Graduated Fellows

In partnership with The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health kicked off the fifth cohort of the LET(s)Lead Academy on September 16, 2021, with 12 emerging leaders with lived experience. After ten weeks of classes about transformational leadership, mental health advocacy, and cultural humility and justice, Fellows engaged with mentors to create a transformational community project to use their newly developed leadership skills in their local area. The academy met monthly for leadership development and project support until graduation in May 2022.

Camille (she/her) is a Master of Psychology student and Certified Peer Support Worker in Toronto, Canada. She has been involved in the mental health community for over 10 years and is passionate about advocacy, social justice, and improving access to services for diverse mental health communities.

Mental health and addiction have been the overarching themes of my life. Today I live in the solution uncovered by over a decade of persistently unravelling the issues at the core of my ailments. I wouldn’t have made it without the guidance of my peers and several therapists at CAMH.

Despite being a run-away immigrant from Romania with a seemingly bad drinking problem, I graduated Cum Laude from York University (2006) wanting to become useful to others, as a psychotherapist. Therefore, I am here to share my lived experience and to symbiotically create a powerful force for change. One of my hopes is to help underprivileged women become the makers of their own dignified future, despite their past.

Like all of us, I have many hats: recovery peer, AA member, avid pet lover, person with chronic illness, supportive friend, loving partner, comedienne, and self-proclaimed academic!

Adam is a researcher, speaker, health enthusiast, and striving stoic philosopher. From a young age, he encountered physical and mental health challenges.

Paired with a passion for scientific research and a BSc. Honors degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, his experiences motivated him to learn and implement evidence-based strategies to achieve optimal health. These include the use of exercise, nutrition, meditation, sleep, and positive daily habits adjunctive to traditional psychiatric interventions. His goals are severalfold: Research the effects of nutrition therapy on mental health, blur the lines between mental and physical health, and integrate dietetics & exercise therapy into standard treatment.

He sits on the CAMH Youth Advisory Group, Centre for Youth Bipolar Disorder Youth Advisory Council, is a Research & Content Development Coordinator for the Luminate Mental Health Conference Series, and is currently in the review process of his first primary authorship research paper.

​​Lucie Langford (she/her/hers) is a Master of Health Sciences (MHSc) student in Toronto, Canada who works to innovate healthcare through research. Her research is informed by her own lived experience and focuses on serious mental illness. Lucie deeply believes in patient-centric models of research and care. She uses this unique engagement approach with her community to develop new questions. In her spare time, Lucie is an avid cyclist and passionate volunteer.

Taryn Lee is an artist and part-time youth art teacher at a private school in downtown Toronto. She has a Bachelor of Design from Ryerson University in Fashion Communication.

At 18 years old, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has worked hard at recovery and maintaining stability ever since. She’s participated in bipolar research studies and taken courses on anxiety, CBT, depression, and bipolar disorder at CAMH.

She is an active Workman Arts member and loves the welcoming creative community it provides. In 2020, she exhibited 3 juried artworks in the Workman Arts Being Scene show. Through lived experience, she realizes how deeply connected creating art helps maintain her mental health. She believes art and creativity can be used as expression, tools for healing, building confidence and fostering community. It is her hope to share her passion for the arts with others on their own mental health journeys and uncover the creativity that lies within each of us.

Susana Meza (she/they) is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist and facilitator from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Susana holds an Audiovisual Journalism diploma from La Universidad del Zulia. They are an Active Listener for Workman Arts, a Newcomer Artist Ambassador for MABELLEarts, and a member of the board of directors of the North York Women Centre.

Susana has facilitated visual arts and creative writing workshops for various local communities and currently facilitates Art Cart sessions for the Geriatric Inpatient Services of CAMH. Susana works on her daily art practice from her home studio and her poetry, even though unpublished, has been featured often by Writers Collective of Canada (WCC).

Miranda Newman is a writer and editor based in Toronto (Tkaronto), ON. Her work has appeared in Broadview Magazine, Xtra, The Walrus, and more.

