The Investigators will use photovoice methodology and participatory action research methods (Sutton-Brown, 2014) to explore the lived experiences of Humber college students and their well-being and mental health during the Fall 2022 semester. True engagement of Humber learners who are lavishing or thriving in their well-being is valuable for the design and implementation of student support services, as well as teaching and learning across the institution. This qualitative research study will explore the following questions: How does student mental health and well-being impact their academics and co-curricular activities? How do students describe the structural and systemic influences on their mental health and well-being in college? How do students express agency and sense of purpose to protect their mental health in college? Data will be used to build student capacity and improve student care and access to mental health support at post-secondary institutions.

Sky-high rent, condo developments, no rent control, evictions and unstable housing are all issues standing in the way of affordable housing in South Etobicoke, Toronto, and major urban cities across the globe. The increase in cost of living coupled with a rise in rent, and stagnant wages, poses threats to those who are facing poverty, health challenges or more disfranchised populations such as students and seniors. What is the cost of living issues for low-income and working-class citizens, and how can a Community of Practice be created to sustain advocacy efforts to support new models for affordable housing through social policy change? The Affordable Housing Needs in South Etobicoke project is a partnership between the LAMP Community Health Centre and Humber College. With this research project we will uncover the cost of living issues through community based participatory research (CBPR) in South Etobicoke to develop a baseline of housing affordability; gather input from community members most marginalized to assess the impact of displacement and further marginalization; identify proactive measures to inform decision-making on issues across the 'cost of living' spectrum; contribute to the fight against homelessness; create inclusive and accessible communities; develop a strategy to co-develop and share possible solutions; and advocate for the building of affordable housing through social policy change.

The Caregiver Training Workshop (CTW) Pilot Study – Online Version will consist of six (6) sessions, adapted from the 2019 in-person Caregiver Training Workshop (CTW) Pilot Study, aimed at determining whether the workshop/pilot study’s course design has a relationship to caregiver burden, as well as heightens caregivers’ care abilities at home. Findings from both of the 2019 research intervention, and now, the online version should help to inform next steps regarding online training delivery to family caregivers, either institutionally and/or through community providers.

Humber College in partnership with John Howard Society of Saskatchewan and Street Culture Project Inc. will be examining the characteristics of effective community agency partnership networks. Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities, will analyze an existing community agency partnership network to identify best practices in creating and maintaining these types of partnerships. Additionally, the study will evaluate existing programs aimed at youth 15 - 29 who are involved with the criminal justice system, or at risk of becoming involved, to determine whether they meet agency commitment to being trauma informed, culturally sensitive, free from systemic racism, and aligned with agency commitment to reconciliation. The overarching objective of this project is to help reduce youth crime, particularly gang violence, in Canada

Humber College in partnership with John Howard Society of Saskatchewan and Street Culture Project Inc. will be examining the characteristics of effective community agency partnership networks. Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities, will analyze an existing community agency partnership network to identify best practices in creating and maintaining these types of partnerships. Additionally, the study will evaluate existing programs aimed at youth 15 - 29 who are involved with the criminal justice system, or at risk of becoming involved, to determine whether they meet agency commitment to being trauma informed, culturally sensitive, free from systemic racism, and aligned with agency commitment to reconciliation. The overarching objective of this project is to help reduce youth crime, particularly gang violence, in Canada.

When experiencing mental health crisis, many people rely on emergency services such as 9-1-1 dispatchers, paramedic services, police services and hospital emergency department services. Emergency response to mental health calls has recently gained significantly greater attention, recognizing that these interactions may have substantial, potentially life and death consequences for those already in distress. Many of these first response services lack sufficient resources and training and have few options to offer when providing care. Humber College and TAIBU Community Health Centre & Middlesex-London Paramedic Service will collaborate on the "Developing a best practice model for mental health crisis care: A community-engaged approach" project which brings together community-based service providers and emergency care providers to develop a best practice model for response to mental health crisis care. This project plans to highlight and develop practices that appropriately support all members of the community requiring emergency mental health support with particular attention paid to those of lower socioeconomic status, Black and Indigenous communities, People of Colour, and LGBT2SQ+ and immigrant communities. In addition to a best practice model, the project aims to co-develop workshops and training for practitioners working in these fields. Along with the partner organizations, this multi-disciplinary team of researchers bring extensive academic and frontline experience from across care sectors.

“Digital Narratives: Indigenous Economic Development” is a project led by Humber College in partnership with the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business (CCAB). Research by CCAB argues that economic development in Indigenous communities’ correlates positively to social impact. This includes job creation, capacity and skill development. In addition, Indigenous economic development contributes to the overall Canadian economy. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for more Indigenous content in Canadian classrooms, there is little available for post-secondary professors. This project will start to close that gap through a series of multi-media cases of successful Indigenous business models. Each year will focus on a different theme: Entrepreneurship (year One); Collaboration and Partnerships (year Two) and Skill Development (year Three). The research team will deliberately include cases from across Canada reflecting the diversity of Indigenous communities. Working with FirstNations University, the research team will pilot these materials with students and “test” them for usability and engagement. As the cases are

completed, they will be made available on a web site as open educational resources as well as disseminated and promoted through social media. In the final year of the project, the team will hold a conference to share the content and explore ways of further integrating these stories into classrooms. Humber College will lead this project.

