The Canadian School Attendance Partnership (CSAP) is a newly formed community-university research collaboration based in Ottawa, Ontario, that is focused on investigating attendance-related issues among children and youth and its connections to important social, psychological, educational, and health outcomes that are vital to positive child development. The roots of CSAP were planted in 2017 via collaboration with Michael Hone and Natasha McBrearty at Crossroads Children’s Mental Health Centre in Ottawa and researchers at the University of Ottawa, namely, Dr. Jess Whitley, Dr. David Smith, and Dr. Maria Rogers. This initial collaboration grew and now, under the CSAP banner, includes many community affiliates throughout Eastern Ontario, such as the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Coordinated Access, and local school boards among many others. 

One of our primary goals we have set for this partnership is to foster international, multi-sectoral research collaborations with diverse stakeholders and lead to a better understanding of the social, psychological, and health challenges that interfere with school attendance and consequently hinder the educational progress of children and youth. To find out more about the work being done by CSAP, please visit the CSAP website. If you are interested in joining this research collaborative, please contact the CSAP executive team and we will be happy to speak to you about your interest our research collaborative. 

Not for profit

• Youth Mental Health Canada is a “grassroots, youth-driven and led non-profit organization focused on education and advocacy for youth mental health change.” This organization does research on school refusal and offers workshops on the issue.
• Pathways to Education is a national organization that aims to increase graduation rates in low socioeconomic communities throughout Canada. Although their primary focus is on dropout prevention, the group does extensive work to decrease absenteeism. 
• Anxiety Canada is an organization that is focused on alleviating and helping individuals cope with anxiety related issues.
• The Ontario Association for Counselling and Attendance Services is an organization that involves provincial attendance counselors who work with students with high levels of absenteeism.
• Restorative Resolutions is a company that offers workshops and coaching for staff to manage absenteeism, as well as some resource on absenteeism.
• School Mental Health Ontario is an organization that works with school districts to support student mental health, including issues pertaining to school anxiety.