Transforming mental health systems: The role of embedded researchers in advancing learning health systems (18 July 2025)

Summary

The Canadian Mental Health Association has highlighted worsening mental health conditions, gaps in care, and disparities in access and outcomes.

This commentary explores the critical role of embedded researchers in advancing Learning Health Systems (LHS) within the context of Canada's mental health systems.

LHS offers a promising approach to address system challenges by transforming data into practical knowledge to drive continuous and rapid improvement. However, translating this vision into practice remains a challenge.

As four researchers currently embedded within the mental health system, working within public, nonprofit, and community settings, the authors of this paper argue that embedded researchers are an essential but often overlooked component of the workforce needed to implement LHS and improve mental health care. Embedded researchers, situated directly within the mental health sector, leverage their proximity to decision-makers, knowledge users, and communities to bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy.

This paper discusses the unique contributions of embedded researchers in driving systemic change, particularly within the three phases of the LHS cycle: data-to-knowledge, knowledge-to-practice, and practice-to-data.