New funding supports development of pan-Canadian Adaptive Mentoring Networks to build primary care capacity
09/22/2026
Three new Adaptive Mentoring Networks are being developed across Ontario, Québec, and Saskatchewan to strengthen the capacity of primary care providers to care for people living with chronic pain, mental illness, and substance use disorders, thanks to an investment of $3 million from Health Canada through the Health Care Policy and Strategies Program.
The project will build provincial network infrastructure, engage local partners and clinical leaders, recruit and train mentors and mentees, deliver mentorship and case-based learning activities, and develop practical tools and resources to support primary care practice.
The initiative will combine provincially led implementation with national coordination, enabling the three new networks to benefit from shared mentorship resources, implementation tools, evaluation approaches, and peer learning opportunities.
“This is an opportunity to implement a scalable model for supporting primary care teams managing complex conditions,” said project lead Dr. Arun Radhakrishnan, Investigator at Bruyère Health Research Institute and Tier 2 Chair in Primary Care Artificial Intelligence (AI), Innovation and Implementation at the University of Ottawa. “By connecting these networks to the growing community of Adaptive Mentoring Networks across Canada, successful practices and lessons learned in one jurisdiction can be rapidly adapted and scaled across others, strengthening impact and reducing duplication of effort.”
Adaptive Mentoring Networks are community-based mentorship models that connect primary care providers with clinical experts and peers. The model fosters compassionate, evidence-informed, and equitable care for patients with complex and overlapping health needs while also supporting clinician wellbeing through mentorship, peer support, collaborative learning, and reduced professional isolation.
“With greater supports for family doctors, patients living with chronic pain, mental illness, and substance use disorders will benefit from compassionate, person-centered care grounded in local contexts with pan-Canadian knowledge exchange,” said Dr. Liz Muggah, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. “This adaptive approach will be valuable part of strengthening access, quality, and sustainability of care for Canadians.”
These networks build directly on a growing national Adaptive Mentoring Network platform across Canada, strengthening both workforce resilience and the quality of care delivered in communities. Implementation will be informed by previous CIHR-funded research led by Dr. Radhakrishnan on Adaptive Mentoring Network adoption to support the health care workforce crisis, which examined how networks can be effectively implemented, adapted, scaled, and sustained across diverse health care settings.
Through case-based discussion, shared learning, and ongoing mentorship, the networks are designed to support providers in building knowledge, confidence, clinical skills, and resilience.
This initiative also creates an opportunity to leverage emerging AI-enabled supports in a careful and practical way, building on the team’s broader work in responsible AI adoption. The goal is to help mentorship networks organize resources, synthesize emerging evidence, identify implementation needs, and support shared learning across jurisdictions.
“By connecting provincial implementation, national coordination, and emerging AI-enabled supports, this initiative can help strengthen care for patients while contributing to a more resilient and sustainable health workforce and system,” said Dr. Radhakrishnan. “These tools would be used to strengthen mentorship and knowledge mobilization, while maintaining a clear focus on provider support, human judgement, and responsible implementation.”