Youth Mental Health Canada 2025 National Virtual Conference

About the conference

Agenda

All times are Eastern Time (ET).

Speakers

• 

  John Ackerman, Ph.D.

  Child Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Manager, Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital - United States

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  John Ackerman, PhD, ABPP, is a child clinical psychologist and Clinical Manager of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH. His team trains schools, healthcare agencies, and youth-serving organizations throughout Ohio in evidence-based suicide prevention, intervention and postvention best practices. Dr. Ackerman has a research interest in the treatment of mood disorders, neurocognitive risk factors for youth suicide, as well as digital health applications for suicide prevention. He has published on the influence of media on youth suicide and has developed guidelines for media professionals engaging with this topic. He recently co-edited an open-access book on youth suicide prevention best practices and policy implications.

• 

  Nora Ali

  Child and Youth Practitioner, The Centre for Addictions and Mental Health

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  Nora Ali is a dedicated mental health and community worker with over a decade of frontline experience supporting Black youth and families. She currently works as a Caseworker at CAMH in the AMANI program (African, Caribbean, and Black Youth Mental Health Services), where she provides culturally responsive care and leads initiatives focused on identity, resilience, and healing.
  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Child and Youth Care . A lifelong learner, Nora continuously seeks to expand her knowledge and skills to better serve marginalized communities.
  With experience across education, shelters, and mental health settings, she is deeply committed to community-building, youth empowerment, and creating safe spaces for dialogue on racial trauma, wellness, and self-advocacy. Through her outreach, workshops, and school-based programming, she continues to champion mental health equity for Black youth across the GTA.

• 

  Sheryl Boswell

  Executive Director and Founder, Youth Mental Health Canada - Canada

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  Sheryl Boswell is the Executive Director and Founder of Youth Mental Health Canada, a registered charitable non-profit organization focused on mental health education and youth leadership and engagement.
  YMHC focuses on evidence-based, strength-focused, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive tools for wellness that are proactive, practical, and empowering.
  Sheryl’s presentations, workshops, and courses consolidate her background in education, mental health and wellness, human rights and equity, and disability awareness and support.
  Sheryl started her teaching career as a Special Education teacher in Zimbabwe, Africa, where she lived for three years. Sheryl brings broad teaching knowledge from working with elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult education students in various educational institutions and facilities.
  Sheryl has written five mental wellness journal workbooks, 5 booklets/printables, and two resources for school attendance challenges: a guidebook on supporting students with school attendance challenges and a student workbook for upstream prevention.
  Sheryl is a member of the International Association of Youth Mental Health, International
  Network for School Attendance, International Association for Suicide Prevention, and other organizations focused on youth mental health, suicide prevention, and school attendance.

  Organization website for Sheryl Boswell (opens in a new tab)

• 

  Leanne Brooke

  Teacher and Registered Psychologist, Central Coast in NSW - Australia

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  Leanne Brooke is a qualified teacher and registered psychologist who currently works as a School Counsellor (Advanced) in schools on the Central Coast in NSW, and as a psychologist for Heart and Mind Collective on Saturdays. Leanne is a 2025 recipient of the Anika Foundation Premier’s Teacher Scholarship and has a special interest in emotion-based school avoidance, neurodiversity, and anxiety-related difficulties. She has recently toured many schools around Australia to investigate what practices are most effective in re-engaging students with emotion-based school attendance problems.

• 

  Tialynn Campbell

  Mental Health & Addictions student, Humber Polytechnic - Toronto

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  Tialynn Campbell is a student in the Bachelor of Social Science – Addictions and Mental Health program at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto, Canada. She brings both academic insight and lived experience to her work, drawing from a personal understanding of the barriers that can complicate a young person’s relationship with school. Her journey has fostered a deep commitment to exploring how educational, mental health, and social service systems can more effectively support youth experiencing school avoidance and disengagement.

  Tialynn’s work spans youth mental health advocacy, community-based outreach, and the creation of accessible, culturally responsive resources. Her work with Youth Mental Health Canada involves advancing mental health education and creating tools that empower young people. With a focus on trauma-informed and equity-driven strategies, she believes meaningful solutions to chronic absenteeism must be rooted in care, flexibility, and the voices of young people themselves.

