Teaching & Speaking

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My Teaching Philosophy

At the heart of my teaching is a commitment to fostering spaces of curiosity, compassion, and critical engagement. I guide students to explore knowledge not only through academic texts, but also through lived experience, creative practice, and diverse ways of knowing. Rooted in critical public health and informed by my own experience navigating disability, I prioritize accessibility, universal design, and the recognition of multiple pathways to learning.

My pedagogy is experiential and relational: I invite students to bring their full selves into the learning process, to learn with and from one another, and to engage deeply with questions of equity, justice, and well-being. Failure and vulnerability are essential parts of learning, and I strive to create environments where students feel supported to take risks, challenge assumptions, and imagine new possibilities. Ultimately, my goal is to nurture both intellectual growth and personal transformation, equipping learners to carry forward skills and the courage to create meaningful change in their communities.

Speaking Topics

  • Living Liminally: Navigating Chronic Illness and Episodic Disability

  • Spirituality, Death, and Ongoing Relationships with the Dead

  • Fostering Mental Health & Well-Being in Higher Education

  • Redefining Disability and Belonging in the Workplace

  • Building Accessible Systems for Diverse Learners and Workers

  • Supporting Youth Mental Health and Resilience

  • Critical Perspectives on Global Health: Equity, Power, and Possibility

Teaching Experience

    • Stress and Strategies to Promote Wellbeing (NURS 180)

    • Capstone: Effective Workplace Responses to Mental Health (DMCS 785)

    • Stress and Anxieties in the Workplace (DMCS 765)

    • Strategies to Retain Workers Experiencing Mental Health Challenges (DMCCS 775)

    • Substance Recreation Use, Misuse, and Addictions: A Disability Management Perspective (DMCS 780)

    • Problem Solving with Groups (DMCCM)

    • Introduction to Conflict Resolution (DMCCK)

    • Professional Conduct (DMCCX)

    • Managing the Return-to-Work Process (DMCCY)

    • International Public Health - Haiti (GSGH 841E)

    • Food Policy (GSN 504)

    • Essential Global Health Skills (GSGH 832)

    • Global Health Experience - Tanzania (GSGH 821E)

    • International Public Health - Tanzania (GSGH 841E)

    • Global Health Research (GSGH 522)

    • Global Health Journal Club (RES 501)

    • Determinants and Health Impacts of Food Choices (GH 568)

  • Teaching Assistant (Undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctoral levels)

    • Grand Opportunities in Global Health (PHS 100H)

    • Global Public Health (CHL 5700)

    • Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (CHL 5221H)

    • Introduction to Public Health Research (CHL 5005H)

Invited Talks & Presentations

    • Knowledge, Development, & Exchange Hub, Public Health Agency of Canada (2024). Webinar Co-presenter: Ripple Effects Mapping to Capture Program Impact

    • Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (2022). Invited Online Interview and Presentation: Research to Impact Insights from CIHR Health System Impact Fellows

    • Public Health in Real Life (2021). Invited Online YouTube Channel Interview and Presentation: A Phenomenological Account of Women Graduate Students: The Lived Experience of Global Public Health Practice

    • Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division (2020). Webinar Panelist: Mental Health Impacts, Inequities and Investments for BC’s Recovery

    • Centre for Global Health at the University of Toronto (2020). Webinar Panelist: The Intersection of Mental Health and Culture During and Post COVID-19

    • Peter Gilligan Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (2020). Invited Workshop: Reflexivity: Positionality, orientation, and embodiment in global health research

    • Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research and ThriveHive (2020). Webinar Presenter: Trauma and Distress in Global Health Work

    • Institute of Work and Health (2019). S. Leonard Syme Training Fellowship in Work and Health Presentation: A Phenomenological Study of North American Female Graduate Student Experience in Global Public Health Practice