Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy

Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy The Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy (CCDMP) is a multidisciplinary research

Knowledge Translation Student Spotlight: For his year-long KT project, Guhan Karuppusamy created an interactive video fo...
05/13/2026

Knowledge Translation Student Spotlight: For his year-long KT project, Guhan Karuppusamy created an interactive video for children ages 6–8, along with an educator training module and a parent-friendly infographic, all designed to translate research on social-emotional development into age‑appropriate, practical tools for school settings.

In the child-focused video, kids explore familiar recess scenarios and help characters navigate challenging social moments by choosing supportive strategies like Emotion Explorer and Captain Connect. Want to learn more?

Check out Guhan’s project (including the videos and infographic) on the website he created: https://sites.google.com/view/the3es/home

Student Spotlight: Join us in congratulating Aleena Khan on the successful completion of her yearlong Independent Resear...
05/07/2026

Student Spotlight: Join us in congratulating Aleena Khan on the successful completion of her yearlong Independent Research Project (IRP)!

For her IRP, Aleena explored how child gender and family socioeconomic status may relate to children’s sharing behavior, as part of the ADAPT Project, under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Speidel and Dr. Jennifer Phillips.

The title of her IRP was “Small Hands, Big Choices: The Influence of Gender and Socioeconomic Status on the Development of Sharing”

Knowledge Translation Student Spotlight: For her year-long KT project, Drishya Mitra created the activity Buzz Words, a ...
05/04/2026

Knowledge Translation Student Spotlight: For her year-long KT project, Drishya Mitra created the activity Buzz Words, a set of emotion sight word cards along with fun, tactile elements.

Designed for children ages 3–5, Buzz Words helps children build their emotion vocabulary in an engaging, hands-on way. Inspired by the CCDMP's BEE Project, Drishya also developed a complementary facilitation guide to support parents and educators in using the cards at home and in early learning settings. The cards and facilitation guide are available in English and Hindi.

Interested in learning more? You can check out her project (including downloadable versions) here: https://discoverpsych.utm.utoronto.ca/focus-on-research/downloadable/

Join us in congratulating Magdalaina Fogarasi on the successful completion of her Undergraduate Honours Thesis! For her ...
04/30/2026

Join us in congratulating Magdalaina Fogarasi on the successful completion of her Undergraduate Honours Thesis!

For her thesis, Magdalaina explored how caregiver’s adverse childhood experiences and household chaos may relate to children’s prosocial behavior, as part of the ADAPT Project, under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Speidel and Emilie Kovalik.

The title of her thesis was “Seeds of Kindness in Unsteady Soil: How Caregiver Adversity and Home Chaos Shape Children’s Prosociality”

On Saturday, March 21, 2025 members of the CCDMP had the opportunity to share an engaging activity with young participan...
04/07/2026

On Saturday, March 21, 2025 members of the CCDMP had the opportunity to share an engaging activity with young participants at the Mind Explorers event.

Participants had the opportunity to spin the emotion wheel and then were encouraged to either draw or mimic the emotion. This activity helped to practice identifying and labeling emotions

A big thank you to all who stopped by our table, and we hope to see you again at future events!

Happy First Day of Spring! 🌸Join us on a mindful walk to notice what lessons the early signs of Spring can teach us abou...
03/20/2026

Happy First Day of Spring! 🌸

Join us on a mindful walk to notice what lessons the early signs of Spring can teach us about self-care and wellness!

What may you add into your self-care practice this season?

Happy International Women’s Day from the CCDMP!Today, we celebrate the compassion and resilience of women in our communi...
03/08/2026

Happy International Women’s Day from the CCDMP!

Today, we celebrate the compassion and resilience of women in our community, University of Toronto and the world. We extend our gratitude to dedicated researchers, students, and community partners whose work in child development and mental health helps to support equity, compassion, and opportunity for all.

Each year, Canada celebrates Kindness Week during the third week of February. At the Centre for Child Development Mental...
02/28/2026

Each year, Canada celebrates Kindness Week during the third week of February. At the Centre for Child Development Mental Health and Policy, we are marking this time by sharing a reflection on how kindness is connected into our well-being and interactions with others.

This post is inspired by Dr. Tina Malti's 2021 journal article, Kindness: A perspective from developmental psychology, published in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. This article shares how kindness is more than a single act, instead being shaped through kind emotions, kind cognitions, and kind actions.

We invite you to swipe through this post which shares three mindful ways to practice kindness from the inside-out:

💭 Gentle journaling through self-reflection
💭 Planting a positive affirmation within
💭 Watering kindness around you

Kindness begins within, and these actions can support the natural development of kind behaviours such as helping, sharing, and uplifting others.

To read the full article by Dr. Tina Malti, visit the link in our bio.

02/24/2026

What’s next for the CCDMP? Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on our latest research, resources, learning opportunities, jobs, and events! Link in bio.

Clip 6/6 – Watch all clips on our YouTube channel, link in bio.

www.tinamalti.com/pipo


01/19/2026

Different Thinkers Together

We love working with our community! When you get folks together with unique experiences, different ways of thinking, all with the shared goal of supporting children and families…amazing things can happen.

Have you had a positive collaboration experience with a researcher, community organization, etc.? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Clip 5/6 – Watch all clips on our YouTube channel, link in bio.

www.tinamalti.com/pipo



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