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  • Please note that the Zoom link will be sent to virtual participants on Monday, June 15, 2026.
  • Refund Policy: 
    • You may request a refund for virtual tickets until Monday, June 15, 2026. Refunds will not be processed once the Zoom link has been distributed. 
    • You may request a refund for in-person tickets until Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Refunds will not be processed thereafter.

You're invited to the biennial CPRI Research Symposium on June 16, 2026, 8:30am - 3:30pm EST! We will focus on Optimizing Treatments and Environments for Complex Child and Youth Mental Health and Development. This hybrid event—offered virtually via Zoom and in-person at Zarfas Hall in London, Ontario—is designed for researchers, clinicians, academics, medical and allied health professionals, educators, and learners.

Explore the following themes throughout the day:

  • Tailoring Dose, Duration, and Frequency for Therapeutic Interventions
  • Designing Healthy and Supportive Spaces in a Technological Age

SYMPOSIUM LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  1. Describe evidence-based strategies for adjusting treatment dose, duration, and frequency over time, including the processes of de-prescribing medications and implementing harm reduction approaches.

  2. Evaluate methods for enhancing treatment precision and support systems by interpreting findings from case studies, tele-mental health practices, primary care provider interventions, and Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) models.

  3. Explain the impact of supportive environments, nature access, sensory-motor functioning, and holistic Indigenous health practices on child and youth mental health and development through evidence-based inquiry.

  4. Determine the health benefits associated with leisure and play, support strategies for balancing screen time, and interpret the effectiveness of technology-enhanced writing tools.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, June 16, 2026!

Event Details

Registration (Marketing Poster)​

Program Agenda (Accreditation)

Event Day Agenda

About CPRI

The Child and Parent Resource Institute (CPRI) is a tertiary service agency providing trauma-informed, highly specialized assessment, treatment, and targeted intervention provincially for children and youth with complex special needs. This includes children and youth with developmental disabilities, autism, and severe behavioural, emotional, and mental health challenges. CPRI also prioritizes research, program evaluation, and education related to serving and supporting this clinical population.

The Tree Grove as the Event’s Motif

The “Tree Grove” is a symbol for the symposium, designed to unite researchers, clinicians, and educators in advancing mental health solutions. Set in a context where children and youth face complex developmental challenges, the tree’s sturdy trunk embodies the resilience and growth central to their mental well-being.

Its diverse leaves, varying in size and shape, represent the AM theme of tailoring therapeutic interventions—customizing dose, duration, and frequency for individualized care.

The intricate, web-like roots reflect the PM theme of designing healthy, supportive spaces in a technological age, with interconnected patterns symbolizing tech-enhanced environments that foster well-being.

With vibrant greens for vitality, earthy browns for stability, blue roots for technology, and golden leaf accents for hope, the Tree Grove captures the symposium’s mission: nurturing young minds through precise treatments and innovative, interconnected spaces, rooted in nature’s harmony.

Speakers

Add Your Heading Text Here

DR. CELIA ROBICHAUD, MD, FRCPC (plenary speaker)

LESS IS MORE (MORE OR LESS): NAVIGATING THE NUANCES OF MEDICATION INITIATION, DOSING, AND DEPRESCRIBING FOR YOUTH

In child and adolescent psychiatry, the key question is often not just what or if to prescribe, but how much, for how long, and when to stop. This plenary moves beyond “one-size-fits-all” protocols to offer a practical roadmap for tailoring dose, duration, and frequency. By exploring deprescribing and harm reduction strategies, attendees will learn to balance efficacy with risk, ensuring interventions remain as adaptive as the developing brains they treat.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Analyze the clinical factors that necessitate individualized adjustments to the dose, duration, and frequency of therapeutic interventions in paediatric populations.
  2. Defend evidence-based protocols for the safe and effective “deprescribing” of psychiatric medications, identifying specific triggers for tapering to minimize withdrawal and relapse.
  3. Apply harm reduction frameworks into decision-making to balance the risks of long-term pharmacotherapy against the goals of functional recovery and patient safety.

