Canadian Researchers

Dr. Kristin Cleverley is a Canadian expert in child and adolescent mental health transitions. Using a multi-methods approach to research, Dr. Cleverley works with a team of staff and students to develop and evaluate interventions that support transitions in care across diverse mental health settings. In particular, the Cleverley Lab seeks to improve our understanding of mental health care in order to inform and develop interventions that are proactive, flexible, and efficient. ​ With extensive collaborations across education, community and hospital settings, Dr. Cleverley actively partners with youth, students, caregivers, clinicians, and administrators in all aspects of our work. Dr. Cleverley is the Project Lead of the Mental Health for Students & Youth Research Initiative at the University of Toronto and Co-Chair of the Transitions from Youth to Adult Health Care Services Quality Standard with Health Quality Ontario.

Cleverley, K., Lenters, L., & McCann, E. (2020). “Objectively Terrifying”: A qualitative study of youth’s experiences of transitions out of child and adolescent mental health services at age 18. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 147. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02516-0

Cleverley, K., Fricker, T., Levinson, A., Pignatiello, A., McCann, E., & Dinyarian, C. (2020, October 28). Youth’s Experiences Transitioning into Post-Secondary Settings with Pre-Existing Mental Health Concerns: Results of a Scoping Review. 12th Annual Health Care Transition Research Consortium Research Symposium, Virtual conference.

Wiljer, D., Shi, J., Lo, B., Sanches, M., Hollenberg, E., Johnson, A., Abi-Jaoude, A., Chaim, G., Cleverley, K., Henderson, J., Isaranuwatchai, W., Levinson, A., Robb, J., Wong, H., & Voineskos, A. (2020). Enhancing Help-Seeking Behavior Among Transition-Aged Youth in Postsecondary Settings with Mental Health and/or Substance Use Concerns using Crowd-Sourced Mobile Technologies: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10):e20790. https://doi.org/10.2196/20790

Cleverley, K., Bennett, K., Brennenstuhl, S., Cheung, A., Henderson, J., Korczak, D., Kurdyak, P., Levinson, A., Pignatiello, T., Stinson, J., Voineskos, A., & Szatmari, P. (2020). Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study (LYiTS): A Longitudinal Prospective Cohort Study. BMJ Open, 10:e035744. https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035744

Cleverley, K., Rowland, E., Bennett, K., Jeffs, L., & Gore, D. (2018). Identifying Core Components and Indicators of Successful Transitions from Child to Adult Mental Health Services: A Scoping Review. European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29(2), 107-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1213-1

Anne Duffy is an academic psychiatrist with a longstanding focus on understanding the onset of mental disorders in young people with a view to developing targeted prevention and early intervention initiatives.  Her work has been published in the top peer-reviewed scientific journals and she has given Key Note talks and delivered Academic Grand Rounds to national and international audiences.  Her collaborative multidisciplinary research work in high-risk youth of parents with mood disorders and in university students has been funded by national and international grants including CIHR and by philanthropic funding agencies including the Rossy Family Foundation and the Mach Gaensslen Foundation.  A hallmark of this work has been the active role that young people play in developing, informing and translating research findings.

Goodday, S. M., Rivera, D., Foran, H., King, N., Milanovic, M., Keown-Stoneman, C. D., … & Duffy, A.(2019). U-Flourish university students well-being and academic success longitudinal study: a study protocol. BMJ open, 9(8), e029854.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/8/e029854

King, N., Pickett, W., McNevin, S. H., Bowie, C. R., Rivera, D., Keown‐Stoneman, C., Harkness, K., Cunningham, S., Melissa, M., Saunders, K. E. A., Goodday, S., Duffy, A., On behalf of the U‐Flourish Student Well‐Being and Academic Success Research Group. (2020). Mental health need of students at entry to university: Baseline findings from the U‐Flourish Student Well‐Being and Academic Success Study. Early intervention in psychiatry. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eip.12939

