cultivating an Enabling Ecosystem for Digital Mental Health and Substance Use Health Solutions: Best Practices and Implementation
In the evolving landscape of mental health and substance use health care, the integration of digital solutions presents a pivotal opportunity to enhance service delivery and improve timely access to care. This presentation explores how we can effectively cultivate an ecosystem where digital solutions thrive, particularly in resource-scarce environments. We will focus on the critical “how” of implementing best practices from conceptualization through to sustainability, emphasizing the developmental process of creating enabling contexts.
Key examples will include:
• Frayme’s Virtual Innovations in Care grant, initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This example illustrates how we can rapidly partner to evaluate and mobilize evidence related to digital and hybrid services (implemented in response to the pandemic).
• Stepped Care Solutions’ SC 2.0 design model as a Canadian-made, system design approach that can amplify what is working in communities and service systems. This model encourages co-design and implementation efforts that better map and enhance existing services along a continuum, grounded in the needs of individuals. By leveraging SC 2.0, we can ensure that service systems have the ability to meet all the mental health needs of individuals at any intensity from health promotion through to crisis. This approach is about co-designing new ways of working across and between services to build accessible, cohesive and collaborative mental health and substance use health systems. By embedding measurement-based care into our models, we can effectively align services with user needs and outcomes. and ensure adaptation and continuous improvement
We will delve into the necessity of co-designing solutions, emphasizing the importance of partnership requirements for successful e-mental health and substance use health initiatives. This involves prioritizing implementation, evaluation and knowledge mobilization from the outset, ensuring that stakeholders have a comprehensive understanding and ownership of what is being developed. By embedding measurement-based care into our models, we can effectively align services with user needs and outcomes.
Additionally, we will examine how integrating lived expertise, diverse evidence, and community context serves as protective factors that enhance the effectiveness of digital solutions. This focus is especially critical in resource-scarce settings, where the demand for mental health and substance use health care is high.
Overall, this presentation seeks to outline applied frameworks for building enabling contexts that empower digital solutions. It aims to share practical insights to illustrate how we can optimize user experiences and ensure equitable access to care in mental health and substance use health services. By fostering an environment conducive to collaboration and impact, we can enhance the overall effectiveness of our health care systems
2:15 PM - 2:25 PM
42573 - Optimizing Digital Mental Health Interventions in Oncology: Insights from Finding My Way
Over 1.2 million Australians currently live with or beyond cancer; a figure estimated to grow due to increases in cancer incidence and survival. With this growth has come a parallel increase in survivorship burden, with one of the most significant concerns being mental health. Up to 52% of patients experience significantly elevated distress. While there is strong evidence for psychological interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness-based interventions, availability to the psycho-oncology workforce is limited. Digital health interventions have been proposed as a solution to improve access to psycho-social support. However, cancer survivors are a heterogenous population with different needs depending on sociodemographic (i.e., age, socio-economic status, etc) and clinical characteristics (i.e., cancer type, time since diagnosis, etc). This presentation will summarise the evolution of Finding My Way (FMW), an online self-guided psychotherapeutic intervention aimed at reducing cancer related distress and improving quality of life in the diagnosis and treatment phases of cancer survivorship. This program was initially implemented with newly diagnosed and curatively treated cancer survivors in both Australia and the UK, both within and outside a research trial. More recently, the program has been co-designed and evaluated with women with metastatic breast cancer (Finding My Way – Advanced; FMW-A) and used to provide the basis for an online intervention for post-treatment cancer survivors (Healthy Living after Cancer Online; HLaC Online). FMW has demonstrated efficacy in improving distress and quality of life and similar preliminary outcomes are available for FMW-A and HLaC Online in feasibility studies (note that efficacy outcomes for FMW-A will be available at the time of presentation). However, engagement in these interventions has been suboptimal. Across all the trials, on average, users will access three modules, regardless of whether there are 6 or 9 modules available. Usage is lower again when implemented in real world settings, with participants on average accessing 1.5/6 modules. Compellingly, however, results indicated that - despite having lower usage - participants achieved larger changes from baseline to post-program in distress. In addition, even when participants are encouraged to rearrange or self-tailor the modules accessed, they tend to access the modules in the order they have been presented. Participants who access more of the program also tend to be more well and have more cognitive capacity. While qualitative data from these trials have indicated that the content of these interventions is important and helpful, the time requirements and information overwhelm are often cited as reasons for disengagement. These collective findings lead to a key avenue for future research: Can we reduce the dose required for comparable outcomes to be achieved? Using archival data analysis from previous trials and co-design techniques, our team is designing a reduced-dose version of FMW while maintaining the core ingredients of the program.