About:

Dr. Celia Robichaud (she/her) is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the IWK Health Centre, and Program Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Subspecialty program, as well as Assistant Professor, at Dalhousie University. Originally from Moncton, NB, Dr. Robichaud completed her undergraduate degree at Mount Allison University, followed by completing her MD, general Psychiatry residency and Child and Adolescent subspecialty residency at Dalhousie University. She has been a staff psychiatrist since 2020, working in the Autism Specific Care clinic and the Dartmouth Community Mental Health and Addictions clinic. Dr. Robichaud has been heavily involved in education of medical students and residents at all levels, and is passionate about the expansion of mental health education for primary care, allied health providers and other specialties.

KARLEIGH DARNAY, MSW, RSW (plenary speaker)

YOUTH WELLNESS HUBS ONTARIO: A YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM

This plenary session will explore the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) model as an innovative approach to integrated youth services, emphasizing early intervention, prevention, and evidence-based treatment for mental health and substance use. The presentation will highlight the importance of primary prevention and social prescribing models in supporting youth wellness, while addressing health equity in service delivery. Special attention will be given to gaps in care for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth in Ontario, and how YWHO is meeting these needs through culturally relevant programming and approaches to care. The session will also showcase the groundbreaking clinical services offered through Shkaabe Makwa at CAMH, including the role of ceremony grounds in fostering healing and supportive spaces.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario model and explain how integrated youth services support prevention, early intervention, and treatment in mental health and substance use care.
  2. Illustrate the role of primary prevention and social prescribing models in youth mental health treatment and apply these concepts to the design of therapeutic interventions.
  3. Recognize health equity approaches in integrated youth services and identify strategies to address service gaps for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth in Ontario.
  4. Identify culturally relevant programs and services offered through Shkaabe Makwa at CAMH and evaluate their impact on youth wellness and community healing.

About:

Karleigh Darnay, MSW, RSW, is the Director of Clinical Practice and Implementation at the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) Provincial Office at CAMH. She provides clinical and implementation leadership to support the YWHO model of integrated youth services across 32 Hub Networks. Her work includes leading the development of evidence-based and evidence-generating clinical guidelines and training to support best practices and practice innovation. Karleigh also oversees YWHO’s equity and engagement initiatives, including Indigenous wellness programming. She brings extensive experience in adapting services and measurement-based care to reflect diverse identities and lived experiences, and in leading participatory system design efforts that engage youth, families, service providers, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and other community experts.

DR. AJIT NINAN, MD, FRCPC (workshop speaker)

SHARING KNOWLEDGE GROUNDED IN PRACTICE FOR SAFELY DEPRESCRIBING PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION

While psychotropic medication is a key component of psychiatric care, in recent decades the field is experiencing a paradigm shift towards therapeutic parsimony where the least amount of medication is prescribed to achieve intended outcomes. This shift is in response to growing concern about polypharmacy, where multiple medications prescribed together increase the risks of side effects, complications, and long-term health concerns. At CPRI, medication safety is at the forefront of practice. Medication reviews are routinely conducted to determine medication efficacy, side effect burden, and safety concerns. Deprescribing is undertaken when indication is inappropriate and/or risk/benefit ratio of medication is no longer in the client’s best interest. Because guidance is lacking in the literature for safely deprescribing with child/youth clients, CPRI endeavours to share knowledge grounded in practice.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Evaluate medication deprescribing as part of the therapeutic parsimony for reducing adverse effects and long-term risks to safely achieve intended outcomes for children and youth with complex needs.
  2. Explain the process of deprescribing as a physician and client/family partnership.
  3. Interpret research currently underway investigating the clinical profiles of clients for whom deprescribing is indicated and patterns in deprescribing processes.

About:

Dr. Ninan is the Medical Director of CPRI with a clinical oversight role since 2010 and a pediatric psychiatrist since 2006. After 15 plus years primarily involved with inpatient services working with pre-adolescents at CPRI as well as London Health Sciences Centre on-call system, Dr. Ninan is currently involved in CPRI’s attachment/trauma outpatient services. He received his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship and general psychiatry training, in Rochester, New York. He is an Adjunct Professor at Western University, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Psychiatry. He received his Healthcare Management Masters Certificate from York University in June 2020.

