Welcome to the CARE Lab!

We are located at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at The University of Toronto. In our lab, we are interested in understanding the development of mental health and well-being among youth, adolescents, and young adults in a variety of educational contexts (e.g., elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools). We are particularly interested in the ways students experience stressors in schools, how students cope with stressors, and links between coping and student mental health and well-being. We also are interested in understanding the processes through which mental health challenges occur, and identifying ways to support vulnerable students. Our work serves to inform prevention and intervention programming in educational settings, and promote the use of evidence-informed practices in schools.

We use a diverse range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies in the lab. Given our interests in development, we often utilize repeated measure assessments to capture change and stability in mental health and well-being over short and longer intervals of time. In addition, we also conduct quasi- experiments, and use physiological measures in the lab. We also are interested in understanding the unique perspectives of individuals, and value interview-based approaches in our work.