Duffy, A., Saunders, K. E., Malhi, G. S., Patten, S., Cipriani, A., McNevin, S. H., … & Geddes, J. (2019). Mental health care for university students: a way forward? The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(11), 885-887. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(19)30275-5/fulltext

Duffy, A. (2019). University student mental health care is at the tipping point. The Conversation. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-university-student-mental-health.html

Duffy, A., Goodday, S., Keown-Stoneman, C., & Grof, P. (2019). The emergent course of bipolar disorder: observations over two decades from the Canadian high-risk offspring cohort. American Journal of Psychiatry, 176(9), 720-729. https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18040461

Duffy, A. (2020, May 20). Love of Learning or Overmuch Study. (A. Liptrot, Interviewer) BBC 4. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j950

Dr. Guy Faulkner is a Professor and Chair in Applied Public Health in the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Broadly, his research has focused on two inter-related themes: the development and evaluation of physical activity interventions; and physical activity and mental health. He currently coordinates the implementation of the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS – www.ccws-becc.ca) which is a system for collecting data on the health and wellbeing of Canadian post-secondary students.  He chairs the ParticipACTION research advisory group and is a member of the Research Work Group for the Canadian Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, and Adults.  He has contributed to the development of the Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth (2015-2017), the early years (2016-2018), and now adults and older adults (2019-2020).  He is the founding editor of the Elsevier journal ‘Mental Health and Physical Activity’.

Faulkner, G., Weatherson, K., Patte, K., Qian, W., & Leatherdale, S., (2020).  Are one-year changes in adherence to the 24-hour movement guidelines associated with flourishing among Canadian youth?  Preventive Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106179.

Weatherson, K., Wunderlich, K. & Faulkner, G. (2020). Impact of a low-cost standing desk (StandUP UBC) on reducing workplace sitting: A randomised controlled trial. Applied Ergonomics, 82, 102951

Faulkner, G., Ramanathan, S., Kwan, M., and the CCWS Expert Panel Group. (2019). Developing a coordinated Canadian post-secondary surveillance system: a Delphi survey to identify measurement priorities for the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS). BMC Public Health, 19, 935. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7255-6

Kwan MY, Arbour-Nicitopoulos KP, Duku E, Faulkner G. (2016). Patterns of multiple health risk-behaviours in university students and their association with mental health: application of latent class analysis. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can, 36(8):163-70.

Dr. Abby Goldstein leads an innovative program of research exploring the unique needs, challenges and motivations of emerging adults with a focus on understanding their substance use, mental health, and well-being from a developmental lens. Her research uses methods that capture the day-to-day experiences and behaviours of emerging adults, and changes in these experiences as they transition into adulthood. She recently received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to examine involuntary leave policies in the context of mental health challenges, with a focus on the lived experiences of university students. Dr. Goldstein is a Canada Research Chair in the Psychology of Emerging Adulthood and President-Elect of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. As a clinical psychologist, she has a particular interest in Motivational Interviewing and is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. She teaches courses on addictive behaviours and supervises master’s and doctoral students with interests in emerging adult mental health and well-being in the Clinical and Counselling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

*denotes student co-authors
Cleveland, M. J., & Goldstein, A. L. (2019). Opportunities and challenges for prevention and intervention in emerging adulthood: Introduction to the Special Issue. Prevention Science, 1-4.

Kalb, N.*, Goldstein, A. L., & Gillis, R. (2018). Drinking to cope with sexual minority stressors: Understanding alcohol use and consequences among LGBQ emerging adults. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 22, 310-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2018.1476277.

Goldstein, A. L., Haller, S.*, Mackinnon, S. P., & Stewart, S. H. (2018). Attachment anxiety and avoidance, emotion dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, and alcohol problems in emerging adulthood. Addiction Research and Theory, 27, 130-138.

Goldstein, A. L., Brodkin, S.*, Kofler, D.*, & Kalb, N.* (2017). Understanding the Recovery Model in the context of emerging adulthood. Journal of Recovery in Mental Health, 1, 7-15.

