A PARTNERSHIP BLOSSOMS

This spring, Andrews is proud to partner with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres. CAMH provides high-quality, client-centred care to individuals facing addiction and mental health challenges, offering services ranging from assessment and brief interventions to inpatient and outpatient programs.

From March 29th to 30th, shop online and in-store to enjoy $100* OFF for every $500 spent on the Spring in Bloom collection, with 5% of sales donated to CAMH.

We sat down with CAMH Foundation’s Director of Brand and Donor Engagement, Meghan Kelly, to discuss the organization’s groundbreaking research, including its innovations in brain science and mental health treatments. Meghan also shared the impact of CAMH’s work on patients, families, and communities, and why this partnership with Andrews is so meaningful in the ongoing conversation about mental health.

A PARTNERSHIP BLOSSOMS

This spring, Andrews is proud to partner with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres. CAMH provides high-quality, client-centred care to individuals facing addiction and mental health challenges, offering services ranging from assessment and brief interventions to inpatient and outpatient programs.

From March 28th to 30th, shop online and in-store to enjoy $100* OFF for every $500 spent on the Spring in Bloom collection, with 5% of sales donated to CAMH.

We sat down with CAMH Foundation’s Director of Brand and Donor Engagement, Meghan Kelly, to discuss the organization’s groundbreaking research, including its innovations in brain science and mental health treatments. Meghan also shared the impact of CAMH’s work on patients, families, and communities, and why this partnership with Andrews is so meaningful in the ongoing conversation about mental health.

Q&A: MEGHAN KELLY

Can you start by sharing CAMH’s mission and its role in advancing mental health care?

We are Canada's leading mental health hospital as well as a global leader in mental health research. We care for over 38,000 patients a year at our campus downtown in Toronto, at Queen and Ossington, and we also collaborate globally on mental health research which helps us answer some of the most difficult questions about mental illness and the brain.

CAMH is recognized as a leader in brain science. What does brain science entail, and how does it shape the way we understand mental health?

Brain science shapes everything about the way we understand mental health in the brain. Science has brought us so far in understanding how the body works, but the brain is the final frontier and something we still understand shockingly little about.

Scientists at CAMH are working in collaboration with their peers in Canada and around the world to better understand how the brain functions down to the molecular level. This is intense, deep scientific work that has really tangible applications and how we understand, treat and maybe even potentially prevent mental illness before it starts.

Can you share more about the innovative breakthrough CAMH has achieved in identifying the link between mental health and brain science?

Better understanding the brain has led CAMH scientists to make so many incredible discoveries. One of these incredible discoveries is RTMS, which is a stimulation treatment for the brain that targets treatment resistant depression. This means people who have been suffering from depression and had no relief through conventional therapies or pharmaceuticals are able to find relief that actually lasts for months on end through brain stimulation therapies.

CAMH scientists led a really exciting discovery that actually treats the baby blues, so a precursor to postpartum depression. By treating the baby blues and getting ahead of postpartum depression, this is not only helping new moms but also their families and communities. Similar to this, CAMH scientists have discovered a peptide that can treat post-traumatic stress disorder before it takes hold, as well as a molecule that can prevent memory loss, leading to some significant relief in patients experiencing dementia.

In recent years, the conversation around mental health has become more open. How has this shift in societal awareness impacted CAMH's work and initiatives?

It's been incredible to see how far we've come in the past several years around conversations about mental illness, but we still have so far to go. While stigma has certainly started to decrease, especially around more commonly experienced illnesses or disorders like depression or anxiety, it is still so difficult to talk about some of the harder topics within mental illness.

That being said, the cultural shift towards talking more about mental illness has allowed CAMH to go after more and more challenge challenging areas. We've had the opportunity through our advocacy to talk about really complex things like suicide and addiction within the public realm, which makes it easier for other people to speak up and start a conversation when they might be suffering or worried about someone that they love.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Q&A: MEGHAN KELLY

Can you start by sharing CAMH’s mission and its role in advancing mental health care?

We are Canada's leading mental health hospital as well as a global leader in mental health research. We care for over 38,000 patients a year at our campus downtown in Toronto, at Queen and Ossington, and we also collaborate globally on mental health research, helping us answer some of the most difficult questions about mental illness and the brain.