Spotlight on Mental Health Research

Dr. Megan Ames, IALH Research Fellow
Associate Professor, Psychology, UVic

Dr. Ames and her lab study how physical and mental health are connected and influence one another during adolescence. They are especially interested in how everyday habits like physical activity, sleep, and screen time shape young people’s mental health and well-being. This research aims to better understand these connections so we can create more effective ways to support youth mental health.

Dr. Ames is passionate about working alongside young people to develop practical, meaningful solutions that improve their daily lives.

Learn more about The Ames Lab

Dr. Nancy Clark, IALH Research Fellow
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, UVic

“I’m passionate about advancing equitable health care services and support for newcomers and refugees who come to Canada seeking safety but are not always able to access culturally safe and trauma informed services and care. The cornerstone of Health Service and Policy Research (HSPR) in Canada is integrated care. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) defines integrated care within its Transforming Health with Integrated Care (THINC) initiative as evidence-informed policies and interventions designed to improve care continuity and coordination across the life course. This approach goes beyond standard health care, emphasizing intersectoral collaboration to address complex needs and maximize population health and equity. In this context, refugees are identified as a priority population group who may experience the greatest potential benefit from integrated care models.” – Dr. Nancy Clark

To learn more, read “Science Meets Parliament — UVic nursing professor advocates for better understanding of newcomer health challenges” by Lillian Liao in the Source newspaper.

Also, tune into Dr. Clark’s upcoming webinar with PhD Candidate Alejandro Argüelles Bullón on Thursday, June 11^th, 1:30-2:45pm titled “Integrated Mental Health Care for Refugees - What Works? For Whom? Why?” hosted by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health.

Cian Dabrowski, IALH Student Affiliate
PhD Candidate, Clinical Neuropsychology, UVic

"The Cognition and Older Adult Stress (COAST) study explores how stress experienced throughout life may influence brain function, cognition, and mental well-being as we age. I integrate brain–behaviour relationships with neuroimaging methods to understand these effects.

I’m interested in how stress affects brain health in older adulthood and which stressors may contribute most to cognitive decline. While stress is a shared experience, its impact varies widely. My work examines how these differences emerge. I hope to better understand how cumulative stress may increase risk for conditions like dementia and how we can support independent living and aging in place."

Learn more about the COAST study: https://brainlab.uvic.ca/coast_study/

Dr. Nichole Fairbrother, IALH Research Fellow
Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry, UBC and Adjunct Associate Professor, UVic

"I am a perinatal mental health scientist. My research focuses on anxiety and anxiety-related difficulties experienced by pregnant and postpartum people. In particular, much of my work pertains to new parents’ unwanted and intrusive thoughts of harm related to their infant and how these thoughts relate to mental health and infant safety.

My passion for this topic stems from the fact that this is an understudied area which causes many new parents significant distress. Despite the fact that unwanted, intrusive thoughts of harming one’s infant on purpose are reported by over half of all new mothers and evidence makes clear that when these thoughts are: (a) unwanted, (b) intrusive, and (c) inconsistent with the parent’s values, they are not associated with any increased risk of infant abuse, they are typically responded to as if a risk factor for abuse. These responses result in significant distress for families."  

Explore the Perinatal Anxiety Research Lab website

Dr. Alex Kitson, IALH Research Fellow
Assistant Professor, Computer Science, UVic

"Learning to manage our emotions is one of the most important skills we can develop for our mental health. But, for many teenagers, it's also one of the hardest. My research explores how technologies like virtual reality (VR), wearables, and artificial intelligence (AI) can help adolescents practice these skills in the kinds of emotionally charged situations they encounter in everyday life. Critically, I design these experiences with young people, not just for them, so the tools reflect their real struggles and needs.

I'm drawn to this work because adolescence is a pivotal window for mental health, with 50% of lifetime mental health disorders emerging by age 14. Yet so many young people are left without adequate support. Technology isn't a replacement for care, but it can extend it. With a community-centred approach, young people can have a real voice in shaping the tools meant to help them."

More about Dr. Kitson on these social media platforms:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Bluesky
• LinkedIn

Dr. Farah Mawani, IALH Research Fellow
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health & Social Policy, UVic

"My community-led research is shaped by insight from my lived experience of migration and systemic racism, combined with years of experience conducting applied research in academic, policy, health system, and community environments. I focus on social inclusion interventions to redress systemic racism and discrimination as drivers of social and mental health inequities. My current research includes scaling a peer walking/rolling group program to promote social inclusion and mental health among immigrants and refugees and adapting a social inclusion intervention to prevent mental health issues among pregnant and parenting adolescent girls in Rwanda. 

I’m passionate about this work because I know that social inclusion interventions designed by people with lived experience of exclusion can dismantle systemic racism and discrimination, promote mental health, and save lives."

Learn more about Dr. Mawani in the Faculty of Health’s Research Spotlight

Dr. Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad, IALH Research Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellow, Nursing, UVic

 
Dr. Sowad presenting at Health Research Day 2026

"My research examines how Latin American single migrant men in Canada negotiate masculinity, belonging, and mental well-being while working in temporary and often precarious labour conditions. It focuses on how migration, work, and social expectations shape their everyday lives, relationships, and sense of “home,” as well as how they cope, connect, and care for themselves and others across borders. It also highlights how belonging and mental health are deeply shaped by structural conditions and by everyday acts of resilience, care, and solidarity.

I am passionate about this work because migrant men are often treated as invisible in both policy and research, despite carrying heavy social and economic burdens. I want to challenge one-dimensional narratives and make space for their lived experiences to inform more just, inclusive, and humane approaches to migration and mental health."

Learn more about Dr. Sowad's contribution to the MenBelong Project

Molly Stewart, IALH Student Affiliate
Master’s Student, Computer Science, UVic

"My research examines how wellness strategies such as savouring can be more effectively supported through digital technologies to promote mental health at work, with a focus on noticing and reflecting on positive experiences. Specifically, my research explores integrating reflection supports such as positive logging, and picture-based memory triggers into everyday work tools, such as calendars, to understand how such supports can boost positive emotions and encourage engagement with wellness practices. I prototyped a tool which augments work events in a calendar with whimsical images of positive experiences felt in those events so workers can notice and savour positive affective experiences at work, which may otherwise go unnoticed. My research will be published at CHIWORK'26, an HCI conference. This research was done with support from my co-authors Minghao Cai, Anthony Tang, Sam Liu, Chris Mosunic, and Sowmya Somanath.

I am passionate about how technology can better support mental health and well-being by integrating fun, whimsy, and creativity into digital tools. In increasingly competitive and productivity-focused work cultures, I believe it is important to create opportunities for people to appreciate positive experiences and find moments of joy in everyday life."

Learn more about Molly.

Dr. Brianna Turner, IALH Research Fellow
Associate Professor, Psychology, UVic

"My research focuses on understanding when and why people engage in risky and self-damaging behaviours, including self-harm, disordered eating, and substance use. The mission of my lab is to inform, develop and implement scalable, effective supports for people who experience risky and self-damaging behaviours, as well as people who support and care for them. We strive to produce high-quality evidence that can guide clinical decision-making and demystify the experience of self-harm so that families, loved ones, and people with lived experience receive more effective, compassionate, and timely support. 

As a licensed psychologist, I have had the privilege of supporting many people and families who struggled with risky and self-damaging behaviours to find a path forward, one step at a time. I am deeply and continuously inspired by their courage."

Explore Dr. Turner’s lab