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A message from Dr. Wendy Fletcher, President and Vice-Chancellor, Renison University College
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This announcement extends gratitude and a fond farewell along with congratulations and a warm welcome to our colleagues in the KDE Hub.
Since 2019, Renison University College has proudly hosted the KDE Hub for Mental Health Promotion. The twinning of hearts and minds between Renison and the KDE Hub opened new pathways for supporting and empowering the mental health and wellbeing of young Canadians and others who are most vulnerable. It also opened new opportunities for student learning, faculty research, academic-practice partnerships, and service to local and national communities.
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We are privileged to have collaborated with Dr. Barbara Riley as she created the foundational work which we now know as the KDE Hub for Mental Health Promotion. Her vision and tenacity in moving this work forward has been an inspiration to all of us. Barb has been an unwavering champion of the KDE Hub and its work: establishing Renison as its home Institution, hiring the Secretariat team, developing the Hub’s identity and brand, building strong relationships and partnerships, forming a Hub Resource Collaborative with members from across Canada, and securing another four years of funding to build on the previous three, along with new funding (announcement forthcoming) that will expand the reach and influence of the Hub.
We have enjoyed our collaboration with Barb and wish her well in a next chapter through retirement.
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As part of the next chapter for the KDE Hub, we are delighted to welcome our new Scientific Co-Directors Dr. Alice Schmidt Hanbidge and Dr. Colleen McMillan. They were successful in a competition co-led by myself and Faculty of Health Dean Lili Liu from University of Waterloo. Alice and Colleen start in their new Hub roles April 1, 2022. We are confident that the Hub’s new leadership will well sustain the work which Barb began and continue to nurture its growth and evolution in helping mental health promotion flourish in Canada.
Drs. Hanbidge and McMillan are both associate professors in the Renison School of Social Work with extensive clinical, research and teaching experience relevant to co-leading the KDE Hub.
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Alice brings social work practice experience centered on promoting child, youth and family mental health resilience in schools and communities, supporting incarcerated adults, and advocating for trauma-informed child welfare reform. Her interprofessional research activities and collaborative teaching practices effectively contribute to the equitable advancement of diverse program delivery and mental health promotion.
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Colleen’s experience spans clinical, community, and policy domains focusing on mental health practice, advocacy, and reform in primary and tertiary settings for children, youth, and their families. Her research is interprofessional and transglobal with a focus on equity and inclusion in social services and mental health promotion.
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Barb, Alice and Colleen have been working closely to facilitate a smooth leadership transition for the KDE Hub, guided by a sincere commitment to building on the Hub’s strong foundations and advancing the Hub’s increasingly vital mandate. I’d like to extend my gratitude to them, to Dean Liu, to many other colleagues at Renison, University of Waterloo, Public Health Agency of Canada and the KDE Hub Secretariat for their commitment and roles in facilitating a successful leadership transition.
My final thanks are to those working to improve determinants of mental health in all parts of Canada and with populations who are most vulnerable and most affected by the pandemic. The KDE Hub exists to support your efforts and Renison is honoured to contribute to that important mission.
Wendy Fletcher, PhD
President and Vice-Chancellor
Renison University College
Affiliated with the University of Waterloo
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