DLRI Webinar Series: Adolescent Mental Health in the Time of Covid-19

Dr. Javed Alloo is a community-based family physician in Toronto, Ontario. For more than 15 years, Dr. Alloo has provided care to patients with complex physical and mental health conditions. He is the clinical lead for primary care integration and mentoring on mental health, addiction and chronic pain at the Ontario College of Family Physicians, and co-chair of the joint mental health working group of the Canadian College of Family Physicians and Canadian Psychiatric Association. Dr. Alloo works to enable integrated collaborative care with project ECHO at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Trillium Health Partners. His work enables indirect care support, and provides a supportive community of practice for primary care providers. In addition, Dr. Alloo has advanced policy work on mental health and primary care at the Section on General and Family Practice, Ontario Medical Association, Toronto-Central and Central LHINs, and with Ontario’s Medical Psychiatry Alliance.

Dr. April Elliott is a Paediatrician and Adolescent Medicine Specialist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, University of Calgary. Over the past 19 years, Dr. Elliott has been instrumental in developing Adolescent Health as a sub-specialty and is the Head of the Section of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Paediatrics. Dr. Elliott was one of Calgary’s Top 40 under 40 in 2006 and in 2011, she was a recipient of an Alberta Medical Association Medal for Distinguished Service; she received this award in recognition of her contributions to the development of services for youth, and most notably the Calgary Adolescent Treatment Services (CATS), a clinic she founded for youth experiencing homelessness. Dr. Elliott has multiple publications, presentations and grants on subjects such as Eating Disorders, Adolescent Brain Development, and Coaching Approaches in Adolescent Health, Mindful Communication, Physician Wellness, and Street-Involved Youth Health.

Dr. Monique Jericho is a physician working in the field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and is the current President of the Medical Staff Association at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Her clinical interests are focused on Eating Disorders and in work with youth and families whose medical, psychological and social needs are not ideally met within existing frameworks of care. As Medical Director of the Calgary Eating Disorder Program for the past eight years, she has worked to deliver evidence-based care to patients and to promote research and community partnerships. A requested speaker and a regular media contributor, she enjoys sharing her knowledge and ideas in the areas of mental health, wellness, and team development. Dr. Jericho is passionate about applying mental health concepts in medical settings to reduce stigma and to promote a healthier and more effective medical culture.

Greg Lubimiv is the Executive Director at The Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, a children's mental health centre, serving Renfrew County, the largest geographic county in Ontario. He started his career in child and youth mental healthcare by getting his Bachelor of Social Work from Laurentian University, M.S.W. from University of Toronto. Over the last year, Mr. Lubimiv has been involved in a number of projects to improve virtual care in the Ottawa Region. This includes the Primary Care Pathways Project with the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health. The Phoenix Centre was one of the pilot sites for this exciting research project exploring the effects of Covid-19 on child and youth mental healthcare.