• 

  Chiara Enderle

  Doctoral Researcher, Europa-Universität Flensburg

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  Chiara Enderle is a doctoral researcher at Leipzig University and Europa-Universität Flensburg, currently a guest researcher at Stockholm University. She works on the SAPIC project, focusing on international comparisons of school attendance problems and mental health in Sweden and

  Germany. Her research centers on student and teacher perspectives, with a strong interest in amplifying young learners' voices around factors that support attendance and well-being. Her interests include school-wide multi-tiered support systems, student-specific teacher self-efficacy,

  and participatory research methods.

• 

  Louise Engels

  Educator and Parent Advocate, Define Fine - United Kingdom

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  Louise Parker Engels is a former primary school teacher and senior leader. ND parent of ND children.

  Co-Founder of Define Fine - providing parent peer support and advocacy for school attendance difficulties.

• 

  Carolyn Gentle-Genitty

  Founding Dean, Founder's College at Butler University - United States

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  Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty is an esteemed educator, researcher, and advocate recognized for her impactful work in attendance and student mental health within educational settings. With a passion for enhancing student well-being, she has dedicated her career to reducing barriers that affect students' attendance and classifying absences for mental health as a separate type of absenteeism.

  As the Founding Dean of Founder's College at Butler University, she leads initiatives to support the needs of students while advancing academic access and success.

  Dr. Gentle-Genitty has authored numerous award-winning publications, including studies on absenteeism, truancy, and the interplay between attendance and mental health. Her work emphasizes the importance of classifying absences responding to underlying issues. She has presented extensively at conferences and testified as an expert witness on school attendance issues.

  As a full tenured professor, her leadership spans over 25 years in higher education, including roles at Indiana University where she developed online education programs, improved transfer policies, and supported first-generation and adult learners. Her validated school climate instrument Perception of School Social Bonding (PSSB)endorsed by the American Psychological Association offers schools ways to measure climate to support students' well being. A global researcher, she collaborates with policymakers and educators to create strategies addressing absenteeism and fostering student well-being world-wide. She is the co-founder of the International Network for School Attendance (INSA), former president of the International Association for Truancy and Dropout Prevention (IATDP), and Founder of Attendance USA.

• 

  Patricia Graczyk, Ph.D.

  Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, University of Illinois - United States

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  Patricia A. Graczyk, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and school psychologist in the state of Illinois and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).  Her current research interests focus on the utilization of a school-based tiered framework of evidence-based practices to promote school attendance, decrease school attendance problems and prevent and treat anxiety, depression and trauma in children and youth. Dr. Graczyk is active nationally and internationally in promoting school attendance and addressing school attendance problems.

• 

  Yali Horta Hurtado

  Early Education Attendance Counselor, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad - Chile

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  I am an attendance counselor at Fundación Educacional Oportunidad in Chile. In 2008, I obtained my master’s degree in Elementary Education at the University of Miami and worked for 10 years in the field of early childhood and primary education in English as a foreign language in my country. Nowadays, I work and learn from educational leaders that want to improve school attendance by engaging and empowering all stakeholders in the process with a focus on early education.

• 

  Heather Lash

  Mental Health Auntie, Psychotherapist, Professor, Counselling Psychologist, Researcher, Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, Vistas Psychotherapy and Wellness

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  Heather Lash’s family is Saulteaux/Métis from Treaty 2 territory in Manitoba, and she’s called Toronto home for most of her life. She holds a B.A. in directing performance arts, an M.A. in ethics and refugee issues, and an M.A. in Counselling Psychology. Lash is the Mental Health Auntie within the Call Auntie program of Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, an Indigenous-led family and sexual health practice. There she co-facilitates group programming and visits with community members one on one. She is also a psychotherapist in private practice at Vistas Psychotherapy and Wellness.

