Dr Michelle Kennedy is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Youth Mental Health program at the Thompson Institute. Her research is focused on the emerging symptoms of mental health issues and educating youth to understand and manage these issues when they arise.
Dr Michelle Kennedy is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Youth Mental Health program at the Thompson Institute. Her research is focused on understanding the emerging symptoms of mental health issues and interventions to enhance youth wellbeing.
The CALM Study
Ethics Approval Number: S181226
Combatting Anxiousness for Learning Minds (CALM) is an intervention study investigating how anxiousness impacts attention in children aged nine to eleven years.
Our goal is to better understand the brain of children in late to middle childhood and use this knowledge to improve youth mental health.
The study recruited 94 participants during 2019 and early 2020. Recruitment is now complete for the CALM Study. Data analysis has been completed.
Of interest, half the student participants completed their second assessment during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we are interested in how the pandemic has impacted anxiety and attention levels for some of the CALM study participants.
CALM Study participants completed a 10-week mindfulness intervention in between two assessments. Each assessment included a block of neurocognitive activities (self-report questionnaire, cognitive tasks, debrief session) and brain imaging (functional MRI).
This PhD study was led by Michelle Kennedy, who has worked with primary school-aged children for more than 20 years, supporting their social, emotional and academic development. Her extensive knowledge and experience offered parents and children participating in the study mindfulness strategies to assist with anxiousness and attention issues.
1.Kennedy, M., Simcock, G., Jamieson, D., Hermens, D.F., Lagopoulos, J., Shan, Z (2021), 'Elucidating the Neural Correlates of Emotion recognition in children with sub-clinical anxiety', Journal of Psychiatric Research. 143 75-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.08.024
2.Kennedy, M., Mohamed, A.Z., Schwenn, P., Beaudequin. D., Shan, Z., Hermens, D.F., Lagopoulos, J (2022), 'The effect of mindfulness training on resting state networks in preadolescent children with sub-clinical anxiety related attention impairments', Brain Imaging and Behaviour. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-022-00673-2