Dr. Chloe Hamza’s research program focuses on the development of mental health concerns in adolescence and emerging adulthood, particularly self-injurious behaviors (e.g., nonsuicidal self-injury, suicidal behavior). She is interested in identifying risk and protective factors for self-injury among students, as well developing best-practice recommendations to assist schools in supporting students who self-injure in a variety of educational contexts, including colleges and universities. She is an invited member of the International Consortium on Self-Injury in Educational Settings (ICSES), which is a group of leading researchers and clinicians committed to developing and disseminating evidence-informed guidelines to support students who self-injure. She also was selected to be a member of the University of Toronto’s Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health in 2019, tasked with making recommendations to improve mental health service delivery on campus. As an instructor, she currently teaches graduate courses on mental health in the classroom, and adolescent and emerging mental health at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Lewis, S. P. Hasking, P. A., Heath, N. L.,Hamza, C. A., Bloom, E., Lloyd-Richardson, E. E., & Whitlock, J. (2019). Advocating for best-practices to address nonsuicidal self-injury in schools. Psychological Services. Advanced online publication: 10.1037/ser0000352

Ewing, A., Hamza, C. A., & Willoughby, T. (2019). Stressful experiences, emotion dysregulation, and nonsuicidal self-injury among emerging adults. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 1379-1389.

Hamza, C. A., & Heath, N. L. (2018). Nonsuicidal self-injury: What schools can do?. In A. W. Leschied, D. H. Saklofske & G. L. Flett (Eds.) The Handbook of School-based Mental Health Promotion: An Evidence Informed Framework for Implementation. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham.

Hamza, C. A., & Willoughby T. (2018). A lab-based study on nonsuicidal self-injury, pain, and emotions among university students. Psychiatry Research, 28, 462-468.

Hamza, C. A., & Willoughby, T. (2016). Nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal risk among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59, 411-415.

Dr. Nancy Heath has over 25 years of experience working in the area of mental health in educational settings, together with those with lived experience and community partners. She has longstanding experience in the development and evaluation of skills-based training programs and online outreach focused on enhancing mental health resilience in students of all ages as well as understanding and providing an effective response to students who engage in non-suicidal self-injury. She has over 150 publications, 300 conferences, 150 invited talks and community workshops, and has received more than 4.8 million dollars from provincial, national and foundational sources to support her work. She is a strong advocate for mixed-methods and community-based partnership research. She holds the prestigious James McGill Professorship in recognition of her international leadership in her field.

*denotes Dr. Heath’s graduate and team students

Argento, A.*, Simundic, A.*, Mettler, J.*, Mills, D. J., & Heath, N. L. (2020). Evaluating the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness activity in university students with non-suicidal self-injury engagement. Archives of Suicide Research, 1-15. doi:10.1080/13811118.2020.1841052

Carsley, D.*, Sadowski, I.*, Heath, N. L., Montoro, R., & Miller, S. (2020). Acceptability and effectiveness of a single-session mindfulness intervention for medical residents. Focus on Health Professional Education: A multi-professional journal, 21(3), 15-29. doi.org/10.11157/fohpe.v21i3.399

Carsley, D.*, & Heath, N. L. (2020). Effectiveness of mindfulness-based colouring for test anxiety in university students. Journal of American College Health, 68(5), 518-527. doi:10.1080/07448481.2019.1583239

Böke, B. N.*, Mills, D. J., Mettler, J.*, & Heath, N. L. (2019). Stress and coping patterns in university students. Journal of College Student Development, 60(1), 85-103. doi:10.1353/csd.2019.0005

Lewis, S. P., Heath, N. L., Hasking, P. A., Whitlock, J. L., Wilson, M. S., & Plener, P. L. (2019). Addressing self-injury on college campuses: Institutional recommendations. Journal of College Counselling, 22(1), 70-82. doi.org/10.1002/jocc.12115