  Before focusing entirely on the counselling aspects of her role, for over 15 years Lash was a professor with a George Brown College (GBC) access/transition to post-secondary program, where most students were studying in contexts of challenges with mental health, recoveries, and otherwise disrupted lives. She developed and delivered supportive courses for mainstream and all-Indigenous cohorts while researching, writing, and presenting on the impacts of violence – structural and within developmental relationships – on how people learn, and how we might teach. Notable themes included Universal Design, Math Anxiety, as well as shame, mattering, and love in educational spaces. She continues to serve on GBC’s Research Ethics Board.

• 

  Molly Lawlor

  SEL and Mindfulness Consultant, Molly Stewart Lawlor Educational Consulting

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  Molly Stewart Lawlor, PhD, is an expert in child and adolescent social and emotional development. Dr. Lawlor’s research includes the investigation of mindfulness and psychological adjustment in children and adolescents, and evaluations of social-emotional learning programs for children and adolescents in school settings. She is the lead author and serves as the Principal Scientific Advisor for the MindUP program (mindup.org), an evidence-based social emotional learning program grounded in neuroscience. Dr. Lawlor is also an advisor to children’s media projects including Peabody award-winning Stillwater (Apple TV), the award-winning Scout and the Gumboot Kids (Canadian Broadcasting Company), and Committee for Children’s Mind Yeti, a guided mindfulness app.

  Dr. Lawlor is an adjunct faculty member in the Faculty of Education at UBC, teaching in the area of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and is an instructor for ECED in the area of social and emotional development in young children. Dr. Lawlor is passionate about bringing research to practice in order to make social emotional learning accessible for all children and their adults.

• 

  Nicole Manawatu-Brennan

  Director, Tuahiwi Education Team - New Zealand

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  Nicole Manawatu-Brennan is a born and raised Tuahiwi Pā kid. Nicole has served as a member of the Tuahiwi Education Team for more than a decade and is passionate about Māori success in education and beyond.

  Nicole is currently the Executive Director of operations for the New Zealand Carbon Group. She brings more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private sector. She has successfully delivered technically challenging and socially significant projects including Working for families, KiwiSaver, and Anchor projects for the Christchurch rebuild.

  Nicole manages the Kaitoko Matauranga on behalf of the Education Team and leads the Ngāi Tahu Education Ambassadors Project. Nicole is a member of the Institute of Directors and holds a number of directorships across Education, Health and Environment.

• 

  Natasha McBrearty

  Registered Psychotherapist and Health Administrator, Crossroads Children’s Mental Health Centre - Canada

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  Natasha McBrearty, MA, RP, CCC, is a registered psychotherapist and health administrator at Crossroads Children’s Mental Health Centre. For over 20 years, she has worked with children, youth, and families in community mental health. Natasha thrives on participatory approaches to research that bring together a diversity of perspectives and center people with lived experience. Natasha’s research focuses on the relationship between school attendance and mental health, with a particular interest in self/co-regulation and family engagement and well-being.

• 

  Maceo Mercey

  Student, McMaster University - Canada

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  Maceo is a Red River Métis citizen and Jewish, raised in Toronto. He is an undergraduate student at McMaster University, studying Political Science and Biochemistry. Maceo has experience working in subsidized housing in Toronto and is passionate about public health and social justice. He is working as a summer student at YMHC as the Indigenous Outreach and Community Engagement Assistant.

• 

  Catriona O'Toole, Ph.D.

  Chartered Psychologist and Associate Professor, Maynooth University Department of Education - Ireland

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  Dr Catriona O’Toole is an Associate Professor at Maynooth University Department of Education and a chartered psychologist with PSI. Catriona’s research focuses on well-being and equity in education. She is particularly interested in the school experiences of children whose lives have been impacted by trauma and adversity. Her research incorporates lived experience and co-creation.

  Catriona has collaborated with international organizations like UNESCO, on their Futures of Education Report. She developed a bespoke website (www.traumainformededucation.ie) with charity partner, Alcohol Action Ireland,

  and she is currently collaborating with Kyrie Therapeutic Farm on a potentially transformative initiative for Ireland’s mental health services. Catriona is convenor of the European Health and Wellbeing Education Network

  and an Executive Committee member of the International Network for School Attendance (INSA).

