Mental Health Treatment
Improving mental health treatments for children by understanding how interventions work and the circumstances under which they don’t
Aggression and antisocial behaviour is the number one reason that children are referred for treatment and it is a serious problem for the child’s developmental trajectory. Aggression has a tremendous impact on the child’s family, school, and community.
While there are some treatments that are known to work well, a fair number of children do not benefit from the treatments available. Researchers at CHSRG are committed to understanding for whom evidence-based treatments work best. Part of the puzzle is to understand how treatments work so that we can refine and develop improved methods for children who fall through the cracks.
Drs. Isabela Granic, Bruce Ferguson and Debra Pepler have assembled a network of scholars in neuroscience, intervention science, and developmental psychology to study what changes when treatments are successful for antisocial youth. Collaborators on this work include scientists from the University of Oregon, Brock University, the University of Toronto, and community practitioners from three Ontario based children’s mental health centres.
Drs. Ferguson and Granic also work with several agencies and therapists across Ontario to better understand the kinds of therapeutic interactions that lead to the most successful outcomes for seriously delinquent and violent adolescents.
For more information, please contact Dr. Isabela Granic 416-813-7850