Dr. Brooke Linden is a Research Scientist with the Health Services and Policy Research Institute and the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University, as well as an Adjunct Professor. Dr. Linden’s research focuses on mental health, stigma, and stress at the post-secondary / emerging adulthood level, with expertise spanning psychiatric epidemiology, program evaluation, mixed methods research, scale development and psychometric analyses. Dr. Linden is the developer of the Post-Secondary Student Stressors Index (PSSI), a tool designed to better evaluate the sources of post-secondary students tress and their impact. During the 2020-2021 year, the PSSI was successfully launched at fifteen post-secondary institution across Canada, representing nine provinces and one Northern territory. Dr. Linden is happy to discuss opportunities for collaboration in research projects incorporating the PSSI.

Linden B, Boyes R, and Stuart H. (2021) Cross-Sectional trend analysis of the NCHA II survey data on Canadian post-secondary student mental health and wellbeing from 2013 to 2019. BMC Public Health, 21(590). doi:10.1186/s12889-021-10622-1

Monaghan C, Linden B, and Stuart H. (2020). Post-Secondary mental health policy in Canada: a scoping review of the grey literature. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. doi:10.1177/0706743720961733

Linden B and Stuart H. (2020). Post-secondary stress and mental well-being: a review of the academic literature. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. doi:10.7870/cjcmh-2020-002

Linden B, Boyes R, and Stuart H. (2020). The Post-Secondary Student Stressors Index: proof of concept and implications for use. Journal of American College Health. doi:10.1080/07448481.2020.1754222

Linden B and Stuart H. (2019). Psychometric assessment of the Post-Secondary Student Stressors Index (PSSI). BMC Public Health, 19:1139. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7472-z

Dr. Patten is a psychiatrist and epidemiologist. He is a Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, where he holds the Cutherbertson and Fischer Chair in Pediatric Mental Health. He is the Research Director for the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Medical Director of the Mood Disorders Program at the Foothills Medical Centre. Dr. Patten’s research applies epidemiological (population-based) approaches to answering questions related to mental health, including the prevalence of mental disorders, associated risk and prognostic factors and patterns of mortality. He has also contributed important studies of medical-psychiatric comorbidity and mental health stigma and many other topics. He is an author on >800 publications indexed in the Web of Science and was recognized as “highly cited” by Clarivate Analytics in 2018. In 2020 he was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Beck, A., LeBlanc, J. C., Morissette, K., Hamel, C., Skidmore, B., Colquhoun, H., . . . Stevens, A. (2021). Screening for depression in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review update. Syst Rev, 10(1), 24. doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01568-3

Lindenbach, D., Cullen, O., Bhattarai, A., Perry, R., Diaz, R. L., Patten, S. B., & Dimitropoulos, G. (2021). Capacity, confidence and training of Canadian educators and school staff to recognize and respond to sexual abuse and internet exploitation of their students. Child Abuse Negl, 112, 104898. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104898

Pham, T., Williams, J. V. A., Bhattarai, A., Dores, A. K., Isherwood, L. J., & Patten, S. B. (2020). Electronic cigarette use and mental health: A Canadian population-based study. J Affect Disord, 260, 646-652. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.09.026

Scime, N. V., Patten, S. B., Tough, S. C., & Chaput, K. H. (2020). Maternal chronic disease and breastfeeding outcomes: a Canadian population-based study. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med, 1-8. doi:10.1080/14767058.2020.1743664

Wiens, K., Bhattarai, A., Dores, A., Pedram, P., Williams, J. V. A., Bulloch, A. G. M., & Patten, S. B. (2020). Mental Health among Canadian Postsecondary Students: A Mental Health Crisis? Can J Psychiatry, 65(1), 30-35. doi:10.1177/0706743719874178

Dr. Andrew Szeto is currently the Director of UCalgary’s Campus Mental Health Strategy responsible for the implementation of its 28 recommendations. In addition, his work has focused on the development and evaluation of mental illness anti-stigma and mental health promotion programs, such as The Working Mind. In the past several years, he has worked to develop and pilot The Inquiring Mind Post-Secondary, a program tailored for post-secondary students. As well, he has developed a junior high/high school version of the program called The Inquiring Mind Youth. Dr. Szeto also conducts experiemntal research that examines mental illness-related stigma through a social psychological lens. More recently, his research has focused on post-secondary mental health, and is also a part of the Technical Committee that developed The National Standard for Post-Secondary Student Mental Health and Wellbeing. Dr. Szeto continues to publish academic articles on various topics related to mental health and wellbeing and the stigma of mental illness.