• 

  Wade Poziomka

  Human Rights Lawyer & Past Chair, Ontario Bar Association's Constitutional, Civil Liberties & Human Rights Section - Canada

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  Wade is currently the Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's Constitutional and Human Rights Section Executive. He is the former 1st Vice President of ARCH Disability Law Centre. Wade is a lawyer in private practice focused on human rights litigation.

• 

  Priya Raju

  Child and Adolescent Psychologist, CAMH: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto

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  Priyadarshani (Priya) Raju is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Her primary practice site is in the Child, Youth and Emerging Adult program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the largest mental health teaching hospital in Canada. She is a settler of South Asian descent.

  Dr Raju’s clinical practice for the last decade has focused on populations affected by colonialism, trauma, acculturation stress, and historical mistreatment in health care settings. She co-developed the Migration Consultation Team at the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health, a teaching unit for newcomer families in Toronto. She has also worked with Indigenous families in multiple Indigenous-led treatment settings across Toronto. She provides clinical and program consultations to under-resourced settings across northern Ontario and Nunavut.

  Her academic work focuses on culture, power, and other equity issues in mental health, including anti-oppressive critiques of psychiatry with respect to both migrant and Indigenous populations. She is currently engaged in advocacy, clinical innovation and program development for marginalized families in both hospital and community settings.

  In her spare time, she enjoys literature, theatre, and time outdoors with her husband and two young children.

• 

  John Rice

  Elder Knowledge Keeper, Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services - Canada

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  John is currently with the Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services as an Elder/Knowledge Keeper. He was previously engaged with the Early Psychosis Program at CMHA, working with many first nations in the region through the Enaahtig Mental Health Outreach Program. He has been a previous faculty member in the Aboriginal Social & Community Development Program at Georgian College. John has helped co-develop and facilitate training in Simcoe County called Feather Carriers: Leadership for Life. The program is receiving international attention and was born out of the need for more than direct suicide intervention techniques in local reserve communities – what was needed was empowering people of the community to become life promoters by sharing the health and wellness techniques they pursue. John is a teacher at the Annual Suicide Prevention Conference, and he has an incredible ability to weave and harmonize Traditional Knowledge and Teachings into mainstream work. Through his life’s work, John has been a leader in community wellness for over 30 years. This leadership was honoured in 2016 as the recipient of the CAMH – Chapin A’sin Elder Vern Harper Award for Excellence in the Provision of Culturally-Based Practice.

• 

  LaTreece Roby

  Director of Secondary Programs, Sources of Strength - United States

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  Dr. LaTreece Roby is an accomplished leader in community health, suicide prevention, and substance use prevention. She currently serves as the Director of Secondary Programs with Sources of Strength, bringing over two decades of experience in public health, health education, and policy advocacy. As a Certified Prevention Specialist and international facilitator, LaTreece is known for her powerful ability to inspire change through evidence-based strategies and community-driven solutions.

  LaTreece serves on the board of Path to Hope Georgia and previously served on the board of Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy, where she championed responsible policy development and systemic change. LaTreece has served as Executive Director for Cobb Community Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse, guiding prevention workgroups across Georgia. Her collaborations with institutions like Kennesaw State University have included training college students to deliver suicide and substance use prevention services across urban, suburban, and rural communities.

  LaTreece obtained her Doctor of Education in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, while her dissertation research focused on leveraging community involvement in bridging gaps in school-based prevention programs. LaTreece is passionate about empowering youth, strengthening adult-youth connections, and promoting equity in access to behavioral health resources. Her work continues to leave a lasting impact on schools, campuses, and communities across the country.

• 

  Louise Rogers, BSC/BE (Hons), MTeach (Primary)

  Educator and Parent Advocate, School Can't Australia

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  Admin and Board Secretary for School Can't Australia, providing peer support for parents and carers, supporting CYP through school attendance difficulties.

• 

  Maria Rogers, Dr.

  Tier II Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health and Well-being, Carleton University - Canada

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  Dr. Maria Rogers is the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health and Well-being at Carleton University, as well as a registered child and adolescent clinical psychologist in Ontario and Quebec. Her research endeavours to understand how relationships impact the educational and emotional development of children and youth. A core area of Dr. Rogers’ research examines the relational well-being of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its associations with children’s learning. More recently, Dr. Rogers is investigating chronic absenteeism in children and teens, and its associations with family mental health and children’s learning and emotional development.

