{"id":966,"date":"2022-10-11T11:05:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T15:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/its-cuthemedev1.carleton.ca\/mental-health\/?page_id=966"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:06:11","slug":"awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Awards\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Mental Health Advocate Award 2025 \u2013 Dr. Mary Simmering McDonald, Dr. Laila Din Osmun, and Dr.Jennifer Vriend, Hosts of the Coping Toolbox Podcast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drs. Laila Din Osmun, Mary Simmering McDonald, and Jennifer Vriend are Ottawa-based registered psychologists who work together to support children, adolescents, and families with mental health challenges. They first met during their internship at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and each completed CPA-accredited training programs. Drawing on their collective experience, they help young people navigate concerns such as anxiety, depression, grief, and resilience.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Together, they co-host The Coping Toolbox: A Child Psych Podcast<\/i>, where they share practical, evidence-based strategies to support mental wellness. Their goal is to make mental health knowledge accessible to parents, educators, and professionals, while reducing stigma and bridging the gap between research and everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond their clinical and podcast work, they are active in community education and advocacy, united in their commitment to promoting the well-being of youth and families in Ottawa and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out their podcast here: https:\/\/thecopingtoolbox.podbean.com<\/a>\/!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2024 \u2013 Peggy Hickman, Lived Experience Expert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peggy is an expert through lived experience with schizophrenia\/psychosis for almost 30 years.  She is a passionate advocate, being a face and voice for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, helping to educate and raise awareness wherever and whenever she can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peggy has shared her story, and message, at various venues and events, appeared in numerous TV, radio, magazine and printed news articles. She also is the focus of a documentary film that follows her journey with this illness, and how she came to use running as a <\/a>much needed coping tool. The documentary is entitled \u2018A Mental Marathon<\/i>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has raised thousands of dollars through various fundraising efforts, co-organized community charity races promoting schizophrenia awareness, education, and created \u201cRUN WITH IT\u201d; a learn to run group for people with schizophrenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only does Peggy educate about what it is like to have schizophrenia she tries to learn as much about the illness as possible and the various techniques available to help manage it. She has presented at a number of international conferences, winning an award for her poster presentation at the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with her doctor, Peggy co-designed and co-facilitates \u201cHappy Hiking Ottawa\u201d a weekly, positive psychology, character strengths focused, nature and outdoor fitness group, for those with mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most importantly, Peggy is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and a very energetic, and always eager to play, grandmother, to five wonderful grandchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To quote Peggy, \u201cIt\u2019s not the illness that defines me, it\u2019s what I do despite<\/i> the illness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peggy is a true inspiration receiving The Royal\u2019s Inspiration Award in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peggy received MeWeRTH\u2019s Courage to Speak Award, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2023 – Linda Hunter, Healthcare Leader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda is a semi-retired executive healthcare leader and former Chief Nurse who has worked locally, nationally, and internationally in healthcare over the last 35 years. She has worked clinically, in education, and in administration throughout the continuum of care in healthcare\u2014from neonates to adults and with seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda is an expert in quality improvement and performance measurement and has worked extensively in the quality and patient safety fields in healthcare. She is a Patient Engagement Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis with the Canadian Institute of Health Research and is a member of the Institute\u2019s Advisory Board.She has co-developed online educational modules for patients and researchers about Patient Engagement in Research \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda is also a patient and lives with spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and severe degenerative disc disease and has lived with chronic pain for over 15 years. She is a member of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and is a member of the Fibromyalgia Association of Canada. As well, Linda is an Essential Caregiver to her Mum, who lives with dementia, and is a volunteer who provides palliative and end-of-life care to residents in long term care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda states: \u201cIt is vital that the patient voice is respected, listened to, and incorporated into change in the delivery of health care services, including research. Patients are experts about their disease and the lived experience. They are becoming more informed and knowledgeable, and it is imperative that they are included in the development of plans of what is researched and help bring that to the clinical world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2022 \u2013 Benjamin Leikin, Ottawa Public Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin is a leader in Canada\u2019s mental health community. His championship of mental health is inspired by his own personal and family mental health challenges during his youth. Currently, Benjamin is the program manager of Ottawa Public Health\u2019s Mental Health, Addictions, and