Mental Health Literacy Resource for People with Intellectual Disabilities

  • Isaac is a newly graduated student from the Human Services program at Holland College. He has experience working with disabilities in three different sectors, including vocational, residential, and educational. Isaac's research interests amount to a more thorough education on stigmatized individuals or groups within intellectual disabilities and ways to provide equity for individuals in our society. Other interests include the continued efforts to commend mental health concerns. Currently, Isaac's research focuses on a collaborative effort to establish literacy resources for persons with disabilities that have mental health complications.

Isaac Compton, from Holland Collage, aims to build an accessible mental health resource specifically designed to support the mental health of people with mild to moderate intellectual disability (MMID) by improving mental health literacy and offering strategies to address common mental health concerns. The project includes undertaking a pilot delivery of the resource to a select group of people with MMID.

The research questions are: 1) to what extent does the resource improve mental health literacy? 2) Do users report improved knowledge and greater use of strategies designed to help manage common mental health concerns?

Mental health literacy allows people to understand the difference between normal reactions and responses compared to those that may require professional intervention. This project aims to improve quality of care by providing a resource that offers the opportunity for people to use validated approaches to self-management, thereby reducing referrals for situations that could be self-managed if quality information and strategies are provided.

This project is co-funded in partnership with Mitacs.