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About Us
About Us
The Parenting Resilient Kids (PaRK) Lab is a psychology research lab led by Dr. Joanne Park at Mount Royal University. At the PaRK Lab, we are dedicated to understanding contemporary challenges in child mental health. We are particularly interested in the pivotal role that parents play in their children's development and in understanding the factors that shape parenting, ultimately informing evidence-based strategies to support parents in raising resilient children. Additionally, we focus on critical and current issues that impact children such as the COVID-19 pandemic, screen time, the impact of social media, and eco-anxiety.
News and Updates
News and Updates
2026-04-15
Skye Smith, a previous Honours student and volunteer in the PaRK lab, has been admitted into the MSc School and Applied Child Psychology program at University of Calgary for Fall 2026, where she will continue to investigate how parental experiences can affect parenting styles and child outcomes. Specifically, she hopes to explore the role of moral injury in first responder parents and how this impacts parenting, child behaviours, and child mental health. We are incredibly proud of Skye and are wishing her all the best in this exciting new chapter!
2026-03-31
Aleaha Florence, a volunteer in the PaRK lab, has been accepted into the MSc Neuroscience program at Western University for Fall 2026. She hopes to complete a collaborative specialization in Machine Learning in Health and Biomedical Sciences where she will use machine learning to explore how exercise benefits the brain. Congratulations to Aleaha on this amazing accomplishment, and we can't wait to see where her graduate training takes her!
2025-01-30
Dr. Park (Co-investigator) along with researchers from the University of Calgary (Dr. Sheri Madigan, PI and Dr. Suzanne Tough, PI), and co-investigators from across Canada, were recently awarded with a CIHR project grant to investigate adolescent mental health in the face of climate change. Congratulations to the team on this achievement!
2024-10-07
Dr. Park, along with Dr. Cass Foursha-Stevenson and Dr. Michele Wellsby were awarded Endeavour funding from the Faculty of Arts at MRU to establish a child and family research participant registry at MRU. Exciting developments are underway!
2024-06-27
Dr. Park was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to investigate the effects of social support on parenting and child mental health through a multi-part meta-analytic review. This project will offer several opportunities for students to get involved as research assistants. Stay tuned for updates!
Get Involved
Get Involved
We will be recruiting research assistants soon! If you are a psychology student at MRU, and you are passionate about research and eager to gain hands-on experience, please stay tuned for updates.
If you would like to participate in research, please keep an eye out for future opportunities!
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