mindyourmind.ca

mindyourmind.caa non-profit mental health program that engages youth, emerging adults and the professionals who serve them to co-develop reliable and relevant resources. These resources are designed to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and increase access and use of community support, both professional and peer-based. Through the use of active engagement, best practice and technology, mindyourmind inspires youth to reach out, get help and give help. In the context of Mobilizing Minds mindyourmind facilitates our Young Adult Team.

  • Maria Luisa Contursi, OATR
  • Christine Garinger, R.N., B.N.
  • Heather Miko-Kelly, B.A.
  • Melissa Taylor-Gates, MLIS
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Maria Luisa Contursi

Maria Luisa Contursi, OATR is the Program Director and Co Founder of mindyourmind, a program of Family Service Thames Valley.

Maria Luisa is a Registered Art Therapist with over twenty years experience working directly with youth and young adults in various settings including inpatient/outpatient, community and school based settings. Her interest is in stakeholder engagement and exploring the benefits of youth/adult partnerships. In this project, she facilitated the young adult team. As well, she provided consultation around youth/researcher partnerships and youth engagement.

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Christine Garinger

Christine Garinger is the Research and Evaluation Lead at mindyourmind. She is a health care professional with 20 years of experience working with young people. Her interest is to help improve the health care system so that it works best for those when they need it.

In this project Christine facilitated the young adult team and their related projects; as well as encouraged young adult/researcher collaboration. Christine also assisted with the development and evaluation of the Mind Pack tool.

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Heather Miko-Kelly

Heather Miko-Kelly is the Youth Projects and Volunteer Coordinator at mindyourmind, a program of Family Service Thames Valley.

Heather holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario and has been working with at-risk and vulnerable youth for over 15 years in various community settings. In this project she helped facilitate the young adult team and assisted with the development of the Mind Pack tool.

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Melissa Taylor-Gates

Melissa Taylor-Gates is the Social Media and Project Coordinator at mindyourmind. A recent graduate of the University of Western Ontario, she holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

She is passionate about giving youth the tools they need to feel empowered and confident about their mental health. In this project she provided consultation around social media strategies and helped moderate the young adult mental health (#YAMH) tweet chat.

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