LETICIA TORO, RBA (Ont.), RP, BCBA (workshop speaker)

BEYOND THE CHILD: ELEVATING PARENT MENTAL HEALTH IN DEVELOPMENTAL CARE

This presentation will include a description of a parent group conducted within the Extensive Needs program. Group outcomes are shared with the purpose of contributing to advocacy efforts and adding to the body of evidence regarding parent/caregiver mental health.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Outline ways in which parent/caregiver mental health impacts client outcomes.
  2. Define Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and identify key concepts.
  3. Recognize the importance of parent mental health to client therapy outcomes.
  4. Recall the importance of advocacy efforts for family involvement and care.
  5. Demonstrate a 3-session parent mental health group to support waitlist periods.

About:

Leticia Toro is a Registered Psychotherapist and Registered Behaviour Analyst currently working in the Extensive Needs Program at Holland Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital. She has worked in the field of Developmental Differences for 18 years. She currently focuses on supporting the mental health of parents, caregivers, and family members withing the context of developmental differences, social vulnerabilities, and medical complexities.

DR. KATELYN BRYANT, PhD, C. PSYCH (workshop speaker)

PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN WITH SELECTIVE MUTISM: CONSIDERING DOSE, DURATION, AND FREQUENCY OF TREATMENT

Children with selective mutism avoid/minimize verbal communication in specific situations due to anxiety. This presentation will draw from the extant literature to review typical characteristics of and course of selective mutism, psychosocial intervention methods and their expected effectiveness, and considerations around dose and duration of behavioural interventions. A composite case study will be used to illustrate key principles. Attendees should walk away able to describe evidence-based options for selective mutism intervention and their expected outcomes for children.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Define the criteria for, characteristics of, and typical course of Selective Mutism.
  2. Discuss typical methods for evidence-based selective mutism intervention.
  3. Inspect typical dose of, duration of, and response to selective mutism intervention, and considerations for determining effectiveness.

About:

Dr. Katelyn Bryant is a Registered Psychologist and the Assistant Director of the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic, a teaching clinic supporting the training of future child and adolescent Psychologists through the Faculty of Education at Western University. Dr. Bryant is a clinician, educator, and systems change advocate whose practice focuses on school-aged children and youth with learning, development, mental health and behavioural needs. She works closely with caregivers, schools, and interdisciplinary providers.

JESSIE JONES, BRLS(Hons)TR, CTRS and SASCHA MAURER, DSW, RecTA (workshop speakers)

RECREATION AS REGULATION: DESIGNING THERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENTS BEYOND CLINICAL WALLS

This panel presentation examines how Therapeutic Recreation can serve as both a clinical and environmental intervention for children and youth with complex mental health and developmental needs. Drawing on Jess Jones Recreation Therapy’s Therapeutic Respite model and its partnerships with third-place community agencies, presenters will explore how leisure-based regulation, intentional environmental design, and relational engagement can support treatment goals beyond traditional clinical settings. The panel will outline the theoretical frameworks that shape this approach, including the Leisure Ability Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the Flourishing Through Leisure framework, while also sharing practical strategies for program design, sensory-considerate spaces, co-facilitation, and collaborative community practice. Through case-based examples, presenters will highlight outcomes related to emotional regulation, autonomy, belonging, engagement, and relational capacity. Attendees will gain insight into how recreation therapy can create meaningful, strengths-based environments that support developmental stability, family wellbeing, and more connected systems of care.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Demonstrate how Therapeutic Recreation principles and environmental design can support regulation, autonomy, and belonging for children and youth with complex mental health and developmental needs.
  2. Present the Therapeutic Respite model and its evidence-informed frameworks, including the Leisure Ability Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the Flourishing Through Leisure Framework.
  3. Apply practical strategies for designing and facilitating supportive “third-place” environments that extend treatment impact beyond clinical settings and promote collaboration across systems of care.

About:

Jessie Jones, CTRS, is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, artist, musician, and chef. Founder of JJRT, she blends creativity, radical care, and evidence-based recreation therapy to help individuals and communities reclaim leisure as a tool for healing, identity, and social change. Jessie’s work bridges clinical practice, education, and advocacy, challenging conventional models through bold, values-driven leadership.

Sascha is a Recreation Therapist Assistant at JJRT with a background in Developmental Services and Recreation Therapy. They are passionate about using game-based approaches, including role-playing games, board games, and video games, to help youth build social connection, self-awareness, and meaningful experiences through recreation. Having worked with individuals across the lifespan, Sascha brings patience, compassion, humour, and a strong commitment to accessibility to every session and program. Their goal is to help create inclusive opportunities for recreation and leisure within the community so that everyone can experience its benefits.

