York University’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit partnered with the Mobilizing Minds project team to deliver a KM in the AM event on March 4, 2015. The project team were interested in meeting diverse stakeholders to share the results of their project, a KT project in support of youth mental health.
L’Unité de mobilisation des connaissances de l’Université York a formé un partenariat avec l’équipe du projet Mobilizing Minds et donné un atelier de MdC lors de l’évènement du même nom, le 4 mars 2015, en avant-midi. L’équipe cherchait à rencontrer différents intervenants afin de faire connaître les résultats de son projet – un transfert des connaissances visant à favoriser la santé mentale des jeunes.
As KM in the AM events go this one has really come full circle. A gathering of about 60 people met at the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) in Mirvish Village in Toronto. The event, led by the Mobilizing Minds project and supported by York’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit, was intended to support the end of grant dissemination efforts of the Mobilizing Minds project which has been supported by a multi-year CIHR KT grant along with the important contributions of several partnering organizations.
Mobilizing Minds, also known as Pathways to Young Adult Mental Health, is a multi-year, multi-province knowledge mobilization research project that focuses on young adult mental health. The project was not intended to conduct new research around youth mental health, but to assemble existing research and make it more accessible to youth, mental health consumers, professionals and policy makers in formats that are relevant to each audience group.
John Eastwood
The morning event at CSI brought together numerous project stakeholders to engage the audience and provide them an overview of the project, its objectives, activities, key findings and new knowledge products. The presenters ranged from academic researchers, leading organizational partners, project staff and included youth who were actively engaged in the project over the years. Those differing perspectives helped demonstrate the scope and complexity of the project as it spanned across the country and its very distinct audiences.
The event was over-subscribed which reflects the interest in the topic as well as the uniqueness of the project itself. Audience members had several important practical questions about the utility of the research results and new knowledge products. With a focus on engagement, the Mobilizing Minds team really embodied key principles of knowledge translation and there were several one on one conversations between team members and audience participants at the end.
So why do I feel this has come full circle? I’ll share with you what I shared with the audience during my welcoming remarks that morning; our very first KM in the AM event took place in November 2006 in Aurora, Ontario and focused on Youth Mental Health. It was at that meeting that the concept for a larger national KT project around youth mental health took shape. While the project proposal was being considered by the faculty presenter, over the course of the morning it grew to something that was national in scope and the concept of Mobilizing Minds was born. Also, that event helped spawn local engagement in York Region as presenters and audience members engaged as partners in the successful CIHR project. Not a bad morning of work, I’d say.
And such was the energy on this March morning. I look forward to following up with participants around this event. Who knows, in 9 years we may have another knowledge mobilization success story to share!
For more information on the project, please check the following:
depression.informedchoices.ca
mobilizingminds.ca
mindyourmind.ca