About us
Equilia is the result of international and national collaboration among several teams.
Here’s the story behind this project.
The virtual clinic was conceptualized and developed in Australia (This Way Up). The effectiveness of their programs has been supported by over 26 randomized controlled trials as well as numerous efficacy studies. These studies show that these programs are effective in significantly reducing the impact of anxiety and depressive disorders, in both research and real-life clinical practice settings.
The idea to proceed with a French-Canadian adaptation of the virtual clinic’s Anxiety and Depression program originates in 2017 with Dr. Alain Lesage who proposed to Pre Pasquale Roberge and Pre Helen-Maria Vasiliadis of the Université de Sherbrooke to translate and adapt the program to target mixed anxiety and depression in Canadian francophones, and to carry out a feasibility study in a few family medicine groups in the territory served by CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS. This project was well received and funded by MEDTEQ ($100,300) and the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (CRCHUS, CHUS Foundation; $25,000).
Adaptation of the entire program was conducted from July 2018 to January 2019. Translation validation (Johanne Raynault, professional translator) and French-Canadian adaptation of all materials were completed by research team CBT experts (Pasquale Roberge, Martin Drapeau, Martin D. Provencher, Réal Labelle). The Centre de recherche et d’intervention sur le suicide, enjeux éthiques et pratiques de fin de vie (CRISE) at the Université du Québec à Montréal contributed to the translation of the program via the Programme de soutien au développement de la recherche et au transfert des connaissances ($4,925). The French version of the program was then implemented using the original Australian platform., and a feasibility study was conducted from 2019 to 2020.
At the same time, the teams of Dr. Jean Grenier and Dr. Marie-Hélène Chomienne, collaborators at l’Institut du Savoir Montfort de l’Hôpital Montfort in Ontario, obtained funding from the Consortium National de Formation en Santé ($14,979) to conduct a similar feasibility study. In March 2020, Hôpital Montfort received funding from Health Canada’s Official Languages Health Program (OLHP; $1 million). The objective of their project Télésanté Montfort Telehealth : Vers l’offre active de service de santé mentale pour les communautés francophones de l’Ontario aims, in part, to implement and evaluate this program for mixed anxiety and depression in Ontario.
A grant was awarded in 2020 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; $200,000) to support the dissemination and implementation of the Mixed Anxiety and Depression program and the ēquilia platform.
This Health Canada funding, in collaboration with Hôpital Montfort, CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS and Université de Sherbrooke, has allowed the acquisition of the license for the virtual clinic. In Canada, it has been renamed ēquilia, and this website has been designed to provide access. The virtual clinic and the data collected are stored at the Centre de recherche du CHUS. A co-management agreement defines the collaboration between the three institutions and the research team.
The most recent fundings are aimed at acquisition, adaptation and integration of new programs for ēquilia These funds enable us to conduct research projects to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of programs, as well as identifying obstacles and facilitators to their implementation in primary care settings.
The grant awarded in 2020 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was intended to support the dissemination and implementation of the Mixed Anxiety and Depression program and the ēquilia platform. The two subsequent CIHR grants ($478,126; $675,516) in 2021 supported research projects related to the Anxiety and Depression in the Perinatal Period and Social Anxiety programs. Since 2021, we have been working closely with the CHUS Foundation. This partnership significantly contributes to the development of the platform and the implementation of its programs. Their ongoing support has led to a donation from the RBC Foundation ($300,000) to adapt the Student Well-Being, Depression and Panic Attacks programs, as well as a donation from the Foundation Courtois ($100,000) to adapt the Generalized Anxiety program. The CHUS Foundation also helped raise a donation of $220,000 from Enfant soleil to adapt the Teen Worry and Sadness program. The CHUS Foundation also supports the implementation of the ēquilia platform, notably thanks to donations from iA Financial Group ($45,000) and TD, through the TD Ready Commitment ($200,000), as well as the profits from its Encan de prestige – during2022 edition ($34,000). In Ontario, ēquilia also received a donation from Scotiabank in 2022 ($250,000) for the integration of the CBT and Mindfulness program. In the coming months, the platform will gradually enhance its program offering to better meet the needs of the population.