Drawing upon her lived experience, Miranda primarily writes about mental health covering topics like borderline personality disorder, agoraphobia, eating disorders, suicide in children, and more. She's co-editor of a yearly arts and letter publication and publishes Life as a Lunatic, a monthly newsletter about coping with symptoms of trauma and mental illness.

Miranda is a youth advisor to CAMH's Client Learning Fund (CLF), a bursary program that provides financial aid to clients enrolled in educational and personal development courses, and a volunteer member of CAMH's National Youth Action Council (NYAC).

Kenzie Osborne is a recipe developer, health coach, and chef in Toronto, Ontario. She has lived experience with anorexia nervosa and has since used her culinary education to help promote food and body positivity within the community. She has interviewed over 40 chefs across the world to share their stories and raise awareness about the therapeutic role of food and cooking.

Her goal is to raise awareness about the power of food in terms of: identifying with culture, expressing creativity, exploring history, promoting social interactions, and benefitting overall physical and mental health. She hopes to help others overcome food-related challenges and encourage food to be a positive component in their lives.

Shantell or Shan (pronouns: she/he) is a 2-spirit urban Inuk with Mi’kmaw and Canadian ancestry. Shan grew up on the land with many traditional teachings, but outside of the community.

Raised in a nomadic forager/hunter/farmer family throughout the Atlantic provinces and British Columbia, she had no fixed address throughout much of her childhood. She currently resides on the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener, Ontario.

Shan reindigenizes by claiming the heritage denied to her by Canada’s ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples. She is learning about human trafficking, de-escalation, trauma responses, anger management, mindfulness, harm reduction, advocacy, traditional Inuit philosophy, and how to deal with police through the Alluriarniq program at Tungasuvvingat Inuit in Ottawa.

When she's not hanging out with her chinchillas, she is an advocate, land defender, storyteller, performer, writer, forager, and multidisciplinary artist made of go-go-go! Her work has been published in several literary journals, academic journals, art magazines, and anthologies, and her visual art has been shown in art galleries, museums, and quirky little coffee shops and pubs. You can find more of Shantell’s work on IG: @shanmonster or on her blog: http://shanmonster.dreamwidth.org.

Hajar is a 4th-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Scarborough doing a double major in Mental Health Studies and Political Science. She currently works as a research assistant at Women’s College Hospital in their Reproductive Health & HIV branch and is a Youth Policy Advocate with OCIC’s Youth Policy-Makers Hub. Her work is shaped by an intersectional lens, gained from engagements spanning youth mental health and policy spaces. She is passionate about using her experiences to support youth advocacy and transform systems.

I have a genuine passion for combining my extensive training as a multi-disciplined artist/musician, along with my dedication to community engagement. I am interested in building programs that promote the arts as therapeutic tools for healing and recovery.

I have extensive experience working with those challenged by addictions and mental health as well as working with Toronto’s homeless LGBTQ+2S community. I am particularly proud of my involvement in helping create The 519’s Breaking The Ice (BTI) project, which is a community engagement and outreach program focused on supporting people who use crystal meth in Toronto’s Downtown East and has a specific focus on understanding the needs and barriers faced by LGBTQ2S people who use drugs.

Jessica has an erudite understanding and deep insight of mental health and recovery through various experiences and roles throughout her life. She has a Master of Nursing, has tutored university students, and has worked in many health settings. She advocates for peers as leaders and educators and values initiatives that promote recovery, choice, and reduce stigma. Jessica has a strong interest in literature and the creative arts.

Morgan is currently employed in a number of roles: as a mentor for tertiary students pursuing peer work, as a peer worker in acute inpatient settings, and as a support officer at a community drop-in centre for after-hours mental health support. She is a Lived Experience representative on a number of panels, committees, boards, and networks. In 2021, she was awarded for her contribution to the Queensland Health Mental Health Scholarship Scheme. Morgan is a qualified lawyer, working over a decade in the private sector and then for State and Commonwealth governments, including stints with the ABC, and as a Parliamentary Liaison for the NSW Rural Fire Service. Morgan has an undergraduate degree in Business and negotiated an Associate Researcher role with the CSIRO, conducting qualitative research across various State governments regarding risk reporting for the Murray Darling Basin Plan. Morgan is interested in the continued professionalisation/professionalization of the Lived Experience workforce. Particularly, she is interested in identifying common issues experienced by people re-engaging in the workforce and examples of what has worked. She believes leaders are those people that make you feel brave enough to contact them. Please feel welcome to reach out, to me or anyone here. Thank you for this opportunity, Yale. Yale!!

Rob Goulden grew up in country Victoria and now resides in Western Australia with his wife and 2 daughters. Rob served in the Australian Army as a rifleman and deployed to Iraq in 2008 as a member of SECDETXIIV. Post discharge from the military in 2011, Rob has had numerous roles in sales, insurance, finance, and banking before settling into a role as a peer support worker at Open Arms – Veterans and Families Counseling supporting veterans and their families. Rob draws on his own lived experience of injury, blame, diagnosis, isolation, and recovery to help support those he engages with. Rob is extremely passionate about supporting veterans through their transition journey and places a large focus on Acceptance, Purpose, and Connection. Having left the military and struggled with self-identity, integration back into the ‘civilian’ world, and finding purpose, Rob is constantly exploring new ideas and methods to make that transition more seamless for those he feels privileged to connect with. Rob is an active member of multiple veteran support groups and strongly advocates for the benefits of being involved within one's local community. Rob completed his Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work in 2020.

Paula Hanlon is a person with lived experience of trauma with associated disorders and alcohol abuse (sober 30yrs). She has been a consumer lived experience peer worker for over 24yrs, based in a community mental health service in Northern Sydney. In her role, she supports other people with lived experience individually and in groups and participates in systemic advocacy, health promotion, and education of staff and students. As an educator, Paula works with students through the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. Paula has a BA majoring in Psychology, though she prefers to work as a peer worker. Paula has been an Assessor with the Australian Council on Health Care Standards, reviewing mental health and general health services across Australia for 22yrs. Paula is a Board member for the TheMHS Learning Network and Flourish Australia.

Kath Ives is an mixed media artist, a foodie, a wife, and mother to a miniature schnauzer, two cats, and two chickens. She has qualifications in applied science and speech language pathology, however reports that her most rewarding and most challenging role to date has been that of mental health advocate. Kath currently works as volunteer coordinator at Happy Chat (a consumer-led mental health peer support group) in Stanthorpe, Queensland. Under her leadership, Happy Chat has been recognised and named as finalist of the Jude Bugeja Peer Experience Award for Qld Mental Health Week 2021 and been successful in obtaining grant funding to support the group into the future. Kath describes herself as a mental health activist. She has mental health lived experience as both a consumer and carer and continues to be instrumental in petitioning for better access to mental health services and support in her small town and surrounding region. She is driven by human rights and social justice with particular interest in addressing the poverty, loneliness, and boredom experienced by many vulnerable people with mental health issues who live in her community. Kath has been described as a social capitalist. She believes in the importance of investing in people, not things. The objective of her work is to help build a platform for people to feel like they belong; that they are valued and important. Kath believes that a sense of community can only be achieved through building connections via social inclusion. It is her goal to integrate her tertiary knowledge with her mental health lived experience to develop a project that combines two of her great loves—food and community.

Zoey identifies as an Australian between cultures and is currently working as the Lived Experience Project Lead at Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia. She is a qualified Change Practitioner and has completed her Bachelor of Business Administration and Graduate Certificate in Global Project Management. Zoey is committed to amplifying the voice of lived experience and strives to ignite hope and inspire people who struggle with intersectional identity in Australia to live a mentally healthier life.

Natasha is a fierce mum of four, a networker, connector, and strategic thinker. Natasha speaks authentically and connects with her audience to build deep understanding of the intersections between mental health recovery, suicide prevention, and domestic and family violence survival. After significant life- changing events and experiences, Natasha realized that systemic changes and increased community awareness were required for people to access appropriate supports. Natasha is deeply committed to enabling people to take back power and control in their lives through advocacy and education facilitated by lived experience. Natasha holds qualifications in Business and Mental Health Peer Work. She is currently studying Training and Assessment and is a Fellow of the Lived Experience Transformational Leadership Academy (LET(s)Lead) - Yale PCRH.

Vicki McKenna is the Head Of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre at Black Dog Institute where she is leading the development and implementation of the Centre. Vicki belongs to two tribal groups. She is both a Yawuru and Bunuba Jarndu (woman) based in Rubibi-Broome, Western Australia. She has had significant experience working in social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention. Notably, Vicki was the Kimberley Suicide Prevention Trial coordinator over the last 3 years, implementing suicide prevention activities across the entire Kimberley region. She is a trained Counsellor and a Child Psychotherapist. Vicki has lived experience, having lost family and community members to suicide and has her own experience of suicidality. She has commitment to social justice and change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and applies her cultural knowledge and skills in her work and prioritises cultural healing as a way forward. Her long-term sustainable vision is to work together to advance the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People nationally. She is a respected member of the Aboriginal community, in suicide prevention and the mental health profession nationally and internationally.

Sam Nachabe studied Business Admin and from 2010, worked in various Admin roles for a psychologist, a medical practise and an education agency. She studied a double diploma in Counseling and Community Services in 2014 after feeling unsatisfied with the role of Admin and feeling a need to contribute to the community in seeing change for people in the community not feeling like they had a voice or unsure how to get support. In 2016, Sam worked as a Coordinator Caseworker and Community Development Worker for a domestic violence organisation called Shakti Australia, an NGO supporting women from non-English speaking backgrounds with their development, empowerment, and domestic/ family violence intervention, prevention, and awareness. She volunteered from 2015 to 2017 for SSI Settlement Services International to support new migrants with accessing services in NSW. In 2017, Sam ran an Arabic Women’s support group for Carers of Consumers with a lived experience, for the organisation One Door Mental Health, then took a role as a Peer Support Worker for the PICS (Primary Integrated Care Supports) program with the same organisation in 2018. In 2021, she took a dual role with One Door Mental Health PICS as an NDIS Access Peer Worker, supporting consumers apply for a national disability insurance scheme whilst also still working part-time as a Peer Worker and is currently in the same role.

Emma O’Loughlin (she/her) grew up in and lives on Nukunu Country in regional South Australia. She is a proud lesbian woman who has lived experience of mental ill health, personality disorder, suicidality, and physical disability. Emma utilises her lived experience as a training & group facilitator, in community engagement work and as a peer worker. Emma is very conscious of the privilege she holds in being asked to contribute to many spaces where others with similar lived experience are often excluded. She hopes by using her voice, it contributes to the increase of lived experience involvement in places of power and decision-making.

Max Simensen has worked in Mental Health Peer Worker roles for over 8 years in the public mental health system, with his first job being at a local headspace when he was 17. Max fell in love with being able to harness his lived experiences and personal learnings to sit with others in familiar dark places. Max is an openly trans man who is passionate about the rainbow community but also embraces all other diversities of the human condition and pushes for social justice. Max has experienced intense times of suicidal thinking and behaviours over many years, and lost his younger sister two years ago after she took her own life. Max wants to change the way we look at suicide and how we hold space in those times. He is currently the SafeHaven Coordinator—which is a new peer-led service focused on offering an informal space staffed with people who have a lived experience of suicidality as an alternative to emergency departments.

Amelia is a youth mental health advocate, lived experience researcher, and peer worker. Amelia is passionate about youth lived experience leadership, promoting partnerships with young people in service reform, and addressing structural issues within the mental health sector, including service gaps and barriers to accessing services. She has drawn upon her lived experience in governance positions as a Youth Advisor to the headspace Board and with EMPHN’s Community Advisory Committee. She has promoted mental health sector reform through advocacy and engagements with state and national government, strategic media communications, as a witness to parliamentary enquiries, and in facilitating a delegation of youth advocates to develop a model of mental health system reform for the Productivity Commission. Amelia is currently completing a Juris Doctor at the University of Melbourne with the hope of ensuring the human rights of people experiencing mental ill-health.