Substance Use unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin developed and implemented the first mental health strategy for the City of Ottawa. In 2015, Benjamin succeeded in getting the safeTALK<\/a> workshop added to Ottawa\u2019s Learning Centre program, thereby making suicide prevention training available to all 17,000 City of Ottawa employees and making the city stand out as a leader in workplace mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin is a fierce advocate for suicide prevention. He developed and led the \u201cHave that talk\u201d anti-stigma and education campaign aimed at suicide prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin was named one of the 150 leading Canadians for Mental Health by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He also has been the recipient of a Forty under 40 award by the Ottawa Board of Trade in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2021 \u2013 Elizabeth Manley<\/a>, Olympic silver medalist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Manley is a former competitive figure skater and Olympic silver medallist. She has participated in two Olympic Games, six World Championships, and has won three National Titles. After spending many years in the US performing and coaching, Elizabeth now lives back in Canada, where she coaching and doing numerous speaking engagements. She is an advocate for mental health, a certified life coach, and a member of the Order of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth\u2019s interest in mental health advocacy comes from her own life experiences, and her strong belief in helping others. At speaking engagements, Elizabeth relives her incredible personal journey, giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it takes to make it to the top, and speaks with honesty about the importance of mental health and surviving the loss of her parents. As a skater, an Olympian, and survivor, she hopes to inspire others with her mental health journey, and believes that it\u2019s important to continue to support mental health care and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth has received many awards for her mental health advocacy, most recently receiving the \u201cCourage to Speak Award\u201d from MeWeRTH at Psychology Mental Health Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is as great for me as winning an Olympic medal,\u201d Manley told CTV News Ottawa. \u201cBecause this is my path now, and this is what I do for a living, and to be recognized for it \u2013 it just warms my heart, and makes me realize that I\u2019m doing the right thing, and that this is my calling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a MeWeRTH Champion, Elizabeth will engage with the 杏吧原创 Community and share her message of hope and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere might be that one person that\u2019s suffering in silence right now, that maybe I might be that one voice to just say, \u2018OK \u2013 I\u2019m safe, I can go for help; if Elizabeth Manley can do it, I can do it,’\u201d she says<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2020 \u2013 Cathrine Pettersen<\/a>, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cathrine\u2019s Ph.D. dissertation focuses on justice-involved adult women. The overall goals of her current dissertation are a) to systematically review and meta-analyze the relationship between mental disorders and recidivism among adult women, and b) to use latent class analyses to derive classes of adult women, based on gender-neutral, gender-specific, and mental health variables. Ultimately, results of the studies may be used to inform case management, risk and needs assessments, security classifications, and treatment programs, all with the aim of increasing empirical knowledge of the underlying causes of crime and reducing recidivism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cathrine\u2019s research interests also include scale validation and associated latent modeling techniques (e.g., CFA, EFA, and LCA) as well as meta-analysis.  She is most interested in special populations, including justice-involved adult women, psychopathic and non-psychopathic men who have sexually offended, and mentally disordered men and women in conflict with the law. In addition, Cathrine is often preoccupied with the welfare of incarcerated men and women in Canada and has focused on the use of administrative segregation (solitary confinement) with federally incarcerated adult women in Canada in a recent (not for publication) paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to Speak Award 2019 \u2013 Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon<\/a>, President and Vice-Chancellor, 杏吧原创 University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon started his role as President and Vice-Chancellor of 杏吧原创 University on July 1, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Bacon brings his passion for mental health advocacy to the 杏吧原创 community that extends beyond the university\u2019s borders. Dr. Bacon became interested in how trauma \u2013 physical and emotional \u2013 impacts brain structure and function, and in how these negative effects can be mitigated and even reversed. \u201cAs someone with lived experience of childhood trauma, mental health struggles, and substance use, I speak publicly on these issues to break the stigma and promote the important idea that healing is always possible\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His research is focused on perception in the visual and auditory systems, and on the integration and processing of sensory signals in the brain towards elaborating our perception of what we call reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mental Health Advocate Award 2025 \u2013 Dr. Mary Simmering McDonald, Dr. Laila Din Osmun, and Dr.Jennifer Vriend, Hosts of the Coping Toolbox Podcast Drs. Laila Din Osmun, Mary Simmering McDonald, and Jennifer Vriend are Ottawa-based registered psychologists who work together to support children, adolescents, and families with mental health challenges. They first met during their internship at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[],"class_list":["post-966","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2755,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/966\/revisions\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mental-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}