WELCOME to the KDE Hub community and congratulations on being a successful grantee of the MH COVID fund! As the KDE Hub’s Scientific Co-Directors, we are passionate about mental health promotion that is evidence informed, sensitive to diverse cultures and contexts, equitable and sustainable. Our joint experience includes decades of community, clinical, policy, advocacy and research experience focused on promotion of mental health, equity, inclusion, and resilience. Our team looks forward to connecting with you to learn more about your program and to develop a reciprocal relationship as part of a growing national community that shares interests in mental health wellbeing for all Canadians. We invite you to read on and watch our introductory video to learn more about who we are and what we do. We are excited to learn with and from you and look forward to meeting you virtually at an upcoming welcome webinar!
 

Alice Schmidt Hanbidge and Colleen McMillan,
Scientific Co-Directors, KDE Hub

What and who is the KDE Hub? 

The KDE Hub was established by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to support federally funded projects with a focus on mental health promotion and prevention. This includes projects funded through PHAC’s Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund and Supporting the Mental Health of Those Most Affected by COVID-19.  

The Hub consists of a Secretariat at Renison University College (University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON), a Resource Collaborative with members from across Canada, and consultants with specialized expertise.  

What does the KDE Hub do?  

The Hub’s activities are focused on knowledge development and exchange and are largely guided by the needs of our primary audience – in other words, project team members like you! Our supports include: 

• Facilitating connections. We create opportunities for networking and mutual learning amongst project teams and with individuals and organizations with shared interests. For example, we host an annual symposium open to those interested in the field of mental health promotion. The next symposium will take place virtually February 28-March 1, 2023 and will focus on leveraging momentum for mental health promotion. More details to come!  

• Building capacity for knowledge development and exchange. Be it information about evaluation methods, mobilizing knowledge, or Indigenous inclusion as part of project work, the KDE Hub curates, develops, and shares knowledge products that fill relevant knowledge development and exchange gaps. Check out our annotated resources, Hub tools, and stay tuned for monthly webinars (you will receive invitations to these by email). 

• Co-designing and leading studies. These studies explore and amplify cross-project learnings. Though projects engaged with the KDE Hub are unique and diverse, many share contexts, approaches, and goals. The KDE Hub conducts research studies that connect project experiences as part of a collective mental health promotion story. 

• Contributions to building strong systems-level support for upstream approaches to mental health. Many are unfamiliar with the principles, language, evidence base, and value of upstream approaches to mental health. With project sustainability and scale up in mind, the KDE Hub works to address knowledge gaps about mental health promotion and prevention.