ABOUT
This site brings together research and knowledge transfer resources on community-led public mental health and public safety led by Ardath Whynacht and collaborating scholars, youth and community groups.
Ardath Whynacht
Ardath Whynacht (she/her) is an interdisciplinary scholar & queer feminist who is passionate about participatory action research and creative knowledge mobilization. Her work explores connections between mental health & wellbeing and movements for social transformation. She advocates for evidence-based approaches to social policy, specifically, public health interventions for family violence and community-led public safety strategies and mental health promotion. She wrote a book on transformative justice and de-colonial approaches to domestic homicide and she continues to work with survivor groups and community organizations to provide knowledge transfer on issues of risk assessment and community-based rehabilitation. She is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Health Studies program at Mount Allison University, with an adjunct appointment in the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine. She is a mentor with the Dalhousie Research in Medicine (RIM) program and available to supervise one medical student per year on projects related to health equity, 2SLGBTQIA+ health or creative health knowledge mobilization. She lives, teaches, and cares for her interspecies family on un-ceded Mi’kmaw territory and is always interested in supporting student research or knowledge transfer & mobilization for community-based organizations.
Collaborators
Catherine Baillie Abidi
Dr. Catherine Baillie Abidi is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Child and Youth Study at Mount Saint Vincent University. She has over 25 years of humanitarian, violence prevention and peacebuilding experience. Dr. Baillie Abidi is committed to advancing knowledge in the area of children, peace and security and centering the experiences of children and youth. She co-chairs an emerging international Children, Peace, and Security Network with academic, practitioner, and policy colleagues recognizing the power of collaborative learning and action. Dr. Baillie Abidi’s research program draws from international humanitarian law, critical childhood and youth studies, and peacebuilding and is focused on violence prevention, recognizing children and youth as peace builders, and understanding the impacts of moral injury, to advance social policy and enhanced children’s rights frameworks. She is an Adjunct Professor in International Development Studies at Dalhousie University and Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University.
Part of the therapy dog team for the first Atlantic Canada First Responders Mental Health Conference, Moncton NB
Rosie Whynacht
Ardath & Rosie work as a therapy dog team for Companion Paws Canada. Companion Paws is a program offered by The LifeLine Canada Foundation. Rosie is trained as a visiting therapy dog for institutions and field sites (including hectic or busy environments during times of disaster or crisis). She is also certified to support qualitative field research, including interviews or conversations about difficult topics with research participants. If you want to share your story with us, let us know if you want Rosie to be there, too.
Student Researchers
Lyon Kengis
Lyon is an Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) with over a decade of experience in emergency services, including roles in Special Operations, education, and operational leadership. Driven by a strong commitment to improve health equity and outcomes for those who are traditionally underserved, he helped establish the Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Nova Scotia’s Emergency Health Services. He is an active public speaker and researcher in the area of social responsiveness and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Health Science in EMS Management. Lyon’s professional background includes frontline clinical care, leadership, academic instruction, curriculum development, and research.
Isabella Gallant
Isabella is currently working towards her PhD in Social & Cultural Analysis at Concordia University. Her SSHRC-funded research and professional policy work centers youth mental health in Canada, with a particular emphasis on re-imagining what has been deemed a ‘youth mental health epidemic’ through the lived realities of young people navigating an insecure, demanding, and ever-changing world. Isabella has been advocating for youth mental health since age 16, producing various reports for non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and provincial governments across Canada. She has been recognized for her work as a TD National Scholar (2020) and Rhodes Scholarship Finalist (2024).
Rach Derrah
Rachel Derrah (she/her) is a scholar-practitioner and graduate student developing graphic facilitation as method in field research and participatory action research. With almost two decades of experience as a graphic facilitator, Rachel designs and implements creative processes for groups to have honest conversations. She practices deep listening to create large scale murals of quotes and themes from participatory conversations. Rachel was an instructor at Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies Executive Leadership Program, where students learned practical tools for working with teams, including systems mapping, deep democracy conflict mediation and polarity mapping. Rachel runs trainings in sketch noting and graphic facilitation as a method in community development, government consultation and participatory action research. She is currently developing a methods guide for sketch noting in field research and focus groups. She is currently a graduate student in the Department of International Development Studies. Passionate about public, political education, Rachel co-founded Seed & Spark Bookstore Co-op, who distribute books and zines to see the past and present critically while imaging better futures. This collective hosts events to foster grassroots dialogue and learning. Rachel is a settler, born and raised on Wolastoqiyik territory. She is of British, Irish and Scottish descent. Currently they live in Kjipuktuk, unsurrendered Mi’kmaq territory