We will conduct a mixed methods, three phase project over the course of three years that will engage and educate young-adult cannabis users (18-30), the age group most likely to consume cannabis, and the age group most likely to consume cannabis on a daily or near daily basis. By targeting this age group we hope to impact long-term cannabis consumption practices, thereby having the best potential for improving public health and wellbeing outcomes for decades to come. In Phase One we will gather the data necessary to understand what new public education materials need to be developed by conducting an online survey and a series of focus groups across the country. In Phase Two, we will work with Humber College advertising students, or partner organizations, and cannabis consumers to develop new public education materials focused on effectively engaging consumers with harm reduction information about cannabis 2.0 products. In Phase Three, we will launch the new materials, and being an evaluation of their efficacy before updating the materials to respond to any shortcomings identified in our evaluation. Our partners on this project include the Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers (ACCRES), the National Institute of Cannabis Health and Education (NICHE), Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP), and Auora Cannabis Inc.

The experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer informed compassion-based HS delivery framework in a Canadian context Human Services (HS) is a broad multidisciplinary field that is held together conceptually by the overarching goal of improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities in and through service delivery participation provided in public and non-profit organizations. Problematically, though, the HS field remains without an evidence base that can inform a guiding framework to root service provision principles across its multidisciplinary workforce and varied institutions. This study seeks to collect co-created lived experience narratives from human service Canadian consumers and providers about their lived experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration in the course of HS service delivery. Four HS organizations with local, regional and national service coverage are partnering in this study for the purpose of deepening our understanding of how HS provision can foster the aspirations and preferences in ways that strengthen consumers' abilities to lead self-directed lives. Ultimately, this three-year research study will establish a consumer-informed foundation for a much-needed consumer-informed guiding framework that can aid Canadian HS organizations and service providers in their ability to be responsive to the aspirations and preferences of consumers in ways that strengthen their ability to lead self-directed lives. It will do so by bringing together community engaged scholars and applied researchers, along with a vibrant team of local and national community partners.

The experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based HS delivery framework in a Canadian context Human Services (HS) is a broad multidisciplinary field that is held together conceptually by the overarching goal of improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities in and through service delivery participation provided in public and non-profit organizations. Problematically, though, the HS field remains without an evidence base that can inform a guiding framework to root service provision principles across its multidisciplinary workforce and varied institutions. This study seeks to collect co-created lived experience narratives from human service Canadian consumers and providers about their lived experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration in the course of HS service delivery. Four HS organizations with local, regional and national service coverage are partnering in this study for the purpose of deepening our understanding of how HS provision can foster the aspirations and preferences in ways that strengthen consumers' abilities to lead self-directed lives. Ultimately, this three-year research study will establish a consumer-informed foundation for a much-needed consumer-informed guiding framework that can aid Canadian HS organizations and service providers in their ability to be responsive to the aspirations and preferences of consumers in ways that strengthen their ability to lead self-directed lives. It will do so by bringing together community engaged scholars and applied researchers, along with a vibrant team of local and national community partners.

Canadian employers have consistently identified that internationally trained professionals (ITPs) are not hired for three key reasons: (1) lack of familiarity with Canadian workplace practices; (2) inability to effectively assess the relevance of work and education experience obtained abroad; and (3) lack of experience working in a typical Canadian team/matrix workplace environment. These barriers create significant underemployment for these highly skilled professionals who have immigrated to Canada, and this project is focused on overcoming these three identified barriers. ACCES Employment (ACCES) assists ITP's who are facing barriers to employment that prevent them from integrating into the Canadian job market into their field of work that reflects their past experience. The challenge faced by ACCES is how to measure the impact of both implemented and planned experiential learning opportunities on the employment readiness and actual employment of the ITP's who participate in their bridging programs. The key objective of this study is to develop an evidence-informed base of information which will help measure the impact of both implemented and planned experiential learning opportunities on the employment readiness and actual employment of the ITP's who participate in ACCES' bridging programs. This project is intended to research and measure the impact of these learning experiences to determine efficacy and effectiveness from both an ITP and employer perspective, and to use this data to inform decisions about which are and which are not effective.

The COVID-19 pandemic has widened disparities in access to care particularly for marginalized populations, further positioning them at a greater risk for increased poverty, food insecurity, mental health challenges, overdose deaths, social isolation, and discrimination. Seeing the impact of these challenges within their local communities, our partner organizations shared wishes to provide expanded health services support for their clients during these unpredictable times. Nurse-led mobile health clinics (MHCs), a nursing unit that travels to communities to provide health services, are promising care delivery models for reaching populations who face barriers in accessing healthcare. However, without an approach designed for integration, MHCs can result in transitory, fragmented care with unintended consequences for clients’ health. This project proposes a community-driven, collaborative research approach to co-create a nurse-led MHC that is integrated with our partners’ existing social services; thereby providing responsive and accessible care for their marginalized communities. This will result in a mobile health partnership model that can be adopted by interested academic and community organizations across Canada, as an innovative approach to effectively bridge the gap between health care and social services and provide better care for vulnerable people with complex health and social needs.

Surviving Hate is a collaborative journalism project coordinated by Humber College's StoryLab and the University of Toronto's Investigative Journalism Bureau seeking to fill the data gap on hate crimes in Canada. Academic partners include Trent University and the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba . Our media partners are the National Observer and the Toronto Star. Surviving Hate is supported by the Inspirit Foundation, Google News Initiative and Journalists for Human Rights.