About the speakers:

Dr. Jennifer Mootz is a licensed psychologist, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University, and Research Scientist at the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene/New York State Psychiatric Institute. She earned her PhD in Counseling Psychology from Texas Woman’s University in 2015. Her NIMH-funded research has focused on reducing the global mental health and substance use treatment gap in low-income and humanitarian settings internationally and in the US through digitized innovations and consideration of social determinants. She has partnered with community and governmental agencies to conduct research on implementation of comprehensive mental health care scale-up of services. Jennifer was honored to receive two awards from the American Psychological Association for her global research on intersections between armed conflict and gender-based violence. She has been identified as one of 35 emerging psychologists across 22 different countries by the International Congress of Psychology.

Dr. Sarah McKenzie is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Otago, New Zealand. She completed her PhD in Public Health from Otago University in 2017. Her Royal Society of New Zealand funded research combines photovoice methods with mental health geography to provide visual and narrative insights into men’s lived experiences of anxiety, depression and suicidal distress and how particular spaces and places in New Zealand may help or hinder men in managing their own mental health journeys. The aim of her research is to contribute to improved guidance for upstream mental health promotion and suicide prevention to address the high rates of suicide among New Zealand men.

Dr. Francine Darroch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Carleton University. She leads participatory action research that focuses on leveraging physical activity to improve quality of life, enhance social cohesion and community connections and improve overall health by way of addressing individual, systemic, and structural barriers to health and well-being. While her research is predominantly focused on self-identified women and children, her work also extends to exploring and advocating for gender-sensitive programming for fathers living in marginalizing circumstances.

About us:
The Reducing Male Suicide (RMS) Research Excellence Cluster is affiliated with the Men's Health Research Program at the University of British Columbia. RMS aims to purposefully work across UBC faculties and externally with national and international partners to create and mobilize knowledge to de-stigmatize men’s mental illness and suicidality, reduce disparities in care, and lead effective male suicide prevention interventions globally. (reducingmalesuicide.ubc.ca)