Alisha Haseeb is a medical student at the University of Toronto, with an interest in advancing accessible, youth-centred, and culturally responsive care.

Through her experience of immigrating from Pakistan, Alisha has had first-hand experience with the impact of cultural attitudes on the well-being of minority communities. As the founder of her high school Jack.org chapter, she created a safe space for exploration and education on this issue, which marked the beginning of her mental health advocacy. She continued her community involvement as a recipient of a United Way Innovation grant, through which she planned her hometown’s first Youth Summit for Mental Health.

Alisha has since contributed to national mental health initiatives with the Mood Disorders Society of Canada and as a member of the MHCC’s Youth Advisory Council. In these roles, she has advised on engagement frameworks and supported the integration of youth perspectives into health care and health-care system planning. She also volunteers as a crisis responder with Kids Help Phone.

Her research with the Ontario Brain Injury Association and the Advancing Youth Mental Health Lab has focused on evaluating psychosocial health outcomes and using measurement tools to support clinical decision-making. She is particularly interested in how patient-reported outcome measures, care transitions, and system-level factors shape the diagnostic process. As a medical trainee and youth advocate, she hopes to apply these insights to inform more equitable, patient-centred care.

Shada Aborawi is a medical student at the University of Calgary and Co-Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada Youth Council. She is interested in how mental health systems can better reflect the needs and realities of the young people they serve, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

Through several years of involvement with Kickstand, an Alberta-based integrated youth services initiative, Shada contributed to youth advisory work focused on service design, accessibility, and engagement. This experience shaped her interest in best practices for meaningfully involving people with lived and living experience in decision-making processes, beyond tokenistic consultation.

She has been involved in national mental health initiatives and has shared her work through presentations and panels on youth engagement and co-design. Her research experience includes community-based work examining access to mental health and addictions services in rural Southern Alberta, where she worked with community members and local stakeholders to better understand barriers to care and community priorities.

Grounded in her experiences as a Muslim woman of colour, Shada is mindful of how culture, stigma, and systemic factors shape experiences of care. She is particularly interested in improving access to rural health and mental health care, and in understanding how racism operates as a social and structural determinant of mental health and well-being. She hopes to carry these perspectives forward in her training in medicine, with a focus on equity, community-informed care, and improving access to support for underserved populations.

Colbi Mike is a community-focused leader, consultant, and graduate student committed to advancing mental health, wellness, and meaningful connection across diverse communities. As the founder of Nistes Training and Consulting Services, she partners with organizations to deliver programming grounded in restorative justice, empowerment, and collective healing. A member of Poundmaker Cree Nation within Treaty 6 territory, Colbi is based in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Her work is shaped by lived experience and strong professional and academic expertise, allowing her to bridge systems and communities in a way that is practical, culturally aware, and impactful. She also serves on the Mental Health Commission of Canada Youth Council, contributing to national efforts to strengthen mental health supports and outcomes for all communities.

Cassandra Bradbury (née Kekich) is a passionate applied researcher, program and policy leader, and mental health advocate who is a member of the Canadian Sociological Association and Community-Based Research Canada. She holds a Master of Arts in Sociology (specializing in Social Psychology) from McMaster University, a Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) in Criminal Justice, as well as a diploma in Police Foundations. She is a recipient of the Governor General’s Academic Medal.

Cassandra has a diverse working background in numerous research roles, program and policy formation, implementation, and evaluation, leadership, law enforcement, and suicide crisis intervention. She is particularly passionate about research and knowledge formation. Cassandra’s work and advocacy has reached into numerous topics in socioemotional health and wellbeing including but not limited to young adult mental health, intimacy and sexual ethics, deviance, interpersonal and gender-based violence, law enforcement and military mental health and wellness, and topics in young adult self-perception. She is also a passionate community leader serving as a Director on the Board of Directors at the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre where she contributes to governance and leadership. Cassandra is devoted to researching, advocating for, and promoting the flourishing of young adult interpersonal relationships through healthy habits, education, and mental and relational well-being.

Isaiah Neil is a youth advocate and entrepreneur dedicated to advancing mental health, resilience, and high performance. A recent University of Alberta graduate, Isaiah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in General Science (Major in Biological Science, Minor in Psychology) and a Certificate in Community Service-Learning. He is also an alumnus of Bears and Pandas Athletics at the University of Alberta.

In addition to his work with the MHCC National Youth Council, Isaiah serves as a Youth Ambassador and Speaker with Jack.org. He is driven by a mission to transform healthcare policy and individual health practices, aiming to improve mental health literacy and outcomes for youth and families across Canada.

James (he/him) is a passionate mental health advocate and an avid learner, working at the intersection of mental health, digital health, and health systems change.

Through research roles at institutions including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the University Health Network (UHN), James has contributed to projects focused on digital mental health innovation, care navigation, service design, and patient-centred approaches to improving care quality and access. His work also involves supporting the development of digital health tools to strengthen youth mental health systems while remaining grounded in equity and human connection.

James is also actively involved in long-term youth advisory work with organizations and initiatives connected to CAMH, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), The Garry Hurvitz Centre for Community Mental Health (GH-CCMH) at SickKids, and the University of Calgary. Across these roles, he helps bring youth perspectives into research, program design, knowledge translation, and strategic discussions about how mental health services can better reflect the lived realities of young people.

A graduate of Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Life Sciences, James has held leadership roles across large-scale student-run organizations, where he worked to foster mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a more connected and supportive student community. Beyond campus, he volunteered at Providence Care Hospital’s Seniors Mental Health unit, where he played a key role in developing and implementing creative programming for older adults living with psychiatric and cognitive conditions.

