Alison Cocking, BSc. PT, M.Ed.

Managing Director
Insight Health Solutions, Trillium Health Partners

Alison Cocking is a strategic healthcare leader who serves as Trillium Health Partner’s Managing Director, Insight Health Solutions, one of Canada’s largest hospital-based disability management third-party programs. As a senior leader in the healthcare sector, Alison has over three decades of experience leading high functioning teams and programs in their delivery of impactful value-based quality services. The ability to financially contribute Insight’s profits to the hospital’s programs and services to help create a new kind of healthcare for a healthier community, is what drives and inspires her. Alison is a UK-trained Physiotherapist with a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Toronto. An avid kayaker, hiker, traveler and general enthusiast of the great outdoors, Alison’s goal is to have visited 100 countries by 2045.

Scott Maxwell

Chief Executive Officer
Wounded Warriors Canada

A dedicated public servant, mental health champion, and not-for-profit business leader, Scott Maxwell is the Chief Executive Officer of Wounded Warriors Canada. Scott’s unique experience intersects public policy, politics, and non-profit business strategy and development. His passion for those who so bravely serve Canada stems from his high school friend, Trooper Darryl Caswell, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on June 11, 2007.

As CEO of Wounded Warriors Canada, the country’s largest non-profit mental health training and counselling provider for Veterans, First Responders and their families, Scott successfully transformed what was a regional, volunteer-based initiative into an organization providing support to over 30,000 trauma exposed professionals and their families each year.

Tim Petersen

President and Chief Executive Officer
WorkSafeNB

Tim has more than 30 years’ experience with WorkSafeNB, including 11 years in executive leadership roles. He has deep expertise in every area of the organization – from prevention, compliance, and stakeholder relations to claims management, work recovery and financial operations.

Tim oversaw the organization’s Prevention Division from 2018 to 2021. He served as Vice-President, Corporate Services and CFO from 2014 to 2018, corporate controller from 2005 to 2014 and manager of internal audit from 1999 to 2004. Tim also acted as WorkSafeNB president and CEO from October 2016 to March 2018 and from October 2021 until June 2022, when he was appointed on a permanent basis.

Tim was born and raised in New Denmark, NB and graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a bachelor of business administration. Tim is a chartered professional accountant, a certified internal auditor and certified information systems auditor.

Tim and his wife live in Saint John, NB.

Angela Gevaudan

WWC Ambassador
Greater Sudbury, Ontario

A sensitive and intuitive soul, Angela has a heightened awareness of her experiences and the experiences of others.  Her lived experience with trauma is rooted in intergenerational trauma, continued through her childhood and was impactful to the point of a post traumatic stress injury following a traumatic loss.

As a former 911 communicator/dispatcher, she was quite impacted both professionally and personally by the loss of her late husband and their two colleagues and friends who were all assassinated in the line of duty on June 4, 2014. The more she learns about trauma, the more she realizes how it has shaped her way of being in so many ways.  That her need to feel safe often takes priority in any given situation and she continues to work towards feeling safe within herself.  Through her post traumatic stress injury, she’s been able to learn a lot from her peers and various health practitioners.  The symptoms she’s experienced with this injury have been and can be scary at times.  Knowing how difficult it can be, and needing to understand this injury for herself has also driven her to try and be helpful to other first responders with injuries, to surviving families and to advocate for the health and safety of those who serve our communities.

In recognizing her own need for help with her traumatic grief and with the intention to honour the experiences of her fellow surviving spouses – she was able to contribute to the development of the Wounded Warriors Canada Surviving Spouse Program.  She hopes that with the work she does, she is able to honour the gift of her Mi’kmaw spirit name.  “As I connect with the spirit of my name, White Eagle Dove, I understand that this gift is what I must strive to live up to and continuously choose to work towards.  That is –  to have the courage to connect to that which is pure within me, within all of us.  To have the strength of the seer, the warrior in order to carry prayers to the creator.  To find inner peace within myself – in all ways and with all things, so that others may also feel invited to find peace within themselves.”

Angela is grateful beyond words to have had the privilege to contribute to and participate in the first delivery of the SSP.  She is both grateful and relieved to know that her fellow surviving spouses will have the opportunity to explore their traumatic grief safely and with the appropriate support.

Dr. Tim Black PhD, R. Psych.

National Clinical Director
Wounded Warriors Canada

Dr. Tim Black, R. Psych. is the National Clinical Director for Wounded Warriors Canada. During his more than 20-year career as a tenured Associate Professor at one of the top graduate counsellor education programs in the country, Dr. Black has been a researcher, clinician, program developer, program co-founder, and clinical supervisor specializing in group counselling approaches for working with Trauma Exposed Professionals (TExP) and Trauma Exposed Family (TExF) members. As National Clinical Director, Tim supports and oversees the development and delivery of WWC’s group counselling programs in Canada, as well as WWC’s TExP education and training programs, alongside an extensive team of dedicated mental health professionals committed to serving the needs of TExP and TExF communities.

