Understanding Depression: CAN-BIND Connects with Hamilton Community Again!
January 2026 —
The Understanding Depression public talk series returned to Hamilton, Ontario for the third event of its 2025-2026 season, welcoming attendees back to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) for an evening focused on learning, conversation, and community connection. As the series continues to expand across Canada, the Hamilton event reflected CAN-BIND’s ongoing commitment to making mental health research accessible, practical, and relevant to everyday life.
CAN-BIND director, Dr. Benicio Frey, opened the evening by welcoming attendees and reflecting on the growing momentum of the national series. He emphasized the importance of creating spaces where communities can engage directly with researchers and clinicians, noting that greater public understanding helps strengthen how depression is discussed, recognized, and treated.
The presentations began with Dr. Fabiano Gomes, who explored the relationship between brain and body health. His talk highlighted how metabolism, nutrition, and lifestyle habits influence mental well-being, encouraging attendees to consider physical and mental health as closely connected. He also shared practical insights into how everyday choices can support both emotional balance and overall health. Dr. André Comiran Tonon followed with a discussion on sleep and mood, examining how natural biological rhythms shape emotional regulation and cognitive functioning. His presentation offered realistic strategies for improving sleep habits and explored how quality sleep plays an important role in maintaining mental wellness. Clinical psychology PhD student Katerina Dikaios returned to the series following strong audience interest in her previous talk at CAN-BIND’s Ontario Shores site last September. Her much-anticipated presentation on emotion dysregulation and trauma examined how past experiences can influence emotional responses over time. Drawing on current research and clinical perspectives, she provided attendees with practical tools for understanding emotional patterns and developing healthier ways of managing them.
The focus then shifted toward community and connection. Angela Jaspan and Katherine McIsaac from the SJHH Peer Support Team discussed how shared lived experience can support recovery by fostering understanding, reducing isolation, and helping individuals access local resources and support networks. Dr. Nirushi Kuhathasan also returned to the public talk series to introduce the second edition of the CHOICE-D Guide to Depression Treatments. In her presentation, she highlighted how the guide, developed with lived experience perspectives, can help patients and families navigate treatment options and engage more actively in their care. Attendees also received a preview of the upcoming edition, which expands the resource to incorporate new insights and ongoing community feedback.
During the closing question and answer session, attendees brought their curiosity and personal experiences to the discussion, asking questions that challenged ideas, prompted deeper explanations, and connected the presentations to real-life situations. As the initiative continues across the country, CAN-BIND remains focused on connecting research with communities, helping Canadians access reliable information and practical tools that support mental health and recovery.
The final event of the 2025–2026 Understanding Depression series takes place next month at the University of British Columbia. Stay tuned for more!