Research Priorities

Building Resilience and Coping Strategies in Youth and Families

CASA research is geared toward building resilience and establishing coping mechanisms in our children and youth. In any treatment setting, it is perhaps natural to focus on which problems need to be addressed, barriers to success, and where functioning has been compromised.

 

However, we recognize that it is crucial to focus on a child’s skills and abilities, encouraging the development of areas of strength. As such, research in infant, child and adolescent mental health should focus on fostering resilience and skill-building. This area includes, but is not limited to, issues such as:

 

  • Encouraging resilience in early development
  • Determining which individuals are most at-risk to negative mood, anxiety, and other mental health challenges – whether due to genetics, personality, or family history
  • Developing coping skills after trauma or neglect
  • Developing the judgment and impulse control to make good choices in the face of risky (e.g., addictive or dangerous) alternatives, especially in vulnerable groups
  • Dealing with internal stressors by promoting self-regulation and mindfulness
  • Helping the family to work as a unit in solving problems and coping with challenges


This approach is fundamentally asset-based, and encourages our children and families to build on their existing skills and abilities.

The following research directions support the needs of clinicians and populations served by CASA. Various approaches are supported and encouraged, including statistical modeling, qualitative research, and drug trials.

 

Area

Description

Early Intervention: Brain Plasticity and Resilience

Since brain plasticity is maximized early in development, recent research strongly points to the importance of early intervention and prevention efforts in reducing the effects of mental illness. During this phase, resilience can best be encouraged.

Integration, Attachment and Parenting

Children traumatized early in development can develop boundary issues and form disorganized attachments with their primary caregiver. This can lead to significant emotional problems, affecting the child’s academic, social and emotional functioning, thereby impacting quality of life.

Impulse Control: Addictions and other Risk-Taking Behaviours

Children raised in drug- or alcohol-abusing families are at risk for problem behaviours. These include drug and alcohol use, but also maladaptive “behavioural addictions”, such as video gaming, cutting, or pornography. But not all of these offspring go on to have problems; the challenge is determining which attributes allow individuals with the “deck stacked against them” to achieve normalcy.

Sensory Processing and Arousal

There is a relationship between an individual’s baseline level of stress and arousal, and his or her ability to process both internal (visceral) and external stimuli. Thus, some processing problems may reflect arousal problems. Determining where an individual falls along the arousal continuum, and his or her optimal level, is key to healthy functioning.

Family-Centred Therapeutic Approaches and the Development of Socioemotional Skills

Family centred approaches to therapy are based on the assumption that a problem or mental disorder in one member may reflect disorder in other members, and will likewise affect those relationships. Moreover, the way members relate with the child are likely to affect certain developmental skills, such as empathy, theory of mind, and social functioning.