Mental Health Summit : Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Dr. T. Larry Myette, BSc (Pharm), MD, MPH, DABPM, CIME, Director and Occupational Medicine Consultant, Strategic Workplace Health, Healthcare Benefit Trust

Dr. Myette is a former Command Surgeon (senior physician) of the Canadian Navy and Regional Medical Officer at the Occupational Health and Safety Agency of Health Canada. He is currently Director, Strategic Workplace Health and Occupational Medicine Consultant at Healthcare Benefit Trust in British Columbia.

Dr. Myette holds degrees in Pharmacy, Medicine and Public Health, is certified as a specialist in Occupational Medicine and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. His special interests are in the areas of integrated workplace health management, population health, chronic disease management and mental health in the workplace. Dr. Myette was Co-Chair of the Depression in the Workplace Collaborative and co-author of a comprehensive report, Depression & Work Function: Bridging the Gap Between Mental Health Care & the Workplace (http://www.carmha.ca/publications/index.cfm?contentID=3).

He is also the Medical Advisor on Mental Health in the Workplace to the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health and Addictions, and Chair of the B.C. Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. Dr. Myette is Co-Leader of the Depression in the Workplace Project of the American College Of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Co-Editor of the April 2008 Special Edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, dedicated to the subject of Depression in the Workplace.

Academic Speaker

Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych. Adjunct Professor and Research Scientist, Consortium for Organizational Mental Health (COMH), CARMHA, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych., a clinical psychologist, holds a position as an Adjunct Professor and Research Scientist with the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA), Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University. She conducts applied research and clinical work in the area of mental health and addiction, with a particular interest to these issues as they pertain to the workplace context.

As part of her role with CARMHA, Dr. Samra has been a principal in the development, evaluation, and dissemination of a self-care manual for depression in the workplace (Antidepressant Skills at Work: Dealing with Mood Problems in the Workplace; Bilsker, Gilbert & Samra, 2007; www.carmha.ca/antidepressant-skills/work/). She has also been involved in a range of activities on behalf of the BC Workplace Mental Health & Addiction Scientific Committee, including conducting a survey of the relevant research literature in the area of workplace mental health and addiction; development of a framework for conceptualizing workplace mental health issues across stakeholder groups and levels of prevention; and coordination of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Scientific Congress on workplace mental health and addiction issues, held in Vancouver in May 2007.

Prior to joining CARMHA, Dr. Samra worked as the senior clinician on an interdisciplinary assessment and treatment team serving an occupational disability population. She provided and oversaw services for individuals who were off work due to a combination of mental health, addiction, and physical conditions. Dr. Samra is the recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association’s New Researcher Award (2002). She continues to be active in a range of clinical, professional and educational ventures including serving as a Clinical Associate at the SFU Clinical Psychology Centre, where she supervises graduate students in clinical psychology; being Co-Chair of the BC Psychologically Healthy Workplace Collaborative; and serving as Vice-President for the British Columbia Psychological Association.