The Family Caregiving Project
The mental health care system often expects that family members will step forward to care for adults diagnosed with mental illness.
In this project, we use the term “caregiving families” to describe families who are managing the care of at least one family member diagnosed with mental illness. We use the terms mental illness and mental health concerns interchangeably to try to be inclusive of multiple perspectives, but we recognize those might not be the terms you use.
This research project was created by Charmaine C. Williams PhD from the Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, because we don’t know enough about how family caregiving works and that means we don’t have the information to build supports and services that will meet the needs of families effectively.
The following pages are an introduction to the key things we’ve learned from talking to Ontario families about how caregiving works in families affected by mental illness and how we can make it work better.
About The Project
The Family Caregiving Project is led by Prof. Charmaine Williams, PhD from the University Toronto Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and focuses on the experiences of families and caregivers.
Educational Materials
Access a variety of materials for caregiving families, professors and teachers, and healthcare and community service providers to learn and share about the family caregiving experience. This includes our new! 🔴 Educator’s Guide.
Family Mental Health Cafés: Overview, Guide & Video Gallery
Creating and running “Family Cafés” with families and practitioners was our foundation for understanding the family caregiving experience. Please see a wide range of Café content & video here.
Project Updates & Reports
The Family Caregiving Project delivers findings and summary reports from research conducted across Ontario.
Project Team & Supporters
See more about our full team of researchers, organizations and content creators
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