2:25 PM - 2:35 PM
42637 - How Low Can You Go?: Developing a Digital Single-Session Intervention for Reducing Eating Disorder Symptomology
Metacognitive Training (MCT) is a group intervention originally developed for people with psychosis. The intervention uses a “backdoor approach” focusing on the unhelpful thinking styles that underly delusions to reduce their severity, without talking about delusions themselves. This approach has gained popularity for its acceptability within a difficult population. Its non-confrontational style has been seen to overcome treatment barriers such as denial of symptom severity, low motivation to change and stigma. Like people with psychosis, those with eating disorders (EDs), hold rigid beliefs. Further, there is an unmet need for treatment among people with EDs and those with subclinical symptoms of disordered eating and body image concerns. This is due to barriers to help seeking similar to those seen in psychosis. As such, MCT was adapted for use in people with EDs to determine whether the high acceptability in other populations would translate to those with EDs and hence provide an intervention that may overcome barriers to help seeking and improve treatment uptake in this population. In adapting MCT for EDs, the ethos of targeting underlying unhelpful thinking styles without discussing disorder specific symptoms remained. Two key risk and maintaining factors associated with ED symptomology were chosen to target – perfectionism and cognitive flexibility. Six 20-minute digital, therapist-led modules were developed and tested in a sample of 35 people with Anorexia Nervosa. The intervention was found to improve Perfectionism (d = 1.29) and eating disorder pathology (d = 1.38). Whilst the intervention received positive feedback for the content, participants suggested that the intervention was too long and difficult to fit into their schedules with other treatments. As such, it was deemed that future iterations of MCT-ED should focus on becoming briefer and may be more beneficial in a different part of the treatment journey. MCT-ED was then adapted for a population considered “at-risk” of developing an eating disorder (e.g., those with elevated weight and shape concerns). This population was chosen as they often exhibit subclinical disordered eating behaviours and body image concerns that cause similar level of impairments to clinical eating disorders – but also do not seek treatment for these symptoms. Further, the risk factors targeted by MCT-ED are known to be present prior to clinical ED onset. The study found positive feedback from users who described the intervention as engaging and helpful, whilst recognising the benefit of the brief format. Further, the intervention provided improvements in perfectionism (d = .60) and overall stress (d = .44). Small, non-significant improvements were also found in eating disorder cognitions relative to a waitlist control (d = 0.34). MCT-ED has potential to be an efficacious and highly scalable intervention for people with and at-risk of developing an ED. Further, by countering barriers to help-seeking, this intervention may be able to increase treatment uptake in a challenging population to reach. This talk will provide context on brief digital interventions for EDs, and discuss the process of developing feasible, acceptable digital interventions with users in mind and the role of co-design in furthering MCT-ED and other interventions to maximise usability and effectiveness.
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM
46418 - Intelligence Beyond Dr. Google!
Faten Alshazly, Chief Executive Officer, HealthEMe Inc
HealthEMe, is a chronic disease self-help healthcare Innovation that began in Mental Health, and is now working in Breast Cancer and GI, with more on the horizon. With former healthcare administrators leading the helm, coupled with expert medical doctors serving as advisors, we redefine care precisely when patients need it most, before, during the critical stages of deterioration while awaiting triage, and transitions between care. HealthEMe is designed to be adaptable across various sectors, including healthcare, education, pharmaceuticals, and insurance. With a commitment to enhancing patient outcomes, our approach combines administrative expertise with medical insights, ensuring a seamless experience. By prioritizing efficiency and personalization, we aim to transform the healthcare landscape, offering a comprehensive solution that addresses the evolving needs of patients, providers, and the broader healthcare ecosystem. HealthEMe has gained significant traction, both domestically and internationally. In addition to being named one of Canada’s top 10 Most Innovative Businesses, HealthEMe has gained significant traction in Canada, with commercialization in Nova Scotia and Ontario and is now engaged with First Nations and Indigenous populations. Globally, we have conducted trials in Mexico and established strategic partnerships in the U.S. and Australia. Furthermore, discussions with Samsung and LG in South Korea will secure potential collaborations using our solution with wearables and home care devices, reflecting the growing demand for HealthEMe. Appended below are a few videos detailing our platform: Patient App: https://youtu.be/yJKv12o5MSE Institutional SaaS & Analytical Dashboard: https://youtu.be/jh6tQ9lHipw
2:45 PM - 2:55 PM
45628 - Soul-Centered Care: Reimagining Digital Mental Health & Sustainability
