Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition

Dr. George Foussias

Director, Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition

We have the potential to radically transform mental health care for youth and emerging adults.

I’d like to offer a personal welcome to CAMH’s Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition, funded by a $10-million gift from the Slaight Family Foundation.

At the Slaight Centre, we know early intervention is crucial. But we need to improve existing treatments, since only limited progress has been made over recent decades.

Through early intervention we can step in before the illness progresses with timely access and evidence-based care. We can reduce illness severity, improve outcomes and promote brain development.

We also know that recovery extends beyond a diagnosis and medication schedule. We are working to improve existing treatments and to develop new approaches for unmet needs, such as metabolic health, negative symptoms, cognitive impairment and social functioning.

Our transformative research brings together clinicians and scientists from complementary specialties to focus on treatment innovation, early detection and identifying risk and resilience factors. When the findings come in, our goal is to immediately implement them in clinical practice.

A small change in a young person's care can make a big difference. By combining our efforts and resources for the benefit of this at-risk age group, we have the potential to radically transform mental health care for youth and emerging adults.