As 2025 draws to a close, the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) reflects on a year of deepening collaboration, new voices, meaningful research, and renewed commitment to promoting children’s health and well-being. This year brought exciting growth to our community: from new faculty to impactful reports, community-engaged research, and renewed momentum as we head into HELP’s 25th anniversary year.
Welcoming New Faculty and Affiliates
This year we were delighted to welcome a remarkable group of scholars to the HELP team, further expanding our capacity to conduct interdisciplinary, equity-oriented research on child and youth development. New members include Dr. Daniel Berstein, Dr. Trevor Goodyear, Dr. Angie Ip, Dr. Hali Kil, Dr. Johanna Sam, and Dr. Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen.
These new colleagues bring with them a wide range of expertise, strengthening HELP’s ability to address children’s social, emotional, mental health, and developmental needs through a variety of methodological and community-oriented approaches.
See All HELP Faculty UpdatesReports & Publications Gaining Recognition
2025 saw several HELP reports and research publications reach broader audiences, and in some cases, amplifying the voices of children, youth, and communities across BC.
Perhaps most critically, HELP’s Early Years Disrupted report revealed a troubling rise in developmental vulnerability among BC kindergarteners — with 35.8% of children entering school with challenges in at least one of the core areas of development, the highest rate recorded to date. This work was covered in major media including The Globe and Mail.
This report, among many others, reinforce HELP’s commitment to producing rigorous, policy-relevant research — spotlighting challenges while identifying protective factors and opportunities for system-level change.
See All HELP Media MentionsCelebrating Achievements, Awards, and New Funding
2025 was also a year of recognition and renewed support for HELP’s work and people. Some highlights include:
- Our Director, Dr. Mariana Brussoni, was honoured with a nomination for the YWCA Women of Distinction Award.
- Dr. Matt Carwana was this years’ recipient of the 2025 Canadian Paediatric Society Young Investigator Award. This recognition acknowledges his research work to improve outcomes for structurally marginalized children, youth, and families with a focus on health equity and social justice.
- Dr. Anne Gadermann and co-researchers received funding through the CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant Competition for a project seeking to improve the quality of youth services in Canada.
- Congratulations to Dr. Martin Guhn, who secured funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for a new project, Advancing community partnerships to integrate monitoring system data and support decision making for the well-being of children, youth, and families. He also received renewed funding under the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Strategic Investment Fund for the project Roots: An Indigenous Partnered Research Circle, a collaboration with UBC’s Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health.
- We are also proud to congratulate one of our newest trainees, Dr. Verena Rossa-Roccor, who received a 2025 Health Research BC Trainee Award — a recognition of promising early-career contributions to health research.
Fall Events & Community Stories
As part of our ongoing commitment to data-informed action, HELP hosted two important events this fall.
Early Years Disrupted, an EDI-focused webinar, highlighted the latest data tracking the developmental health of kindergarten children in BC and beyond. This webinar revealed data trends pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, and ongoing social and economic influences.
On National Child Day, HELP hosted Children in the Middle Years, a webinar on MDI data trends that presented middle-childhood well-being, habits, and school-community connections from the latest data release.
HELP’s Data in Action stories continued to show the real-world impact of our research — from school-based belonging initiatives to youth-driven municipal policy efforts.
- At South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, Child Development Monitoring System data was used to help inform community development across Killarney, Victoria-Fraserview, and Sunset neighbourhoods, resulting in more accessible, community-informed programs tailored to the needs of families. Read story
- RayCam Co-operative Centre (serving Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Strathcona neighbourhoods) partnered with HELP to conduct a community needs assessment of families with young children, gathering data in multiple languages and centering parents’ voices. The assessment has informed programming changes and advocacy through the RayCam Renewal project. Read story
- BC Children’s Thriving School Communities team is using the Child Development Monitoring System and other data to support school districts across BC and boost mental-health and well-being efforts. Their team’s Practice Support Coaching Program draws on data to help districts create tailored, data-driven mental health plans to support long-term well-being for children and youth. Read story
Indigenous Initiatives & the Roots Circle
Our commitment to Indigenous partnerships and reconciliation deepened in 2025 through several key efforts:
- HELP & the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health hosted several Roots Circle events, continuing the important work of the Creating Structures for Meaningful Indigenous Community & UBC Health Partnerships project. This work strengthens relational and reciprocal partnerships between Indigenous communities and UBC Health.
- In June, members of the Indigenous Initiatives team at HELP presented at the Partnering in Research Conference as part of the Roots Circle initiative — a step toward building stronger, community-centred research relationships.
- Members of HELP were also invited to participate in a 3-part learning series from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation about the history and ongoing effects of the residential school system, as well as possible future paths to move forward. Read Reflections
- The Aboriginal Steering Committee (ASC) at HELP ensures HELP’s research activities involving First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children are reflective of the diverse histories, cultures, languages, values and ways of knowing and being. We are grateful to the ASC for their continued guidance, and the meaningful conversations during the 3 gatherings that were held this year.
HELP in the World: Conferences, Partnerships, and Knowledge Mobilization
In 2025, HELP continued to bring knowledge to where it matters — to schools, communities, and policy tables:
- Members of our Aboriginal Steering Committee presented at the annual BCACCS Annual Conference in February, sharing insights from our Indigenous-partnered work.
- We participated in the Ministry of Education & Child Care’s Mental Health in Schools Conference in May, where staff, youth-voice researchers from the Youth Development Instrument (YDI) team, and our Compassionate Systems Leadership colleagues engaged with policy makers and practitioners on the role of youth self-report data in shaping school mental health initiatives.
- Across a variety of regional and community sessions, we continued to work with school districts, health authorities, Indigenous partners, and community organizations to support data-driven and equity-centered practices for child and youth well-being.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As we move toward 2026, we have much to look forward to:
- Our Director, Dr. Mariana Brussoni, and HELP scholar Dr. Megan Zeni will launch their book Embracing Risky Play at School — a timely exploration of outdoor play and learning, risk, and school-based wellbeing. We’re planning a celebratory event around its release, and we hope many of you will join us.
- 2026 also marks the 25th anniversary of HELP. We’re working on several special events to mark this milestone. Stay tuned for more updates!
Thank You for Your Support
To our partners, communities, school districts, children, families, policymakers, funders, trainees, and every individual who contributed to HELP’s work in 2025 — thank you. Because of your commitment, curiosity, and collaboration, we have been able to shed light on real challenges, celebrate resilience and strength, and move toward a future where every child has the opportunity to thrive.
We look forward to continuing this journey together!
— The HELP Team