Page 34 - 2017-2018 Department of Psychiatry Annual Report

Dr. Rudolf Uher: The Canada Research Chair in Early

Intervention

Over two million Canadians are living Well-being (FORBOW) project. This participants have completed the
with severe mental illness, such as is the only program in the world that Skills for Wellness (SWELL) course
schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and works with youth as young as nine that teaches youth mental health
major depressive disorder. Severe years to prevent the full range of skills in a personalized way tailored
mental illness affects people from severe mental illness. to remedy each young person’s
a young age and can be disabling. vulnerabilities. Young people have
There are many treatments that can Dr. Uher launched FORBOW in reported how much they enjoy
help but there is no cure that could 2013 and the study is now entering participating in SWELL and benefit
stop the illness for good. The Canada its sixth year. In March 2018, after from the course. Further follow-
Research Chair in Early Intervention five years of since initial enrolment, up will show whether SWELL can
in Psychiatry, Dr. Rudolf Uher, and FORBOW welcomed its 400th youth prevent severe mental illness from
his collaborators are working on a participant. With over 1,200 annual developing.
groundbreaking project that aims to assessments completed, FORBOW
prevent severe mental illness. Their researchers can now tell how well The last two years have also seen
prevention program works in two their assessments predict who is at major additional development in the
steps: First, identify who is at risk. risk to develop severe mental illness. FORBOW study, which is partly the
Second, intervene at the right time They found that a combination of work of graduate students supervised
and give people the tools they need mood lability, anxiety and unusual by Dr. Uher. Emily Howes Vallis uses
to stay healthy. Over four hundred experiences predicts new onsets tasks that measure the ability to
youth from Nova Scotia are taking of illness with high accuracy and think without words and remember
part in the Families Overcoming with several years to spare that shapes. She is showing that such
Risks and Building Opportunities for provide an opportunity for pre- non-verbal cognition reflects the
emptive interventions. The first 60 young person’s vulnerability for

34 DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY