Join the CCSRMH for Coffee & Conversation with Gerry Friesen, Monday June 10, 2024 from 10:30am-12:00pm at The Gathering Space in John E. Robbins Library at Brandon University!

Past seminars

Chris Beaudry – “The Heroes and Dragons of Mental Health”

The concept of Functional Mental Health is an individual process that reflects each person’s life, their own experiences, the context of these experiences, and the related social determinants of health. Discovering and rediscovering what works for you today, not tomorrow or yesterday, but today is functional mental health. It takes a lot of courage and vulnerability to discover what path is the right one for you today.

Chris speaks to and supports his audience to reflect on their own experiences and the aspects of functional mental health that can be most useful to them through the sharing of his own journey and process with trauma, addictions, and mental illness.

Chris Beaudry was born in Edmonton, Alberta and raised in Calgary, Alberta and St. Front, Saskatchewan. He’s a father of 3 young girls, husband to his wife Richelle, and a 4th generation farmer. Chris was an assistant coach with the 2017/18 Humboldt Broncos, who were tragically involved in the bus crash that killed 16 players and staff. Since then, Chris has been heavily involved in the field of mental health and healing. He has trained under Dr. Gabor Mate, Don Miguel Ruiz, Lama Sonia Potie, and many others.

Dr. Jan DeFehr – “Mending Psychiatric Divisions, Crafting a Liberating Ethic of Care”

Mental health promotion campaigns and curricula encourage early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of what psychiatry classifies as mental disorder. This familiar pathologizing approach separates those deemed disordered from others presumed to be normal. Problematically, mental health promotion omits critical knowledge in the field of mental health. Critical knowledge exposes routine harm and significant misinformation in mainstream mental health. Produced over decades by patients and ex-patients, academics, and professionals, the critique of mental health has intensified in recent years. Omission of this critique impedes individual capacity to make informed decisions about professional intervention.

Dr. DeFehr will outline core areas of mental health critique within current peer-reviewed scholarship in critical psychology, critical psychiatry, and mad studies. Drawing on professional ethics standards, she will argue that members of the public are entitled to full disclosure of relevant critical knowledge, and professionals carry the responsibility to disclose. Dr. DeFehr will describe a Winnipeg community health clinic’s emerging initiative to build client access to critical mental health knowledge. Already equipped with conventional mental health resources, the clinic’s mental health informed choice action research project is generating new online and printed critical mental health resources; the formation of a Critical Mental Health Working Group representing major areas within the clinic; and new, board-supported, informed choice policies and practices. The clinic’s collective action is de-automating the dividing practices implicit in psychiatric diagnosis. It is enabling a wider range of options and cultivating an unprecedented standard of care rooted in solidarity and informed choice.

Dr. Jan DeFehr is an associate professor in the faculty of education at the University of Winnipeg. A strong supporter of anti-oppressive, peer-led, care-based communities, Dr. DeFehr has worked as a publicly funded social worker/counsellor for twenty years in settings ranging from “youth corrections,” community health centre programs, hospital, and university student counselling services. She is an associate of The Taos Institute and has regularly written and presented with colleagues at the Kanankil Institute (Mérida, México) since 2004.

Sera Davidow – “Mental Health through a Harm Reduction Lens”

The default approach to emotional distress within Westernized societies is to medicalize and locate the problem within the individual. However, our medical systems – while adept at addressing many actual medical issues (for example, a drug overdose, whether intentional or otherwise) – has notoriously low rates of success at resolving concerns related to what they typically call “mental illness.” In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that being a part of a Westernized society is a predictor that one will never fully recover. Davidow’s presentation will delve into the whys and impacts of this failure, while exploring a fundamentally different path called ‘harm reduction’ as it relates to common experiences within the psychiatric system such as hearing voices, self-injury and suicidal thoughts. Personal story and real life examples will be intertwined with research and strategies to help illustrate ideas presented. Themes explored will include the power of loss of power, the essential nature of supporting someone to make meaning of their own experiences, redefining ‘the problem,’ and harm reduction as a pathway to equity and cultural representation.

Sera Davidow is a filmmaker, author, activist and mother of two. As a survivor of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, she has faced many challenges throughout her own healing process. At present, she spends much of her time serving as Director of the Wildflower Alliance, a peer-to-peer support and training organization. Wildflower has received international recognition including in 2021 by the World Health Organization for providing exemplary, rights-based crisis alternatives. Learn more about Sera and her work in the 2018 Sun Magazine article, ‘An Open Mind’: https://tinyurl.com/OpenMindSD

Knowledge Translation 101 (Summer research skills workshop series, session 3)

June 29, 2022

Speaker: Leah Crockett, PhD Candidate, Dept. of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba

Abstract: We all know it's important to move knowledge into action to maximize the impact of our research. In this session. we'll break down what we mean when we say "knowledge translation (KT)", providing key examples to help you think beyond traditional end-of-grant KT and dissemination strategies.

The use of plain language in research settings (Summer research skills workshop series, session 2)

June 22, 2022

Speaker: Catherine Rodgers, Director of Communications, People First of Canada

Abstract: As an approach to communication that begins with the needs of the reader, plain language focuses on providing the reader the information they need in a form they can understand. This seminar will be of interest to any researchers working with participants, community members, or the broader public, and will provide a helpful introduction to developing accessible public-facing materials.

Research, policy, and practice (Summer research skills workshop series, session 1)

June 15, 2022

Speaker: Prof. Jack Lindsay, Chair of ADES, Brandon University

Abstract: Legislation and policy empower and constrict professional practice in many expert occupations. This talk will explore, through an engaged discussion with the audience, the cycle of how an issue can arise that leads to policy decisions, then potentially legislative or regulatory changes, that can impact the environment of practice.

Case Studies: Method or Methodology?

October, 2021

Speakers: Ashley Pylpowich, RN, BN, MN, NP, & Kristen Bigelow-Talbert, CPHQ, MS

Getting Started with NVivo

July, 2021

Speaker: Madeleine Kruth, MSc
CCSRMH Community Affiliate

Nailing Your Key Messages: Considerations & Suggestions for Improving Presentations of Research Findings

April, 2021

Speaker: Jane Karpa RPN, PhD
Associate Professor - Department of Psychiatric Nursing
Brandon University

Practical Strategies for Grant Writing

November, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Panagiota “Penny” Tryphonopolous
Assistant Professor - Faculty of Health Studies
Brandon University

What’s New in APA 7th Edition?

Thursday, September 10, 2020  

Speaker(s): Karen Skinner, Fernanda Batista
Student Services
Brandon University

Knowledge Translation

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Bev Temple
Assoc. Professor
Brandon University

Research Skills - Summer Speaker Series
A Guide to the Transcription Process

Summer, 2020

Speaker: Dr. Breanna Lawrence,

Dr. Rachel Herron
Director
Centre for the Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health