Network
Atlas is one part of a much larger picture. Our mandate is to increase knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and collaboration, and as such we are part of a wide-ranging, extended community – what we call our Network. We aim to maintain and grow our existing network groups and we encourage new relationships to form in response to system needs.
As an independent intermediary team, we proudly serve Canadian Veterans and their Families alongside other national organizations. Atlas also works with international organizations in a global effort to enhance the mental health of those who have served as well as their Families.
For more information about who we are and what we do, click on the video linked below.
Purpose
We develop and maintain partnerships to advance research that is meaningful to Veterans and their Families. These partnerships create and mobilize practical resources across the country. No Veteran or Family member should be without supports, no matter where they are in Canada. By working with other groups across the country, we can reduce duplication and enhance alignment across the broader mental health and well-being system.
Lived experience team
Our work focuses amplifying the voices of Veterans and Families with lived experience, and those who study and support them. We have a team, who brings their personal experiences as a Veteran or Veteran Family member to Atlas Institute.
Advisory committee
The central node of our group of networks is Atlas’s Advisory Committee. This committee guides the strategic direction of Atlas as a whole.
- Glynne Hines (Veteran Reference Group Chair)
- Candace Bell, MIS (Veteran Reference Group Vice-Chair)
- Tanis Giczi (Family Member Reference Group Chair)
- Sydney Smee, Ph. D. (Family Member Reference Group Vice-Chair)
- Oliver Thorne, Veterans Transition Network (Service Provider Reference Group Chair)
- Jennifer Bourassa, Captain (Retired) RSW, MSW, British Columbia Operational Stress Injury Clinic (Service Provider Reference Group Vice-Chair)
- Dr. Margaret McKinnon, Homewood Chair in Mental Health and Trauma, Professor and Associate Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University (Research Reference Group Chair)
- Walter Callaghan, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto (Research Reference Group Vice-Chair)
Reference groups
Four Reference Groups exchange expertise and knowledge with the Advisory Committee and with the staff of Atlas. Each Reference Group has a chairperson and vice-chairperson that forms the Advisory Committee. These groups represent:
Chair: Glynne Hines
Vice-Chair: Candace Bell, M.I.S.
Co-Chair: Brian McKenna, National Strategic Advisor, Veterans, Atlas
Members:
- Bruno Paquette, Staff Sergeant (Retired), Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Floyd Powder, MWO (Retired), Veterans North
- Dr. Lori Buchart
- Natalie Champagne, Corporal (Retired)
- Simon Logan
Chair: Tanis Giczi
Vice-Chair: Sydney Smee, Ph. D.
Co-Chair: Laryssa Lamrock, National Strategic Advisor, Families, Atlas
Members:
- Anna Miller
- Bethany Easterbrook, MSc, PhD Student
- Paula Ramsay, Director for Serving Families, Caregivers’ Brigade
Chair: Oliver Thorne, Veterans Transition Network
Vice-Chair: Jennifer Bourassa, Captain (Retired) RSW, MSW, British Columbia Operational Stress Injury Clinic
Co-Chair: Tara McFadden, Director, Implementation, Atlas
Members:
- Dani Alarie, MSW, RSW, Nova Scotia Operational Stress Injury Clinic
- Elaine Waddington Lamont, PhD, MSW, RSW, Women Warriors’ Healing Garden
- Jeanette Draude, WCG
- Jennifer Dodd, RN, MC, Edmonton Operational Stress Injury Clinic
- Julius Brown, Provincial Director, OSI-CAN a Program of CMHA SK
- Dr. Lorraine Patterson, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
- Dr. May Wong, Carewest Operational Stress Injury Clinic
- Dr. Michele Todd, The Royal
- Ruth Stanley-Aikens, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre – Dept of National Defence
- Dr. Vivien Lee, Ontario Provincial Police
Chair: Dr. Margaret McKinnon, Homewood Chair in Mental Health and Trauma, Professor and Associate Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University
Vice-Chair: Walter Callaghan, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
Co-Chair: Fardous Hosseiny, President and CEO, Atlas
Members:
- Abraham Rudnick, MD, PhD, Clinical Director and Professor, Nova Scotia Operational Stress Injury Clinic and Dalhousie University
- Dr. Candice Monson, Ryerson University
- Colleen Dell, PhD, University of Saskatchewan
- Dr. Deborah Norris, Mount Saint Vincent University
- Dr. Duncan Shields, UBC Faculty of Medicine
- Dr. Heidi Cramm, Queen’s University
- J Don Richardson, MD, FRCPC, St. Joseph’s OSI Clinic/MacDonald Franklin OSI research Centre
- Dr. Jakov Shlik, The Royal
- Dr. Mathieu Bilodeau, VAC, CIUSSS de la Capitale Nationale
- Shauna Mulligan, MA, Cpl (Retired), Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones, Veteran’s Affairs Ombudsman Council, University of Manitoba, Indinawe maaganidog. Ozhaawaashkwa Benisii Ikwe nindizhinikaaz. Mikinaak nindoodem. Wiinibiigong Manidooba-akiing nindoonjibaa
- Dr. Suzette Brémault-Phillips, HiMARC (Heroes in Mind Advocacy and Research Consortium), University of Alberta
Note: The names listed include only the individuals who have provided explicit consent to be included on the Atlas website. The list is not comprehensive or inclusive of all current or past Reference Group members.
Reference Groups offer Atlas insight on specific initiatives and priority areas from their unique points of view, while also serving as ambassadors on behalf of our organization.
The purpose of the Reference Groups is to:
- Offer diverse forms of experience and expertise in Veteran mental health promotion, research, practice, and policy to support the betterment of Veteran and first responder mental health.
- Guide Atlas’s work by creating structures for input, feedback, and strategic advice from multi-disciplinary and diverse groups.
- Hold dedicated space for knowledge exchange related to PTSD and related mental health conditions based on best practices and promising research evidence.
- Encourage and support collaboration related to Veteran PTSD and mental health.
- Expand the reach and presence of Atlas by acting as ambassadors across Canada.
Communities of practice
In addition to Atlas’s Advisory Committee and Reference Groups, we have established or belong to various communities of practice that bring together partners and stakeholders who are united by a common interest to share information and improve practice on specific topics (e.g., Moral Injury, the Canadian Military Sexual Trauma) and/or population groups.
We strive to deliver stakeholder engagement well, and with purpose, based on best practices in engagement. We are guided by common principles, actions and implementation approaches that directly involve people with lived and living experience. We prioritize building these communities of Veterans, Families and mental health professionals into the governance and functioning of our network.
Intended outcomes
Our common purpose is to improve the well-being of Canadian Veterans and their Families.
Through our networks we build pathways for developing new knowledge and sharing information with and between Veterans, Veteran Family Members, service providers, researchers and the public that will improve the mental wellness of Canadian Veterans and their Families.
Reference group intranet
Access our member-only space where Reference Group members can get relevant agendas, calendars and documents.
Available in English Only
