Hi everyone! My name is Susan Cosgrove and I am very happy to begin my role as CHILD-BRIGHT’s first Parent Mentor. I live in Toronto with my 3 children who all have brain-based developmental disorders. We are a family of advocates who are active in the Toronto childhood disability community. We live our lives in the spirit of neurodiversity.
I have been involved in research as a family advisor and in other roles for the past five years. I am passionate about Knowledge Translation, specifically how knowledge can be placed into the hands of families to empower them to share their own expert knowledge about their children. By developing and putting into practice new ways families, researchers and clinicians can collaborate, we are all helping to make patient and family centred care both a norm and an expectation.
In my role as a Parent Mentor I look forward to collaborating with and connecting parents from all over Canada. I am excited to learn from parents about what life with disability is like in their province and how they see their involvement in research shaping the future.
Using my experience in research I hope to support parents in sharing their stories and expertise in a way that makes full use of their unique talents and experiences.
Having such a unique family gives me a bounty of experiences, struggles, accomplishments and resources to draw upon. Whether it be taking my oldest son on his first ever plane ride to see the Franklin D Roosevelt (his hero!) Memorial in Washington DC or navigating the school system to find my little one the right school to embrace his potential, every day is an adventure.
I believe the research community is on an exhilarating path where researchers and families are true partners, and I am excited to be a part of it.