Sarah is a sole parent of three children, three rescue cats, and one anyone’s- guess-as-to-what-breed dog. Sarah and her children have a history of family violence-related trauma and continue to live with the social and psychological challenges associated with this. Sarah describes her family as a colourful, chaotic, combination of sexuality, gender, and neurodiversity. As a parent/carer and person living with psychosocial disability (which Sarah sees as a superpower), she has spent significant time navigating and accessing supports and services related to her and her family’s challenges. Studying and working in mental health throughout her journey, Sarah is fiercely determined to use her experiences as a consumer, carer, and provider, to create change and to support others to share their lived experiences. Sarah passionately believes in the need for services and systems to be driven by lived experience, and for lived experience roles to be genuinely valued within systems.

Some years ago, Craig's career in IT and Quality Assurance slowly morphed into a life on the "wrong side of the tracks", dealing in drugs, which led to a custodial sentence. While incarcerated, Craig completed Lives Lived Well’s Do-It program (now known as Reclaim). He liked the program so much and found it so valuable, that he completed it a second time while in jail. He became a Jail ‘Buddy’ mentor and taught the program in the jail to others who might not have been able to access it. Craig then made a promise to himself that once he was released, he would work for Lives Lived Well in some capacity. Fast-forward a few years and Craig applied for a position with LLW as a Client Advocate Representative. This part-time role opened up a world of possibilities for him, traveling throughout Queensland and sharing his story of recovery with those in programs, and explaining how he used the program in real life to align his future direction with a new set of values.

John works with Carers NT's Young Carers Program, which supports and sustains young carers in their caring roles. He is a proud carer for his mother, who suffers from mental illness and is an active ambassador for multiculturalism. He is fluent in English, Indonesian, and Burmese while also learning Arabic and Urdu. John completed a Bachelor of Business degree with management specialization from Charles Darwin University and undertook intensive studies in Indonesian International Business Law at the University of Gadjah Mada. John is currently enrolled for a Master of Education. Driven by passion and community spirit, John has experiences of working for the federal government agency, Northern Territory Government, and in not-for-profit sectors. His effectiveness and efficiency in delivering values to the community have honored him with a social work award in 2015, the NT government young achiever award in 2017, and several scholarships to broaden his horizon.

In partnership with The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada, the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health kicked off the seventh cohort of the LET(s)Lead Academy on September 15, 2022, with 12 emerging leaders with lived experience. After ten weeks of classes about transformational leadership, mental health advocacy, and cultural humility and justice, Fellows will engage with mentors to create a transformational community project to use their newly developed leadership skills in their local area. The academy will then meet monthly for leadership development and project support until graduation in May 2023.

Julia Bailey is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto in psychology and population health. Her lived experience with depression, anxiety, and ADHD has compelled her to advocate for mental health services within her community and destigmatize the vast array of these disorders. She has taken part in several research initiatives pertaining to the treatment of mental illness, while exploring the impact of novel drugs for treatment-resistant depression and bipolar II disorder. Her research endeavours have also examined how youth experience citizenship, and the degree to which youth are receiving citizenship-oriented care.

Ultimately, she is excited to share her knowledge and experience to create positive changes within the Canadian mental health care system!

Vishali is a Tamil immigrant from Sri Lanka, who likes to brighten up the colour of her sky in every season of life with vivid poetry, nature photography, chocolate cake and impactful stories. Her research career focuses on cross-cultural psychology, stemming from her lived experiences and experiences with marginalized communities in India, Canada and Sri Lanka. She often collaborates with individuals and organizations from the Global South on research and design projects. In the past she has worked as a research consultant for The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health, based in India. She can often be found with her phone and her tripod near Lake Ontario to capture winter sunsets.

