Coaching Mental Health Providers and Adults to Achieve Optimal Sleep

Millions of Canadians struggle with insomnia, but common methods of dealing with poor sleep (e.g., medication) have poor side effects, do not have lasting effects, and are not preferred by patients and providers. Although cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the gold-standard treatment, there is limited access because most mental health practitioners (MPHs) do not have sufficient training to deliver CBT-I. To address this problem, Dr. Colleen Carney, one of six recognized behavioural sleep medicine trainers in the world, developed a sleep optimizing algorithm (SOA) to coach MHPs, as well as to create a product that adults can use to optimize their sleep. The project will demonstrate the usefulness of this program in improving sleep and increasing access to effective insomnia treatments. Because of how common poor sleep is in the population, the partner organization is expected to benefit from an extremely valuable intellectual property that has been scientifically shown to improve sleep.

Faculty Supervisor:

Colleen Carney

Student:

Parky Lau

Partner:

Incubate Innovate Network of Canada

Discipline:

Psychology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Ryerson University