Across Canada, families of children living with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders often face long wait times and limited access to behavioural support, especially during early stages of care. While parent coaching and behavioural strategies are recommended as first-line approaches, many families experience significant delays before receiving help, increasing stress and caregiver burden.

This project aims to improve early access to support by piloting the real-world implementation of KeenSpire, a digital companion app developed by NeurAlly Care who are collaborating with experts from the National Research Council of Canada’s Medical Devices Research Centre. KeenSpire is a self-guided, non-clinical tool designed for children and youth aged 6–17 and their parents or caregivers. It offers short, engaging activities for children, practical guidance for parents, and optional tools to support skill development at home, such as the VR cognitive care platform, bWell.

Over a 12-month period, the project will test two real-world delivery pathways: a large employer or insurer and a hospital-affiliated pediatric mental health expertise centre. Community and clinical partners will support referral and onboarding processes.

The project’s objectives are to assess how families discover, adopt, and use digital support tools, and to identify practical conditions needed for successful implementation. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of adoption pathways, reduced time to access support, and actionable insights to inform future scale-up. These learnings will support more timely, accessible care for families and contribute to stronger, more responsive mental health systems across Canada.

Award

  • Kids Brain Health Network: $30,000

Team

  • Principal Investigator: Amélie Paquette, CPO NeurAlly Care
  • Co-Investigator: Annie Martineau, CEO NeurAlly Care
  • Collaborator: Jason Sweeney, CTO NeurAlly Care
  • Collaborator: The Medical Devices Team, NRC