Connect the Dots: Supporting Mental Health in Calgary through Research

Speakers:
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Raynell McDonough, Karen Gosbee and Dr. William Ghali

Date:
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Time:
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
About this event
Calgary’s landmark Mental Health and Addiction Strategy will build a stronger city where recognizing, acknowledging, helping, treating, and supporting those experiencing issues related to mental health and addiction is fundamental.
 
The University of Calgary has played a key role, together with other community partners, in informing the development of the strategy. The community-based strategy is designed to create an enabling environment for programs and services with evidence-informed insights to support the mental health of Calgarians.  
 
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education present a town hall to introduce the City’s strategy and action plan to the broad University of Calgary community, and highlight the areas of relevance particularly for research but also campus wellness. The goal is to facilitate the interest and engagement of researchers and the broad UCalgary community in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Calgary’s Mental Health and Addiction Strategy 2021–2023.
Speaker biographies
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, A’paistootsiipsii, was sworn in as Calgary's 36th mayor on October 25, 2010 and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. For his work, Mayor Nenshi was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, was awarded the President’s Award from the Canadian Institute of Planners, and received the Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Psychological Association for his contributions to community mental health. Mayor Nenshi is a member of the stewardship group for the development of A Community of Connections: Calgary’s Mental Health and Addiction Strategy. 

Raynell McDonough is an Issue Strategist with The City of Calgary. Since 2018, Raynell has supported the development of A Community of Connections: Calgary’s Mental Health and Addiction Strategy, a community-led strategy to create hope and strengthen support for Calgarians living with and affected by mental health and addiction issues.

Karen Gosbee is a strong advocate and community champion on mental health. Karen speaks to her experience of mental health challenges in family context and the impacts thereof. She is passionate about the possibilities that can be enabled through research and community support for individuals and families experiencing challenges.

Dr. William Ghali is a world-class researcher and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. Dr. Ghali was formally the Scientific Director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. He is Co-Director of the University of Calgary World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in Disease Classifications and Health Information.

Moderator biography
Dr. Paul Arnold, Director, The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, is a professor, internationally recognized mental health researcher and a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He founded Alberta’s only pediatric clinic focusing on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Dr. Arnold holds the Alberta Innovates Translational Health Chair in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

The O'Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary supports excellence in population health and health services research, while realizing the benefits of such research by using that knowledge to inform community, policy and health practice stakeholders. 

The Institute's membership includes more than 500 multidisciplinary researchers from 13 Cumming School of Medicine departments, nine additional University of Calgary faculties, including Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Kinesiology and Arts; health professionals in Alberta Health Services; and, research users and policy makers from municipal and provincial institutions. As an Institute, we share a vision of "better health and health care," reflecting our two priority research areas of Improved Population Health and Enhanced Health Systems Performance. 

The Institute's success in brokering broader external relationships with provincial and national interest groups, policy makers, research agencies, the media, philanthropists, and community stakeholders, further extends the reach and impact of our members' significant research outputs.