Curriculum vitae

Senior Planning, Programming and Research Officer

Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB), Eeyou Istchee, Quebec.

Regional policy and systems-change leadership; applied research, implementation readiness, and executive-level advising.

• Align workforce and service policy with Cree Nation governance priorities and James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement obligations, writing the organizational policy that carries those obligations into daily practice.
• Lead a cross-functional research team, setting the research design, phasing, and evidence strategy for a regional implementation program, and building the intake and onboarding infrastructure the team runs on.
• Build the measurement the decisions require: multi-domain readiness and risk instruments, care-trajectory mapping, and quality-improvement frameworks built to support decisions about how a model of care is actually implemented.
• Write strategic reporting for Board and Executive Director audiences, turning quantitative and qualitative findings into recommendations framed as opportunities for culture change and Cree workforce development.
• Conduct foundational research on trauma-informed and healing-informed practice and integrate it into training, presentations, and frameworks supporting front-line service adaptation.

Policy Development and Research Manager

Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS), Ottawa, Ontario.

Led the federal mental health research and policy portfolio serving Canadian Armed Forces members, Veterans, and their families.

• Set the portfolio's research priorities and oversaw the studies behind them, keeping program and policy decisions tied to current evidence rather than to precedent.
• Designed and administered the Mental Health Practice Survey end to end, analyzing results in SPSS with regression modelling and descriptive statistics and writing the findings so a policy reader could act on them without a statistics background.
• Directed large-scale research to TCPS 2 ethical standards; authored analytical reports and literature reviews, including work on what military families need during OUTCAN postings in Europe, and presented the findings to senior management to inform strategic and policy decisions.
• Built internal capacity for evidence-based decision-making by curating and embedding research evidence into program and policy processes rather than leaving it in reports.

Senior Policy Advisor

Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), Ottawa, Ontario.

National policy and knowledge translation on suicide prevention and mental health system reform.

• Synthesized policy research into briefs and evidence summaries that contributed to national strategy development, and extended that evidence base to substance use.
• Sole author of the peer-reviewed article Roots of Hope: A uniquely Canadian approach to suicide prevention (Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being, 2023), and author of the synthesis publication Roots of Hope: Reflecting on Our Journey.
• Contributed as a member of the research team to a multi-year national study of the intersections of substance use and suicide, work designed with Persons with Lived and Living Experience, and am one of its several named authors; three publications in total over this period, sole-authored and team-authored.
• Contributed to the Roots of Hope implementation guide and toolkits supporting adoption across demonstration sites.
• Translated complex evidence into policy briefs and stakeholder communications for federal audiences, applying GBA+, OCAP principles, and TCPS 2 across design and knowledge mobilization.
• Represented the Commission in discussions with federal and municipal staff, political representatives, and community partners.

Quality Assurance Specialist

Nogdawindamin Family and Community Services, Northern Ontario.

Held the quality assurance function within a First Nations child and family services agency; the role where the current toolkit came together.

• Led the quality assurance initiatives in my portfolio, for and with a team of five colleagues, holding consistent, defensible standards across the agency's programs.
• Designed and implemented mixed-methods evaluation using focus groups, surveys, and statistical analysis to test how pilot programs were working in practice.
• Authored summative and evaluative reporting that documented outcomes and supported funding and accountability conversations with internal and external stakeholders.
• Applied OCAP principles across all work involving First Nations data and communities, working alongside Band Representatives, senior management, the Board of Directors, and front-line staff.

Master of Social Work, Public Policy and Administration

Carleton University, Ottawa.

Master's research project: Program Evaluation of St. Mary's Home.

Honours Bachelor of Social Work

Carleton University, Ottawa.

Honours thesis: Addressing the Marginalization of Former Youth in Care. Graduated with High Distinction; Dean's List, Fall 2015, Winter 2016, Fall 2016, and Winter 2017.

Bachelor of Child and Youth Study

Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax.

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology

Saint Mary's University, Halifax.

Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner.

OCAP (First Nations Information Governance Centre); TCPS 2; GBA+.

Foundations of Collective Impact (Tamarack Institute); Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST); Mental Health First Aid.