MOIRA PENA, BSCOT, MOT REG. (Ont.) and JADEN CHONG, BSC, MDES (workshop speakers)

SUPPORTING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SPACES FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN AND YOUTH: A SYSTEMS-LEVEL, AUTISM-AFFIRMING APPROACH

This presentation will outline system-level strategies for applying an autism-affirming framework to reduce access barriers and improve healthcare experiences for autistic children, youth, and their families

Learning Objectives:

  1. Summarize 3 common barriers autistic children, youth, and families face when accessing healthcare, and explain how sensory demands, unpredictability, and systemic processes contribute to client and caregiver stress and reduced accessibility.
  2. Summarize the Autistic SPACE framework to identify 5 practical, systems-level strategies for designing autism-friendly healthcare environments and processes.
  3. Discuss the value of adopting an autism-affirming or neurodiversity-affirming approach in healthcare design to adapt services and provide supports that better meet the needs of autistic children, youth, and their families.

About:

Moira Pena, BScOT, MOT, OT Reg. (Ont.) is an occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience supporting autistic children, youth, and their families. She is the Team Lead, Autism Programs and Projects at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, where she leads the development and implementation of innovative autism initiatives that advance neurodiversity-affirming and evidence-informed care across programs and systems.

Jaden Chong, BSc, MDes is the Coordinator for Autism Programs and Projects at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. As coordinator, Jaden works on multiple projects supporting the development of programs and services, using her knowledge in Design for Health to build and evaluate sustainable pathways of care.

LARA DAGAMSEH, MA (workshop speaker)

“WHY WOULD THIS HAPPEN?” TRAUMA-INFORMED PSYCHOSPIRTUAL CARE TO IMPROVE CLINICAL PRECISION AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR COMPLEX YOUTH

This panel presentation explores how trauma can disrupt young people’s sense of meaning, justice, safety, and trust, often showing up as shame, withdrawal, risk-taking, relational rupture, or spiritual struggle. Using a trauma-informed, developmentally attuned, and psychospiritual lens, the session introduces practical ways clinicians can recognize “theodicy-shaped” distress and translate it into clearer clinical targets and safer support planning. Through case-based discussion, participants will gain applicable strategies for tele-mental health, primary care, and coordinated youth services to better support complex youth and families across diverse spiritual, religious, and nonreligious worldviews.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Recite key forms of theodicy-shaped distress in traumatized youth across spiritual, religious, and nonreligious worldviews.
  2. Defend how trauma-informed psychospiritual assessment can improve clinical precision when youth present with shame, disengagement, rupture, or high-risk coping.
  3. Use the Psychospiritual Precision Map to translate meaning and justice-related distress into targeted intervention priorities.
  4. Determine treatment pacing, dosage, and support systems in response to psychospiritual and developmental needs.
  5. Present trauma-informed, non-leading responses to psychospiritual distress within tele-mental health and primary care practice.

About:

Lara Dagamseh is a trauma-informed psychospiritual practitioner, researcher, and educator with interdisciplinary training in psychology, theology, and child and adolescent mental health. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Theology and a Master’s degree in Theology, with graduate research focused on the contextualization of trauma-focused care for traumatized Muslim children and their caregivers. Her work integrates trauma-informed practice, developmental psychology, moral injury, spirituality, and culturally responsive care, with a particular interest in how youth make meaning after trauma. Lara’s clinical and academic interests center on complex youth, family systems, psychospiritual development, and the role of belief, justice, and identity in trauma recovery. She is especially interested in helping clinicians improve precision in assessment and intervention when trauma presents through shame, rupture, existential distress, or spiritual struggle. Her work bridges mental health, caregiving systems, and culturally attuned support models across clinical, community, and educational settings. Drawing on both research and applied practice, Lara develops frameworks and training resources that help professionals respond more safely and effectively to youth and families navigating trauma, meaning-making, and recovery.

ePosters

ePosters will be available soon. Please check back for updates.

For RCPSC (MOC Section 1)

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by Continuing Professional Development, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. You may claim a maximum of 4.00 hours (credits are automatically calculated). Each participant should claim only those hours of credit that they actually spent participating in the educational program.

