Dr. Erin Michalak develops online self-management tools for bipolar disorder

Dr. Erin Michalak, bipolar disorder (BD) researcher with the Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD) and VCH Research Institute, has secured a $200,000 Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Knowledge-to-Action grant.

Dr. Michalak’s two year community engagement project entitled “Like a ship that’s always righting itself: Self-management of bipolar disorder, from evidence to action” will test a variety of ways of sharing knowledge on BD self-management with two user groups – people living with bipolar disorder and their healthcare providers.

Funding will enable the team to design a comprehensive online CREST.BD Wellness Centre and test the most effective ways for users to access and apply its online resources to support effective self-management of BD. For example, the team will employ and evaluate webinars, live workshops and a ‘Living Library’ where people with BD and front-line clinicians can access CREST.BD ‘experts’ – which in this project constitutes both peer-supports (people living with BD) and clinicians – via phone or Sykpe to share knowledge and receive support.

This study will create partnerships with a range of new collaborators including the UBC eHealth Strategy Office, led by Dr. Kendall Ho, and Dr. Martin Provencher (Université Laval). It will also continue to build on existing partnerships with groups such as Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments, the Mood Disorders Associations of Ontario and British Columbia, Sean Costello Fund for Bipolar Research, and Mental Health Commission of Canada.

CREST.BD researchers and affiliates involved in this project are: Erin Michalak, Greg Murray, Sara Lapsley, Victoria Maxwell, Mark Lau, Vytas Velyvis, Joanna Cheek, Rachelle Hole, Chris Gorman, Dan Bilsker, Fiona Lobban, Steven Jones, and CREST.BD’s new network members from the Spectrum Centre in the UK.

For more information on CREST.BD visit www.crestbd.ca.