The Owerko Centre Presents Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Owerko Centre
This podcast looks at the study of neurodevelopment in children and the improvement of child mental health.
We focus on the research and researchers of The Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute. The Owerko Centre is comprised of a team of multidisciplinary researchers from across the campus of the University of Calgary who are dedicated to the study of neurodevelopmental disorders and child mental health.
In this, the first Owerko Centre Presents Podcast for 2022, I talk with Dr. Catherine Lebel about brain development in kids with prenatal alcohol exposure: What it is? What factors need to be considered? How imaging science helps this study? And longitudinally, what more needs to be done to understand the pre/postnatal environment for this kids and their families.
Dr. Catherine Lebel is a Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Neuroimaging, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
Learn about Dr. Lebel and her research here:
https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/profiles/catherine-lebel
https://www.developmentalneuroimaginglab.ca/
About the Owerko Centre: https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko
Get in touch with us: owerko.centre@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @owerkocentre
On this podcast we talk with Matthew Corkum to discuss ways can we promote the idea of ability in disability and the implications of doing so to benefit kids with neurodevelopmental conditions.
We look closely at questions like how do we ensure that children with neurodevelopmental challenges don’t get frustrated when they struggle at different activities? What parents can do to ensure their child with neurodevelopmental conditions are not too dependent on the parent themselves, and how can parents assist their children to interact with other children?
Passionate, full of animation and energy as a speaker, Matthew Corkum never backs down from difficult topics. Matthew has pushed the limits to prosper in a wide range of environments regardless of living with spastic cerebral palsy and achieved a PhD in atmospheric science. With a passion for inclusion, he sits on the City of Calgary’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility and his bicycle is his freedom vehicle.
To learn more about Matt, and to get in touch with him for further conversations, please visit Matt's website www.matthewcorkumspeaking.com or get in touch with him directly at matthewbcorkum@gmail.com
About the Owerko Centre: https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko
Get in touch with us: owerko.centre@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @owerkocentre
The terms “unprecedented,” “historic,” and “crisis” are words that have exhausted their usefulness in describing the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Since March, however, these words have likely held true for thousands of students who had their educational paths disrupted by school closures and online learning. How are the students themselves handling the disruption? What are their feelings about their own personal learning, health, mental health, and relationships in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic? Can the students own perspectives be used to inform school and board decisions moving forward?
Dr. Kelly Schwartz and his team at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary decided to investigate these questions and others as they asked the students themselves to explore their own thoughts.
Dr. Schwartz is an Associate Professor in School & Applied Child Psychology in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary and is a member of The Owerko Centre and the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute.
Learn more about the study and Dr. Schwartz's research below.
https://www.covidstudentwellbeing.com/
https://werklund.ucalgary.ca/research/social-development-research-team/social-development-research-team
About the Owerko Centre: https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko
Get in touch with us: owerko.centre@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @owerkocentre
When things in life get challenging people frequently turn those closest to them to provide support. This might be a friend, a family member, a teacher, coach, neighbour or others. The consistent thing is that these supportive people are ones we trust, we feel are stable and are able to provide us with unconditional support when we need it most. Ensuring that supportive connections like these are readily available for children who need it most is even more important.
Supportive people and surroundings enable children and youth to develop skills, including communication, self-esteem, coping, and decision-making. These skills empower them to create naturally supportive and healthy relationships to promote well-being and success in life.
Dr. Suzanne Tough join us to talk about her research and leadership on the "Connections First" research project that addresses this very idea of the vital importance of providing healthy supportive environments for children and youth.
Dr. Suzanne Tough is a Professor with the Department of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and a policy fellow with the Maxbell Foundation/Burns Memorial Fund. Dr. Tough is also the principal investigator of the All Our Families (formerly All Our Babies) cohort and is a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) and The Owerko Centre at ACHRI.
https://connectionsfirst.squarespace.com/
https://allourfamiliesstudy.com/
About the Owerko Centre: https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko
Get in touch with us: owerko.centre@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @owerkocentre
Pregnancy can be a stressful time for expecting mothers at the best of times. But what if you layer on a particularly stressful event, like a global pandemic such as COVID-19? What happens to stress levels then? And what does that mean for the health of pregnant moms and their soon to be born children?
Dr. Gerald Giesbrecht, one of the lead Principal Investigators on the Pregnancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic Study, joins us to discuss the study and its implications.
https://www.pregnancyduringthepandemic.com/home
Dr. Gerald Giesbrecht PhD, is an associate professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences at CSM and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Arts and is a member of ACHRI, The Owerko Centre at ACHRI, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.
About the Owerko Centre: https://research4kids.ucalgary.ca/owerko
Get in touch with us: owerko.centre@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @owerkocentre