As Canada's population continues to age, the demand for long-term care rapidly grows. Long-term care homes were designed to address the medical needs, rather than the psychosocial needs, of long-term care residents. With this demographic shift, we therefore need innovative approaches to ensure that long-term care homes are prepared to meet the unique and varied mental health needs of long-term care residents. In this panel session, we will hear from a clinical psychologist (Dr. Heisel), a dance/movement therapist and interdisciplinary scholar (Dr. Champagne), and a doctoral student in clinical psychology (Haczkewicz) who are working to support resident mental health. Programs of research span diverse topics, including staff suicide risk detection and response (Dr. Heisel), dance/movement therapy programs (Dr. Champagne), and palliative approaches to care (Hackzewicz) for long-term care residents. Speakers will describe their approach to their work in long-term care settings, lessons learned from their long-term care experiences, and recommendations for future research, practice, and policy directions. By the end of this panel session, attendees will gain a more comprehensive understanding of the unique and varied mental health needs of long-term care residents and ways in which mental health professionals and trainees are working to improve resident mental health outcomes.
Dr. Marnin Heisel is a Clinical Psychologist and Full Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at Western University and a Scientist with the London Hospitals' Research Institutes. His research focuses on the promotion of psychological well-being and prevention of suicide among older adults and other at-risk groups. He has published over 100 research articles, book chapters, and knowledge translation tools, and has received funding and career awards for this work from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Employment and Social Development Canada, Movember, Ontario Mental Health Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. A Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the International Society for Affective Disorders, Marnin has served on various boards focusing on aging, mental healthcare, and suicide prevention. He is a former Canadian National Representative to the International Association for Suicide Prevention, former Chair of the Canadian Psychological Association's Aging and Geropsychology Section, former Secretary of the American Association of Suicidology, and former Vice President and Research Committee Chair of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. He has recently proposed the creation of a new CPA Section on Suicide Prevention.
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