Welcome to my site. And thank you for visiting. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
I work as a research and evaluation consultant, professional writer and speaker, and social scientist. My specialty is mental health.
I work with clients and partners who want to:
- Create and build mentally healthier workplaces, schools, families and communities;
- Understand, implement or evaluate best practices and tools for psychological fitness and mental wellness in workplaces, schools and other contexts;
- Combat the stigma of mental illness and substance use problems;
- Improve help-seeking, treatment and recovery for people with mental health and substance use problems.
I offer services in qualitative research, quantitative research and program evaluation, as well as professional writing, mental health consulting and presentations.
I hold a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Alberta and have over 15 years of research experience using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs. I have extensive experience in program evaluation, survey research, needs assessments, and qualitative research (including model development). Much of my work has been published in the peer reviewed literature.
I hold an Assistant Professorship (adjunct) in the department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary, and am an associate member of the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education. I am also a member of Canadian Evaluation Society and the Project Management Institute. While my office is physically located in the beautiful mountains of British Columbia, I travel and work with clients throughout Canada.
For the last five years I’ve worked closely with the Mental Health Commission of Canada as a senior consultant researcher for Opening Minds, the Commission’s stigma reduction initiative.
A summary of some of my key projects can be found here.
It is also important for me to share that I have expertise through lived experience, both as a family member and a friend. I lost my best friend to suicide from bipolar disorder in 2012. My dedication to mental health research and consulting rests in a belief that as a society we can do better — we can do better at prioritizing mental health, we can do better at understanding mental health resiliency, and we can do better creating a culture free from stigma.
Stephanie Knaak, PhD