Understanding the Pathways of Support Through the Research of Dr. Barbara Fornssler

by Sarah Kasleder for SHRF

Dr. Barb Fornssler, photograph provided by Dr. Barb Fornssler

Understanding how people navigate both community-based supports and formal health services is central to Dr. Barbara Fornssler’s work. Her project, “Creating a Substance Use Data Ecology for Saskatchewan to Improve Pathways of Care,” will soon receive the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) Excellence Award at the 2025-26 SHRF Annual Santé Awards, as her project was top-ranked in the Socio-Health category of the 2025-26 Establishment Grant. 

Saskatchewan has many people and organizations working every day to support people who use substances. Over the past several years, the province has continued to make progress in understanding how people engage with formal mental health and addiction services through tools like the Mental Health and Addictions Information System (MHAIS). 

With this progress, there is now an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how people navigate different supports. “Every person’s path looks different,” Dr. Fornssler says. “When we understand those paths more clearly, we can support people in ways that matter most.”

Dr. Fornssler’s research brings together data from community organizations and the health system to show how people in Saskatchewan seek and receive support. By connecting these insights, she is helping build the foundation for understanding how people move through different supports and how information across the province can work together to guide planning and care.

Looking at the Full Landscape

MHAIS, launched in 2017 and updated in 2022, brings together information from across the Saskatchewan Health Authority. It provides valuable insights into how people connect with mental health and addiction services.

For the first phase of Dr. Fornssler’s research, it builds on this data from healthcare services, as Dr. Fornssler explains, “We are asking frontline workers how they use MHAIS and what information helps them in their day-to-day. Their perspective shows us how the system functions in practice and where data can support planning in meaningful ways.”

The next phase examines how information collected by community-based organizations can be aligned with ongoing work in the MHAIS system.

“It is about asking what is possible,” she says. “What can we learn from the data we already have, and what information would help us plan more effectively for the future?”

Those questions matter because healthcare data often captures only part of a person's experience. Clinical and community perspectives may reflect different moments in a person’s journey, each offering insight into how support unfolds over time.   

“If someone goes to an emergency department and we never see them again, we do not know whether they found support at a community program the next day or were connected to housing through a community organization,” she explains. “Both systems matter. Both help people. But they are not built to speak to each other.”

Why Community Insights Matter

Chantel Huel, Dr. Sharon Acoose, Dr. Barb Fornssler, and Daniel Hearn, photograph provided by Dr. Barb Fornssler

Community organizations often provide practical, relationship-based help that removes barriers to accessing care.

“People take many different paths, and community organizations see those paths up close. They know when someone is trying to find housing, reconnect with family, or take the next step toward care. Those are things we cannot always see in clinical data,” explains Dr. Fornssler.

This is why her research explores whether shared indicators across sectors could support a more coordinated understanding of substance use pathways, while honouring the differences in how organizations collect information. Rather than standardizing data, the focus is on understanding how different forms of information can complement one another.

“It’s not about making everyone collect the same data,” she says. “It is about understanding what information matters to each group and how those pieces can work together.”

“Different organizations hold different knowledge,” Dr. Fornssler explains. “Bringing that together helps us see the pathways people actually travel.”

When those pathways are understood, it becomes easier to see where people find support, how they move between services, what kinds of help make a difference in their daily lives, and how we can plan more effectively going forward.  

“When information is easier to understand and easier to share, people can focus more energy on supporting one another,” Dr. Fornssler says.

Collaboration Across Sectors

This work brings together community organizations, frontline workers, municipal partners, health system partners, Indigenous advisors, and people with lived and living experience.

“We see more clearly when we have more perspectives at the table,” she says. “Each partner brings a different kind of knowledge. The more voices there are, the better the research becomes.”

The project’s Indigenous Advisory Council plays a key role in shaping data stewardship and guiding the research approach.

“They help us think about data in a way that reflects relationships, values, and responsibility,” she says. “Their leadership strengthens the work.”

Voices of lived experience are also woven throughout the research. These insights help the team explore the many ways people access support and what meaningful help looks like in practice. “

No one perspective can speak for all experiences,” she says. “We need many voices to understand what people are actually navigating.”

The Support From SHRF

Through SHRF’s Establishment Grant, Dr. Fornssler and her team are taking the foundational steps needed to advance this work.

“This support means we can start important conversations and build the base we need,” she explains. “It helps us ask better questions, understand what information already exists, and bring people together around shared insight.”

The funding supports access to MHAIS data and the early analysis of its use across the Saskatchewan Health Authority. It also enables the team to explore how community organizations collect information, initiate cross-sector conversations using shared insights, and lay the groundwork for future coordinated data efforts.

A Hopeful Direction

Dr. Fornssler envisions a future in which information facilitates smoother pathways and more responsive support.

“If everything goes well, people’s needs would be met when they need them,” she says. “Organizations would be able to talk to each other with ease. Support would feel seamless, not siloed. And everyone working in these spaces would feel supported in their roles.”

For her, the motivation is clear.

“I believe we are capable of building happier, healthier communities,” she says. “Research can help make that work more coordinated, more informed, and more responsive. It all comes back to humanity. When we meet each other as humans, we can build incredible things.”

At the heart of her vision is a simple belief: when people reach out for support, they should find open doors, not obstacles. Her research aims to help make that possible.