Contemporary mental health care remains largely symptom-driven, privileging diagnostic frameworks and structured interventions while neglecting the deeper dimensions of human experience, the existential, experiential, and soulful aspects that make healing sustainable. In this proposal, we discuss the reorientation we believe is necessary. Soul-centered care offers a way forward, an integrative, culturally adaptive, and prevention-focused model that addresses the inner world of individuals through digital contemplative tools. Soul-centered care invites a shift in paradigm, from managing pathology to cultivating coherence, meaning, and inner capacity. It is not metaphorical or abstract. “Soul” here refers to the essential interior life, i.e., the felt experience of being human, characterized by the need for connection, purpose, authenticity, and inner harmony. When people ask, “What is my soul asking for?”, their responses often reflect profound psychological needs including the desire to belong, to understand suffering, to reclaim lost parts of themselves, to forgive, to find rest, and to connect with something greater than the self. These are not just philosophical musings; they are clinically relevant experiences that drive distress and resilience alike. However, mainstream mental health systems that now include digital mental health platforms, often overlook these deeper aspects of our humanity. They ask, “What are your symptoms?” rather than “What is your story? What is your inner world trying to resolve?” As a result, individuals often feel stabilized but not transformed. We propose that digital contemplative interventions can meaningfully address this gap by cultivating inner literacy, the capacity to reflect on, navigate, and integrate one’s inner experience. At Cinim, for over 10 years, we have been developing contemplative digital tools that engage users in guided introspection, emotional regulation, narrative exploration, and meaning-making. These tools are not therapeutic replacements but preventative, scalable resources that complement clinical care. They invite users to engage with soul-level questions through accessible practices grounded in evidence-based contemplative science. Recent research affirms the role of contemplative practice in improving mental health outcomes, especially among youth and underserved groups. These practices offer not only symptom relief but also increased self-compassion, purpose, and a felt sense of inner coherence. Our approach is designed with equity in mind. By focusing on universal human experiences and using culturally adaptable practices, soul-centered care has the potential to be more inclusive and respectful of diverse narratives, particularly those marginalized by standardized clinical models. It is also aligned with early intervention goals that by fostering self-awareness and emotional resilience early, we reduce the likelihood of acute episodes later. In a world saturated with external pressures and digital overstimulation, we propose a simple but radical solution: to turn inward. Soul-centered care in the digital age invites us to reimagine mental health not as the absence of symptoms, but as the presence of meaning, connection, and inner alignment.
2:55 PM - 3:05 PM
46935 - Single Parenting App
Outline of presentation In this era of cutting-edge technology, the challenges of navigating through mental health support across various populations and age groups are crucial. Therefore, considering equitable health for all in this interconnected world, we need to reimagine the landscape of mental health in dire need. Postpartum depression, anxiety, childhood trauma, and addictions are common and intergenerational diseases of mental health are inter-rooted within that framework. Today, one of the strongest digital platforms for mental health evolution, e-MHIC could bring about significant changes through this digital app, which can be developed and implemented to help single-handed parenting for single parents and ensure equitable access and mental health support, which will contribute to raising happy children. Problem statement: Introduction Single parenting is challenging regardless of any given situation in daily affairs. A single parent encounters challenges such as financial hardship, mental health issues, stress, anxiety, depression, addiction and even many more such issues which eventually can negatively affect brain development in early childhood. These challenges can be unique depending on each ethnocultural, geographical and geopolitical context, in various genders and in terms of resource allocation for individual parents. While women encounter more financial difficulties in certain communities, males face difficulties with caregiver roles (Rees et al.,2023). Risk of Single Parenting Study shows that individuals who are raised by single mothers potentially develop depression and behavioral issues. Possessiveness and rejecting parenting behaviors can be associated with single parenting circumstances. Study indicates that parental stress stems from the demands that single mothers encounter, and plays key contributors to the psychodynamics of those youth groups (Daryanani I et al., 2016). Impact of single parenting Studies show negative consequences resulting from lack of dual parenting can potentially lead to risky behaviors among teenagers. The significance of support to single-parent families is essential to combat adverse effects for children and intergenerational trauma.(Chavda et al. 2023) Ways to navigate these challenges Culturally sensitive digital apps coded from machine learning tools can be user-friendly, supportive, educative, and therapeutic in many ways for single-parenting individuals. Specially, the resource navigation, enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of a secure, healthy parenthood with a greater outcome of healthy childhood, supporting the mental health and well-being of the community as a whole (David et al., 2024).. How digital solution can help Digital solutions can reduce stress, enhance productivity, provide emotional support, and improve overall quality of life for single parents. When paired with community resources, they become a powerful toolkit for building resilience and long-term stability (Lin-Lewry et al., 2024)