Giesbrecht, Gerald F

Published purpose

The CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (CIHR-IHDCYH) is developing an initiative focused on mental health in the early years. Early childhood, beginning from conception to age five, is a critical period for brain growth and development, including social and emotional development, that lays the foundation for mental health across the lifecycle. Environmental exposures associated with social, economic, and physical environments in which children live, learn and play, can affect brain development with implications for life-long mental health. Therefore, CIHR-IHDCYH will provide one year bridge grants to support research projects that aim to enhance our understanding of factors that can affect early brain development and increase the likelihood of negative mental health outcomes, as well as factors that promote resilience. This will ultimately contribute to the development of enhanced interventions and treatments to optimize mental health in the early years and beyond. This bridge funding will support research on: • Mechanisms/factors/environment-gene interactions that affect the developing brain and contribute to negative/positive mental health outcomes in infants and children starting at conception. • Structural changes to the brain in the context of neurodevelopmental disabilities, neurodivergence, trauma and/or adverse childhood experiences that lead to negative mental health outcomes. • Preclinical animal models of adverse childhood experiences and neurodevelopmental. • Biological mechanisms underlying mediators/factors that protect against negative mental health outcomes. • The inclusion of infants and children in vulnerable, racialized, and under-represented populations, who are disproportionately affected by mental health challenges, is encouraged (as appropriate).