Chloë (she/her) is a young Queer woman who lives with her dog Stella and many, many shelves of books. She has been in recovery from addiction for a year and a half, and lives with mental illness. Chloë is of service in multiple addiction recovery programs, with her current role as a district chair for the Hospitals and Institutions trustee committee at the World Services level. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Social Work with dreams of being a peer support worker, hoping to work with people experiencing psychosis. Chloë spent the first year of the pandemic volunteering for her city counselor making sandwiches for local people in need, and currently volunteers weekly in a grade one class at a local elementary school. She has a background in theatre and finds comfort in creative outlets as a method of healing. Chloë is incredibly excited to be a fellow in this year's Toronto cohort of the Yale LET(s) LEAD program!

Dion Flores was born in Toronto where he went to elementary and high school where he took pride in his academics and musical studies. When he was 17, he moved to Waterloo, Ontario to attend Wilfrid Laurier University to study music education and piano. After graduating, Dion moved to St. John's, Newfoundland to pursue graduate studies and Teacher's College. For the last three years, he has been a music teacher teaching in private studios, elementary schools, and in the community.

This year, Dion is back at Laurier pursuing a second master's degree in Community Music with research focusing on mental health and social justice in Community Music. He is looking forward to growing with the Yale Let(s)Lead cohort this year!

Emma (she/her) is currently employed with the Ministry of the Attorney General within the Provincial Government of Ontario. She has been a public servant since graduating from Queen's University, Smith School of Business with a bachelorʼs degree in commerce. After going through psychosis that resulted in suicidal thoughts and eventually being diagnosed with a mental health illness, Emma was driven to make strides to help others through advocacy in her personal and professional life. Emma is passionate about changing the landscape within her organization when it comes to supporting those with lived experience and the adversity they face. She hopes that through robust policy development and hearing directly from those with lived experience, her workplace will implement the necessary training and decision-making required to further enhance the resources available to Ontario Public Servants.

Chloë Grande (she/her) is a communications specialist turned eating disorder recovery speaker, writer and blogger. In recovery for 10+ years, she's open about her experiences with mental illness and educating others on the stereotypes and stigmas that exist. Whether through speaking engagements, facilitating workshops or collaborating with leading mental health organizations, she strives to change the way we talk about eating disorders. Chloë holds an MA in Journalism and Communication from Western University and a BA in English Literature from Queenʼs University. Sheʼs a fan of restorative yoga and reading, and draws inspiration from individuals who embrace their vulnerabilities.

Jade Hui is a Buddhist, nonbinary Master's student from Hong Kong, studying religion and sexual diversity studies at the University of Toronto. Their major research paper focuses on asking "How might the Buddha and Buddhists guide a psychotic queer?", attempting to explore multiple responses, untangling a problem-cure framework and centering resources they themselves found helpful surviving as a Buddhist psychotic queer. Bridging gaps between Buddhist studies and Mad studies, they wish next to dive into postcolonial Hong Kong studies/Sinophone studies to track how identities are being policed by colonial mentalities and structures.

Aloha (she/her) is a proud Filipina youth mental health advocate from Scarborough, Ontario, and currently works as a Youth Engagement Specialist with CAMH. She has worked with a number of mental health non-profit organizations, which empower youth and young adults to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. Graduated with a degree and diploma in Justice Studies at the University of Guelph-Humber, and currently taking an Accelerated Law Clerk program at Seneca College, Aloha hopes she may combine her passion for mental health and the justice system to make a big change within her community. Through sharing and drawing from her own lived experience, she hopes that she'll be able to reach others who struggle with finding their full potential because they worry their mental health will get in the way of their success.

Hi, I'm Amber Phillips. I am an amateur photographer and the area that I live in is known for our beautiful sunsets on the shores of Lake Huron. Photography helps me get out of my head and focus on the beauty that surrounds me and in each photograph I take. I am a published writer and have written about my lived experience to help myself in my recovery process and to bring Hope to the person(s) reading my published pieces. Also, I like to read thrillers, play video games, knit and watch the waves on Lake Huron.

Angela Walcott is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist whose interested include sustainable art practices; research geared towards chronicling the story/stories of early settlement patterns of African-Canadian and Afro-Caribbean communities; intergenerational trauma as a result of colonial settlement/de-settlement; displacement and community-building in the Caribbean, Latin and South America.