Wellbeing Policy and Mental Health: What recent policy approaches can bring to mental health strategies
This webinar is part of the CWKN 2023 Festival of Wellbeing Conversations.
A growing number of governments worldwide, and in Canada, are taking a new approach to public policy, one that puts the wellbeing and quality-of-life of citizens at the centre of policy decisions and budgeting. Through the Spring and Fall of 2023, the Canadian Wellbeing Knowledges Network (CWKN) is hosting a series of webinars discussing key issues, challenges, and opportunities of the wellbeing approach to policy and sharing examples of wellbeing policy initiatives across Canada and globally. For more information on wellbeing policy, the CWKN, and future events you can contact jennifer.proudfoot [at] mcgill.ca (Jennifer Proudfoot).
Moderator:
Mary Bartram
Policy Director
Mental Health Commission of Canada
Mary Bartram has led mental health and substance use policy development and implementation with federal and territorial governments, Indigenous organizations and NGOs. She is the Policy Director with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, with responsibility for proactive policy analysis and research, advancing integrated approaches to substance use and mental health, and overseeing investments in 40 research projects on the relationship between cannabis and mental health. Mary completed her PhD at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University in 2017, where she teaches courses in public policy as an Adjunct Professor, and conducted postdoctoral research at McGill University and the University of Ottawa. Her research has focused on a range of issues such as equity in access to psychotherapy, harm reduction in postsecondary settings, and recovery in the mental health and substance use sectors. Mary is a Registered Social Worker and holds an MSc in Family Therapy from Purdue University.
Speakers:
Chris Barrington-Leigh
Associate Professor
Institute for Health and Social Policy and Bieler School of Environment
McGill University
Chris Barrington-Leigh is the P.I. of the Canadian Wellbeing Knowledges Network. He is an Associate Professor at McGill University, jointly appointed at the Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Bieler School of Environment. His recent research is focused on (1) empirical and quantitative assessments of human well-being, measured through subjective reports, and their implications for policy; (2) the structure of urban road networks, globally, as quasi-permanent influences on diverse urban outcomes; and (3) energy transition in China. He was originally trained in upper atmospheric and space plasma physics at M.I.T., Stanford, and Berkeley, before studying Economics at the University of British Columbia. Chris was a Global Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2009-2014) and is a current member of the Global Young Academy.
Andrew Frawley
Founder
The Good Life Movement
Andrew Frawley is the Founder of The Good Life Movement. GLM is a bipartisan non-profit network working to get the public widely involved in the politics of mental health. GLM will register voters, grade politicians, and get thousands to call their legislators. GLM has generated lots of excitement for their policy focus on "the world outside of healthcare."
Frawley is a movement builder who founded Andrew Yang's campaign for President as the 2nd team member. He worked as Director of Marketing and was largely responsible for the memes, MATH hat, 375,000% social growth, and over $20 million raised. He's since helped run 400-person political teams with $100 million budgets.
Christopher Mushquash
Canada Research Chair
Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction
Professor, Department of Psychology
Lakehead University & Division of Human Science
Northern Ontario School of Medicine University
Mushquash is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction, and Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University and the Division of Human Sciences at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University. He is also Vice President Research at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Chief Scientist at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.
He is the Director of the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research at Lakehead University. In addition to his academic appointments, Dr. Mushquash is a registered clinical psychologist providing assessment, intervention, and consultation services for First Nations children, adolescents, and adults at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care.
In 2017, Dr. Mushquash was inducted in the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He is currently the vice-chair of the Institute Advisory Board for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health. Dr. Mushquash also serves as a board member for the Ontario Psychological Association, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the George Jeffrey Children’s Centre.
Dr. Mushquash is Ojibway and a member of Pays Plat First Nation.
Srividya Iyer
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Srividya Iyer is a psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. She is also an Associate Member in McGill’s School of Population and Global Health and a Researcher at the Douglas Research Centre in Montreal, Canada. Her work focuses on youth mental health and early intervention, including for serious mental health problems such as psychosis. Srividya partners with youth, families and communities to influence practice and policy in Canada and globally. She leads ACCESS Open Minds, a pan-Canadian network of 250+ diverse stakeholders serving urban, rural, Indigenous, post-secondary and homeless youths at 16 sites. Srividya has also been involved in various mental health capacity building and research projects globally, particularly in India, where she was born and obtained her initial training. Srividya has received numerous awards and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists and named on the inaugural list of Canadian Women leaders in Global Health. She is the Vice President of the International Association for Youth Mental Health.
ZOOM Registration
This event is hosted by the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy and the Canadian Wellbeing Knowledges Network.