狐狸视频

U of T researcher examines role of resiliency in mental health, including among students

Photo of Emily Nalder
One of Emily Nalder鈥檚 research projects focuses on improving resiliency for university students facing mental health issues, and helping those students develop strategies to navigate difficulties in daily life (photo by Gabrielle Giroday)

One of the 狐狸视频鈥檚 newest Canada Research Chairs is looking at how to foster resiliency in university students navigating mental health issues and help them to resolve problems that crop up in their daily lives.  

Emily Nalder, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 department of occupational science and occupational therapy, says resiliency can help explain how people return to their roles and activities in everyday life after unexpected events.

鈥淩esiliency is about doing well and how you adapt to life challenges 鈥 the idea that good things or positive things can come about through adversity or challenge,鈥 says Nalder, who is also the inaugural March of Dimes Paul J.J. Martin Early Career Professor.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important because all of us go through challenges in life and have to adapt or negotiate that in some way.鈥

Nalder was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Resiliency and Rehabilitation in April 2019. The Tier 2 award provides $100,000 annually over a five-year term to support Nalder鈥檚 work, which 颅focuses on community integration for people with brain injury or mental health challenges.

鈥淚n a rehabilitation context, when you鈥檙e working with people who may have had some sort of health condition or injury, or some sort of loss or trauma, and who are going through changes in what they do in their daily life and how they鈥檙e able to do it, then these things can be challenges that can trigger resiliency,鈥 Nalder says, adding that people鈥檚 cognitive abilities can be affected by life events like a traumatic brain injury or a stroke, or factors like age or mental health.

鈥淏ecause I鈥檓 an occupational therapist, my interest is really around how to enable people who have cognitive difficulties to participate in meaningful ways in their lives, to be able to do the things that they need or want to be able to do, or have relationships that are important to them 鈥 to work, to have somewhere to live, and to be able to maintain that.鈥

One of Nalder鈥檚 current research projects focuses on improving resiliency for university students facing mental health issues, and helping those students develop strategies to navigate difficulties in daily life 鈥 for instance, meeting people and making friends, getting to class or studying.

At the same time, being a student can be a crucial part of a person鈥檚 identity, so helping them succeed in this role may positively influence their mental health.

鈥淥bviously, we know that it鈥檚 a big discussion point, especially when you鈥檙e on campus 鈥 the number of students who are seeking services and supports because of mental health is going up over time,鈥 she says.

The project is a patient-oriented research collaboration funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Rossy Family Foundation, and involves other faculty in the occupational therapy department and the university鈥檚 health and wellness services, as well as former students who can speak to their own experiences.

Nalder is also working on the Traumatic Brain Injury Resiliency Collective, which is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada partnership development grant. It involves approximately 20 researchers, clinicians, service managers and front-line staff from U of T, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, March of Dimes Canada, Mind Forward Brain Injury Services, Brain Injury Canada and the Ontario Brain Injury Association, as well as people who have experienced brain injury.

The goal of the project is to better understand resiliency and then use that knowledge to inform how services are provided so that resiliency is explicitly addressed.

鈥淐urrently, the emphasis is on a person鈥檚 functioning after an injury, or reducing impairment, but if we address resiliency, we can prepare people to navigate challenges that will come up and re-establish their life after the injury,鈥 says Nalder.

Her research on resiliency is also attempting to shift some of the discourse about rehabilitation 鈥 which often focuses on impairment and reducing impairment 鈥 to addressing how people can succeed when there are challenges.

Resiliency is not a skill that originates only from the person affected, but also relates to the environment someone is in and the social supports they receive, according to Nalder.

鈥淥ne of the big critiques about resilience is that the onus is on the person to do everything, and we鈥檙e not seeing it that way. It鈥檚 much more about people interacting with the world around them, and how those two things come together is important,鈥 she says.

Nalder came to Canada from Australia in 2013 to do a post-doctoral fellowship at the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre before joining U of T in 2015. Her goal is to see resiliency be an explicit part of rehabilitation in terms of how services are delivered.

鈥淚t would be a shift in thinking,鈥 she says.

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