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About the Program
Our goal is to promote wellness through group therapy delivered via a mobile app. The BEAM program includes group Telehealth sessions, weekly videos, and an online forum. We are recruiting mothers to participate in the program to help us understand the efficacy of our online BEAM program, compared to services as usual, for improving mental wellness in mothers of young children.
This study is funded by Research Manitoba.
About the Researchers
Dr. Leslie E. Roos
Dr. Leslie E. Roos is an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, with appointments in Psychology and Pediatrics. She aims to prevent the intergenerational transmission of stress-linked health inequities by developing scalable programs that promote parent mental health and family relationships.
Dr. Kristen Reynolds
Dr. Reynolds is a Clinical Psychologist who is the director of the Health Information Exchange Lab at the University of Manitoba, where she is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. Her research focuses on the translation of health-related knowledge to the general public and into clinical practice as well as the evaluation of mental health resources. Much of her research is carried out with diverse populations, including older adults and peri-natal females. Dr. Reynolds also uses her research to assess the needs of individuals within the community.
Dr. Jennifer Protudjer
Dr. Protudjer is an Epidemiologist who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba. Through her use of patient-oriented research, she examines environmental risk factors for, and societal consequences of, allergic diseases. Dr. Protudjer further examines the impact of allergic diseases on child growth, pubertal development, mental health, and family finances.
Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala
Dr. Sauer-Zavala is a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky. Her research interests mainly involve improving treatment for common mental health conditions and high risk clinical presentations. The goal of her work is to refine psychological interventions so that they stand a better chance of getting into the hands of individuals that need them.
Dr. Catherine Lebel
Dr. Lebel is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary and director of the Developmental Neuroimaging Lab. Her research focuses on brain and behaviour, traumatic brain injury, neurodevelopment, and prenatal environment. Her research uses structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain structure and function in children. Broadly, her work is focused on understanding brain-behaviour relationships in both typical and atypical brain development.
Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen
Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Calgary and holds a Clinical Psychology Professorship in Child Health Psychology at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Lianne's research focuses on psychological and social factors that promote or detract from optimal health trajectories, including the development of preventative interventions for at risk populations.
Dr. Ryan Giuliano
Dr. Giuliano is a Developmental and Cognitive Scientist who co-directs the Hearts and Minds Lab at the University of Manitoba, where he is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. His research focuses on cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Giuliano is interested in the relationship between experiences of chronic stress and its influence on a child’s brain function.
Dr. Melanie Soderstorm
Dr. Soderstrom is a Developmental Scientist, Associate Professor, Associate Head, and director of the Baby Language Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Her research focuses on understanding how infants’ environments and their own perceptual capabilities contribute to the process of learning a first language. Dr. Soderstrom’s work involves both lab experiments and analyses of infants’ everyday real work experiences.
Dr. Gerald Giesbrecht
Dr. Giesbrecht is a Clinical and Developmental Psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. His research program focuses on the psychobiology of stress, and especially on the effects of stress during pregnancy on child development. He is currently studying the effects of risk and resilience factors, such as prenatal nutrition, postnatal caregiving, and temperament on children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Dr. Anna Mackinnin
Anna MacKinnon received her B.A. (Hons.) in psychology at Mount Allison University in 2010 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at McGill University in 2018. She is a registered clinical psychologist with training in treatment with children and families from diverse backgrounds. Dr. MacKinnon is also involved in research on perinatal mental health and early childhood development. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Community Health Sciences and the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary under the mentorship of Dr. Suzanne Tough and Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen.
Student Researchers
Bailin Xie
Bailin is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Tomfohr-Madsen. Bailin’s research interests focus on social and psychological factors that help to protect against adverse health outcomes. Her work explores strategies to promote better mental health among parents and children.
Kaeley Simpson
Marlee Salisbury
Marlee is in the second year of the MA program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Her primary research interest is in understanding how early life stress affects social-emotional development and attachment, particularly in children who are at risk for intergenerational trauma and mental illness.
Lara Penner-Goeke
Kaeley is in the School Psychology Masters program at the University of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. Roos. Kaeley is interested in examining how constructs such as self-compassion and social support can act as protective factors for parent mental health and stress and promote family well-being.
Lara is in her final year of an Honours Psychology degree at the University of Winnipeg. She researches family wellness and parenting across projects in the Hearts and Minds Lab. In addition, Lara is a research assistant for the Trans Youth Can! project, a study examining medical, family and social outcomes for transgender youth seeking clinical care.
BEAM Virtual Visit Team
Participants in the BEAM program will complete a virtual lab visit with their kiddo before the program stars. One of our team members will join you for a ~1 hour zoom meeting with you and your kiddo.
Pictured from left to right: Kyra, Kaeley, Isabelle, Allie, Jasleen, Samantha, Avaline,, Nadine, Nicole, Diana, Madeline, Lara, Kailey, Julia, Janelle, Sherry, Cynthia, Meghan
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