Szeto, A. C. H., & Lindsay, B. (in press). Stigma reduction in post-secondary settings: Moving from individual initiatives to holistic mental health approaches. Chapter to appear in The Stigma of Mental Illness, Eds K. S. Dobson & H. Stuart. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Kim, H. S., Fitzpatrick, C., Barker, S., & Szeto, A. C. H. (2020). Where’s the Party? A mixed method study investigating characteristics, motivations, and harms of attending off-campus (over on-campus) parties. Journal of American College Health. doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1784908

Mader, J., Smith, J. M., Afzal, A. R., Szeto, A. C. H., Winters, K. C. (2019). Correlates of lifetime cannabis use and cannabis use severity in a Canadian university sample. Addictive Behaviors, 98,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.06.004.

Szeto, A. C. H., Dobson, K. S., & Knaak, S. (2019). The Road to Mental Readiness for First Responders: A meta-analysis of program outcomes. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 64 Supplement, 18S-29S.

Dobson, K. S., Szeto, A. C. H., & Knaak, S. (2019). The Working Mind: A meta-analysis of a workplace mental health and stigma reduction program. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 64 Supplement, 39S-47S.

Dr. Jennifer Thannhauser is a Registered Psychologist (AB) with over 10 years of experience in post-secondary student mental health at the University of Calgary as a counsellor, administrator, and researcher. She is involved in the development and evaluation of upstream mental health programming, along with basic research. Areas of research interest include: post-secondary students’ mental health and wellbeing, holistic and strengths-based approaches, resilience, chronic illness, co-design in research, and qualitative methods. In collaboration with colleagues at UCalgary, and the support of a CIHR-SPOR grant, Jennifer led the development and evaluation of UCalgary’s Roots of Resiliency program. Jennifer also leads the Resilience Research and Practice Community of Practice.

Thannhauser, J., Brillon, H., Nordstokke, D., Szeto, A.C.H., & Dobson, K. S. (accepted). Evaluation of a multidisciplinary resilience program for post-secondary students: A pilot study. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.

Thannhauser, J., Szeto, A.C.H., Dobson, K. S., & Nordstokke, D. (2022). Using participant-oriented research in post-secondary mental health program development and evaluation. Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol 21(4), 323-330. doi: 10.1108/JPMH-05-2022-0047

Thannhauser, J., Block, M., Fox, A., Klassen, A., Nieuwenhuis, P., & Say, Z. (2021). Roots of Resiliency: Facilitator’s Manual. https://ucalgary.ca/wellness-services/programs/roots-resiliency/roots-resiliency-program-home

Thannhauser, J. (2014). Navigating life and loss in pediatric MS. Qualitative Health Research, 24(9), 1198-1211.

Amanda A. Uliaszek, Ph.D., C.Psych

Associate Professor, Departments of Psychology and Psychological Clinical Science, University of Toronto
Director of the Study and Treatment of Emotion Dysregulation and Personality Pathology (STEPP) Lab 
Associate Director of Research of INLIGHT: Student Mental Health Research 
utsc.utoronto.ca/people/auliaszek | amanda.uliaszek@utoronto.ca

Jeffrey Wardell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, York University
psyc.info.yorku.ca/health-profiles | jwardell@yorku.ca | 416-736-2100 ext. 44241

Gabrielle Wilcox, PsyD, NCSP, RPsych

Associate Professor
School and Applied Child Psychology, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
werklund.ucalgary.ca/educ_info/profiles | gwilcox@ucalgary.ca | 403.220.2534