Halifax, Nova Scotia

Strongest Families Institute delivers evidence-based programs to families

Nominated by:

ERNEST C. MANNING AWARDS FOUNDATION

Year: 2017

About the Innovation

Patricia Lingley-Pottie and Patrick McGrath are the creators of the Strongest Families Institute, a non-profit organization that delivers evidence-based programs to children, youth and families through a unique distance-delivery system. Using proprietary software technology, trained coaches are able to connect with users by phone or via the Internet, thus allowing families greater flexibility when accessing services. Programs address common mental health issues and other problems impacting health and well-being.

About the Innovator

Dr. Lingley-Pottie is the president and CEO of the Halifax-based Strongest Families Institute, as well as an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University and a scientist at the IWK Health Centre. With 29 years of pediatric nursing experience and research expertise to her credit, she has spent the past 17 years focusing on psychological research, specifically harnessing the advantages of technology to deliver accessible and timely distance evidence-based interventions to children and families. Dr. Patrick McGrath is the Chair of the Strongest Families Institute board of directors, vice-president of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Translation at the IWK Health Centre and Nova Scotia Health Authority. He created the Translating Research into Care grants, a partnership among scientists, administrators, patients and foundations, and founded BIOTIC, a translational imaging research facility. He is a professor of science, pediatrics, community health and epidemiology and psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Dr. McGrath was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002. Dr. Lingley-Pottie and Dr. McGrath are co-recipients of the 2013 Ernest C. Manning Foundation Principal Award for Social Innovation.

Patricia Lingley-Pottie, Patrick McGrath

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