• 

  David Smith, Dr.

  Professor of Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa - Canada

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  Dr. David Smith is Professor of Counselling Psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa. He conducts research on school-based bullying prevention programs and school climate, and on the links between mental health and bullying. He is particularly interested in the role of student-teacher relationships and their potential to mitigate bullying, as well as helping teachers to build social-emotional capacities in the service of building strong, positive relationships with students using ideas and practices that are based on the ancient wisdom of mindfulness.

• 

  Lara Stauvermann

  Research Associate and PhD student,, Department of Educational and Social Sciences at the University of Oldenburg - Germany

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  Her qualitative doctoral research focuses on multi-professional collaboration in addressing school attendance issues among young people with special educational

  needs. As part of her project, she is conducting a case study that incorporates the perspectives of the young people themselves, their parents, special education teachers, school social workers, and other professionals involved.

  Beyond her academic work, Lara Stauvermann is also engaged in voluntary work in the field of child and youth welfare.

• 

  Kim Wallace

  Professional Educational Consultant, Process Makes Perfect - United States

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  Born and raised in an educator household, Dr. Kim Wallace started her own career in public education 30 years ago as a high school English and history teacher before becoming a site principal and district office administrator. Her most recent K-12 role was as superintendent of one of the 20 largest school districts in California. Kim joined the UC Berkeley School of Education Leadership Programs division as the Associate Director of the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy (21CSLA) State Center in 2020. She also runs her own consulting company Process Makes Perfect, specializing in real world solutions for practitioners in the field. Kim consults, writes, and presents internationally on systems change and emerging trends in educational leadership. An award-winning, innovative educator, Kim leverages her abilities in educational administration, program management, and relationship development to optimize institutional effectiveness and deliver remarkable results.
  Dr. Wallace’s book Leading the Launch: A Ten-Stage Process for Successful School District Initiatives was published by Solution Tree Press in 2021, followed by Leading Through an Equity Lens in 2023. Her upcoming book, Gamechanging Leadership in Action: An Educator’s Companion is in production with Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Aug. 2025). Kim attended the University of California Santa Barbara for her undergraduate degree in history. She then earned her Master’s in Education (M.Ed.) at the University of California Los Angeles and culminated her educational goals with a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) from the University of California Davis.

• 

  Melchior Wammes

  Student Advocate, Adviesraad Eigenwijsheid - Netherlands

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  Melchior Wammes is a policy advisor and youth representative at Alfisrat Eichbayezide in the Netherlands. He shares his personal education journey and discusses school attendance from a student's perspective. His key message is that attendance issues often signal deeper problems which schools can help address, and we shouldn't rule out the possibility that the schools themselves contribute to school avoidance. It's crucial that students feel safe, seen and heard. Additionally, he believes students should be directly involved in shaping the policies that affect them.

• 

  Jess Whitley

  Educator and Researcher, University of Ottawa - Canada

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  Jess Whiteley's research and teaching are driven by a dedication to improving the school experiences of students with exceptionalities. She is particularly interested in documenting, identifying influences on, and developing interventions related to psychosocial and mental health functioning. She draws on a variety of methods and data sources in her research, including analyses of small student focus groups and modeling of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. In her teaching, she aims to best prepare future teachers of inclusive classrooms and further develop the skills and knowledge of graduate-level learners.

  Learn more about her research at JessWhitley.ca

• 

  Joe Williams

  First Nations Aboriginal man, Wiradjuri/Wolgalu - Australia

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  Joe is a proud Wiradjuri/Wolgalu, First Nations Aboriginal man born in Cowra, and raised in Wagga NSW, Australia. Joe played in the National Rugby League for South Sydney Rabbitohs, Penrith Panthers, and Canterbury Bulldogs before switching Joe to professional Boxing in 2009. Joe is a 2x WBF World Jnr Welterweight champion and won a WBC Asia Continental Title.

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