Once our PSI Knowledge Translation (KT) Fellows take off from the starting line, they make strides as they move their knowledge translation activities and research program forward. As the finish line becomes clearer in their sight, we asked our 2025 PSI Graham Farquharson KT Fellow, Dr. Lucy Barker, some questions to share her progress thus far, and what she looks forward to in the remainder of her KT Fellowship.

What are some of your accomplishments from the KT Fellowship thus far?

One of my main focuses during the KT fellowship is improving sexual and reproductive health for youth with early psychosis. Prior to the fellowship, I led the development of a sexual and reproductive health module for young women, transgender, and non-binary youth with early psychosis. Progress during the fellowship includes publishing our co-design process (Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2026) and launching a pilot study of the module. In the pilot, clinicians received training on the module, and service-users are working through the module individually with their clinicians. We have had great engagement in the pilot and have received useful feedback. We are on track to complete the pilot study this fall. In response to feedback from clinicians, we are also adapting the module for young men and youth assigned male at birth. I am current leading a working group to adapt the module using a co-design process, in collaboration with young men with lived experience and clinicians.

My other main focus during the KT fellowship is perinatal mental health among adolescents. Since the start of the fellowship, I have been conducting population-based research on the perinatal mental health and health services use of adolescents and transition-age youth. We published our first manuscript (Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, 2026) and have three further manuscripts to submit shortly. The work has received positive feedback in the perinatal mental health community, and I presented this research at the Marcé of North America Conference for the Katherine L. Wisner, MD, MS, Early Career Award Lecture in 2025. I have been engaging with our community organization partner to guide the research and contextualize findings.

Please describe any challenges/barriers that you have encountered thus far and what actions were/will be taken to resolve them?

For the sexual and reproductive health for youth with early psychosis research, we initially planned to proceed directly from a pilot to a multi-site study. In response to feedback from clinicians, we decided to first adapt the module for men and youth assigned male at birth to fill a major clinical gap for this population.

For our perinatal adolescent mental health project, many of the youth initially engaged have since moved on to exciting new ventures (e.g., new career paths). Working with our community organization partner, a new group of youth advisors has joined the project.

What are some items/deliverables that you look forward to coming to fruition in the remainder of your KT Fellowship?

Related to sexual and reproductive health for youth with psychosis, I am looking forward to the following over the remainder of my KT fellowship:

• Completing our pilot study of the sexual and reproductive health module for young women, transgender, and non-binary youth with early psychosis, and disseminating the results.
• Completing the adaption of the module for men and youth assigned male at birth with early psychosis.
• Working with partners to start to implement and evaluate the module on a larger scale.

Related to perinatal adolescent mental health, I am looking forward to the following:

• Publishing the final manuscripts, and working with our youth advisors and hospital-based and community partners to harness findings to improve care pathways for perinatal adolescents in Ontario.