Senator Norman Paterson Fellowship

My first true exposure to the scope of nursing practice was while assisting with a research project among a team of community nurses who supported shelter-based mental health and harm reduction programs. The ability of nurses to have an incredible impact across direct clinical care, research, practice advancement, and advocacy is what drew me to the profession and led me to apply for nursing school.

I have been very fortunate in my career thus far to practice across each of these domains and continue to learn and grow as a nurse with each new opportunity I take on. I feel particularly lucky to have been supported in taking questions that arose from my clinical practice and pursue answers to these questions through my PhD program and am so thrilled that my work is being supported through awards such as the Senator Norman Paterson Fellowship through the Canadian Nurses Foundation.

My PhD research is focused on understanding the impact of traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, on young people who need mental health services. With increasing public attention being paid to the mental health of youth along with growing understanding of the significant impact of brain injuries, I am hopeful that the findings of my research will help us to better understand the unique mental health care needs of young people with concussions.