Event Organizers

Melissa Currie, M.Sc.

  • Committee Co-Chair

Melissa has a Master’s in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked in applied research roles in service delivery organizations in multiple sectors (youth justice, education, health, children’s mental health) for over 25 years. Her work has focused on gathering and communicating quality evidence to support service-related decision-making.

Tom Ketelaars, C.Y.W.

  • Committee Co-Chair
  • Co-Chair of CPRI’s Scientific Planning Committee
  • Program Manager of Professional Development and Community Relations

Tom Ketelaars is a Sr. Manager in MCCSS of Professional Development and Community Relations within his branch. He previously managed in Applied Research and Education, Education and Learning Services, Tele-Mental Health Services, and Volunteer departments. He also spent six years working as a Child Care Counsellor, primarily with adolescent boys with complex mental health challenges. He has a passion in promoting and training trauma-awareness and trauma-informed leadership and care and has published on this, as well as trained and delivered presentations to thousands of staff and leaders across Ontario and Canada.

Ryan Green, MLIS

  • Event Lead Coordinator and Host
  • Graphics Design and Accreditation Co-Lead

Ryan Green is an Education and Learning Analyst at CPRI. He has a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from Western University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Political Science from King’s University College. He has been employed at CPRI since March 2021. In his current role, Ryan has assisted with the accreditation process for the London & Region FASD Virtual Conference in 2024 and the CPRI Research Symposium in 2024. He organized and hosted CPRI educational offerings on topics such as Bowel Management Strategies for Medically Complex Children and Youth, Caregiver Fabricated Illness, and assisted with the organizing of Growing Connections: Attachment-Informed Interventions for Complex Children & Families. He was the local chair of the United Way Committee for CPRI in 2022 and is an active member of the CPRI Culture Keepers Committee. As of February 2024, he leads the CPRI Scientific Planning Committee.

Dr. Kim Arbeau, Ph.D.

  • Research Presentations Lead Coordinator

Kim Arbeau is a Program Lead with the Applied Research and Evaluation Department. She has been at CPRI for almost 14 years. She has a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in which she investigated the influence of social relationships on shy children (e.g., teachers, parents, and friends). Her most recent projects have focused on adverse childhood events, trauma-informed care, developmental disabilities, internalizing and externalizing symptomology, and the impacts of COVID-19 on children and their families receiving services. She has a number of peer-reviewed journal publications and book chapters and has presented at many conferences over her career. She is the Chair of CPRI’s Research Review Committee. She was also on the organization committee for the CPRI Research Hybrid Symposium in 2024.

Dr. Palmer Taylor, Ph.D.

  • Event Proceedings Supporter
  • Graphics Design and Accreditation Co-Lead

Dr. Palmer Taylor is an Education and Learning Analyst at CPRI. Palmer organized and led the annual London & Region FASD Virtual Conference from 2022–2024 and the CPRI Research Hybrid Symposium in 2024. He also writes evidence-informed policies/procedures, guidelines, and consent forms for CPRI’s Policies and Procedures Framework, Medical Healthcare Education, and Electronic Record Storage Requirements. Moreover, he directs the roll-out of Health and Safety, Privacy and Information Management, and FORTE-for-All trainings for CPRI employees, students, volunteers, and contractors. In previous Research Assistantships, he investigated Indigenous People’s participation in the Canadian labour force; smart city initiatives in Ontario; migrant resilience in Ontario; political debates about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S.; and public police officers’ employment practices in Ontario.

Dr. Ajit Ninan, H.B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P.C.

  • Co-Chair of CPRI’s Scientific Planning Committee
  • Medical Director of CPRI

Dr. Ninan is the Medical Director of CPRI with a clinical oversight role since 2010 and a pediatric psychiatrist since 2006. After 15 plus years primarily involved with inpatient services working with pre-adolescents at CPRI as well as London Health Sciences Centre on-call system, Dr. Ninan is currently involved in CPRI’s attachment/trauma outpatient services. He received his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship and general psychiatry training in Rochester, New York. He is an Adjunct Professor at Western University, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Psychiatry. He received his Healthcare Management Master’s certificate from York University in June 2020.

CPRI Research Symposium 2024

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