The environmental crisis and mental health
Nov 9, 2023 — 9 a.m. to 10:35 a.m.
As part of the International Symposia series and the Year of Action on Education & Climate Action, the Faculty of Education is organizing this event, entitled "The environmental crisis and mental health."
Program
10:00am – 10:05am Indigenous affirmation & opening remarks |
10:05am – 10:20am Presentation 1: Dr. Katie Hayes (Climate Change and Innovation Bureau).
10:20am – 10:35am Presentation 2: Dr. Melissa Genereux (Université de Sherbrooke)
10:35am – 10:50am Presentation 3: Susanna Cottagiri (Queen’s University)
10:50am – 11:00am Break
11:00am – 11:30am Discussion with guest mediator (Dr. Mariette Théberge, University of Ottawa)
11:30am – 11:35am Closing remarks
Dr. Katie Hayes
Senior policy analyst at Health Canada’s Climate Change and Innovation Bureau
Dr. Katie Hayes is a senior policy analyst at Health Canada’s Climate Change and Innovation Bureau where she leads the HealthADAPT program. She is the lead author for the mental health and climate change chapter for the national Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate Report. Her research investigates the mental health effects of climate change, with a specific focus on understanding the inequitable effects of climate change on populations, and policy, program, and practice responses to support psychosocial adaptation. She has published several academic and popular press articles on climate change and mental health. She was trained in 2018 by Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader and she completed her PhD at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in 2019
Dr. Mélissa Généreux
Medical specialist in public health and associate professor at the University of Sherbrook
Dr. Mélissa Généreux, after working as director of public health in Estrie for six years, then as coordinator of the Health program in Ouranos, she now acts as medical advisor to the Estrie Public Health Department. Her expertise in disaster recovery grew through his strong involvement during and after the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy of 2013 as well as through her support during the Fort McMurray fires of 2016 and the spring floods of 2017 and 2019 in Quebec. In addition to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health doctor, she collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Social Services to develop and implement a network of psychological health scouts in the entire Quebec. She regularly conducts population surveys on mental health and well-being in times of crisis.
Susanna Cottagiri
Ph.D. candidate
Susanna Cottagiri is a 2nd year Ph.D. candidate in Epidemiology at Queen’s University, Kingston. For her thesis, she is looking at cancer incidence in the vicinity of Canadian Nuclear Power Plants using the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts (CanCHEC) dataset. Her supervisors are Dr. Paul Villeneuve (Carleton University) and Dr. Will King (Queen’s University). She currently also works part-time as an FSWEP student with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Her other areas of interest and work include environmental exposures such as greenness and walkability and its impact on mental and physical health.