These experiences have shown him that lasting change begins when those most affected are empowered to shape the systems that impact them. Grounded in equity and lived experience, James strives to build a world where every person feels supported, and no one has to navigate their mental health journey alone.

Jeanna (she/her) is a mental health advocate and researcher from Vancouver with close to a decade of experience. She is passionate about promoting mental health education, destigmatizing mental illness, and advocating for the creation of accessible, adequate, and appropriate mental health services for youth from diverse backgrounds. Jeanna also deeply cares about promoting genuine and ethical youth engagement when designing and evaluating mental health programs and services.

Jeanna has previously worked on mental health projects with groups such as Anxiety Canada and the University of Northern British Columbia as a speaker, writer, and facilitator. She is currently a member of the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Research for Mental Health Equity in the Asia-Pacific – Digital (REMAP-D) cluster’s International Lived Experience Advisory Panel (I-LEAP). She also sits on Foundry’s Provincial Youth Advisory Committee and Youth and Family Research Steering Committee. In addition, Jeanna is currently the only youth on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Advisory Committee on Ethics, where she brings her perspectives and experiences from engaging in youth health research and policy-making contexts to provide advice on health research ethics priorities. She holds a BSc from UBC and an MPH from McMaster University.

Nagi (he/him) holds a Bachelor of Arts at McGill University with a major in psychology and minors in behavioral science and in gender, sexuality, feminist, and social justice studies, as well as a Master of Science in rehabilitation sciences at the University of Montreal. He is currently completing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Montreal, where his research aims to examine the developmental trajectories of psychotic disorders among individuals with intellectual disability and a history of childhood maltreatment.

Nagi has also been working as a crisis intervention worker in his community for nearly two years. In this role, he has met with individuals going through various crises, including suicidality, self-harm, psychosis, eating disorders, depression, trauma, and anxiety. Some of his main tasks involve establishing intervention plans with clients, intervening through the crisis line, and helping clients achieve their personal and mental health goals. While doing so, he has completed a number of training sessions on the prevention and estimation of suicidality, intervening with individuals experiencing a psychotic disorder, and special mental health considerations when working with the immigrant population.

In addition, Nagi works as a part-time research assistant  for the Youth Mental Health and Technology (YMHTech) Lab. His main involvement relates to  the HoryzonsCa project, whose primary goal is determining the feasibility and acceptability of using a digital psychosocial intervention platform to support recovery and prevent relapses in patients with psychotic disorders.

He also worked as a part-time research assistant at the University of Montreal on the BÉRA project, whose primary goal is to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a prevention program aiming to prevent sexual violence perpetrated against women in university settings.

He is also a fellow for DIVERT Mental Health, a national training program for mental health researchers and clinicians that seeks to foster greater inclusivity and accessibility within the Canadian mental health care system.

Nagi’s clinical work, research, and personal experiences have enabled him to perceive the mental health care system in diverse ways. As a result, he feels he is now ready to expand the scale of his advocacy for the well-being of youth with wide-ranging lived experience.

Victoria Gracie is a four-time TEDx speaker, body-image neuroscience researcher, fashion model, and graduate of the University of Toronto with an HBSc double specialist in Psychology and Exceptionality in Human Learning.

After writing for magazine publications on the importance of body image’s impact on mental health at the age of fourteen, Gracie sought to be a leading voice for those with body image disturbances. She brought this message to the beauty industry to reach more young women, including the Miss Canada stage where she placed in the top eight. Through her appearances on national television, podcasts, and her TVO documentary, her advocacy was shaped into scientific education on body image within the realm of neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. Her work led her to being named one of the Top 10 Young Women Making History by the CBC.

Gracie is also the Co-Chair of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa Advisory Committee and a member of the International OCD Foundation’s Special Interest Group for Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Through working with clinicians, mental health professionals, and individuals with lived experience, she aims to bridge gaps in scientific dialogue and make mental health scientific education accessible to all.

Madina is a surgical dermatology Physician Assistant working in Edmonton Alberta. She has leveraged her years of lived experience with mental illness to become a strong advocate for mental health promotion, stigma reduction and suicide prevention. She has a special interest in LGBTQ+ youth and people with disabilities. For years, Madina has presented at local, national and international conferences on topics such as how to better engage young patients in their care, how to reduce barriers to accessing care, and how to foster youth mental health. She is certified in Mental Health First Aid and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills (ASIST).

She has a history of volunteering for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Postsecondary Partnership to Reduce Alcohol Harms, Dalhousie University Student Health Promotion, and Stay Connected, which is an innovative program that facilitates the transition of adolescent mental health patients into the adult mental healthcare system. She has also volunteered on the IWK Health Centre Family Leadership Council, the Medical Services Quality and Patient Safety Committee, the Health Centre Hand Hygiene Champions, and the Climate Driven Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.

Manish is a Resident Physician in Family Medicine at McGill University and a member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Youth Council. He immigrated to Canada from Mauritius at a young age and was raised in Surrey, British Columbia. His work in mental health is shaped by both lived experience and clinical training across British Columbia and Quebec. He has supported individuals in crisis through his work on a suicide crisis line and at a peer support centre and has also worked with refugee and immigrant support organizations in Vancouver. Through his role on the Youth Council, Manish contributes to mental health research, policy, and program development by bringing a youth and lived experience perspective, with a focus on reducing stigma, improving access to care, and supporting more open and compassionate conversations about mental health and suicide in healthcare settings.