Dr. Heidi Cramm, PhD, OT Reg. (Ont.)

Research Lead, Families Matter Research Group & Garnet Families Network
Queen’s University

Heidi Cramm is Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University and a registered occupational therapist. She is the lead for Garnet Families, the hub for first responder, public safety, and defence families, and those who study, serve, and support them. She is the research lead for the interdisciplinary Families Matter Research Group, working in tandem with its Garnet Families Network. As Project Director for the Garnet Families Partnership, funded through to 2031, she leads this collaboration that grows the community, creates knowledge, and advances research training. She has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and publications primarily dedicated to the mental health and wellbeing of defence and public safety families. She has completed more than 300 regional, national, and international presentations and received over $11M in competitive research funding as a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator. Dr. Cramm has been recognized with multiple distinguished research and leadership awards, including the 2018 Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists’ Leadership Award and the 2021 Mihran and Mary Basmajian Award for Excellence in Health Science Research. She is also the Co-Principal Investigator for PSPNET Families (pspnetfamilies.ca), an online wellbeing hub for public safety families. As a longtime PSP spouse, she understands what it is like for families to be “on the job”.

Fardous Hosseiny, Msc, CHE

President and CEO
Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families

Executive Advisor
Global Alliance for Mental Health Advocates (GAMHA)

Co-Chair
Atlas’ Research Reference Group

Board of Directors
Canadian Juries Commission

Fardous Hosseiny (he/him) is the President and CEO of Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, located at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in Ottawa. Before coming to Atlas, Fardous was most recently the interim National Chief Executive Officer and the National Director of Research and Public Policy, at the Canadian Mental Health Association. His research focuses on strategic policy issues related to mental health system transformation, parity legislation, Veteran and their Families mental health, substance use and addiction and mental health for newcomers and underrepresented groups. Fardous is also a frequent commentator on these issues for Global News, CBC, CTV News, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, among others. Fardous was a part of the Canadian delegation to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly and played a role in the development of the first ever United Nations event dedicated to mental health. Fardous also serves on many national and international committees, including as an executive advisor on the Global Alliance for Mental Health Advocates (GAMHA), co-chair of Atlas’ Research Reference Group and past co-chair for the Canadian Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) and Canadians for Equitable Access to Depression Medication (CEADM). Fardous completed a Master of Science with a focus on the neuroscience of addiction and a BSc Honours, both at the University of Toronto. He also holds a Certified Health Executive (CHE) designation from the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Fardous is on the Board of Directors – Canadian Juries Commission.

Dr. J Don Richardson, MD, FRCPC

Associate Scientist
St. Joseph’s: Parkwood Institute

Dr. Richardson is consultant psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Parkwood Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinic in London, Ontario. He is also the Scientific Director of the MacDonald Franklin OSI research Centre at the Parkwood Institute and a fellow with the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health. He has a Social Work degree from McGill University and completed his medical degree at Queen’s University and his fellowship in psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. He has more than 25 years of experience in the assessment and treatment of Veterans and Canadian forces members with PTSD and other operational stress injuries. Dr. Richardson has more than 50 published articles and book chapters in the area of Military and Veteran Mental Health including risk factors for PTSD and suicidal ideation, sleep disturbances, health care utilization, treatment outcomes and the impact of PTSD on quality-of-life.

The Hon. Peter MacKay

Vice-Chairman
Wounded Warriors Canada

The Honourable Peter MacKay served in the Parliament of Canada for over 18 years as a Member of Parliament, including Cabinet Minister in the Harper Government for 10 years, as well as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Mr. MacKay chaired the Government National Security Committee for almost 10 years and served on numerous other inter-parliamentary committees. Prior to politics he served as a Crown Attorney.  He is now working as a Strategic Advisor with Deloitte Canada and Counsel with McInnes Cooper, an Atlantic Canadian law firm.  He works nationally and internationally in areas such as aerospace and defense, procurement, infrastructure, and justice reform.

Peter serves as a Board Member for Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. and on numerous volunteer boards including Wounded Warriors, Boost Child & Youth Advocacy the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and the Canada United States Law Institute.  Peter is a loving husband to Nazanin and father to their 3 children Kian 9, Valentia 6, and Caledon 3.  He lives by the sea in Kings Head, Nova Scotia, with two dogs and two cats.

Dr. R. Nicholas Carleton, Ph.D., R.D. Psych.

Professor of Clinical Psychology
University of Regina

R. Nicholas Carleton, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and a registered clinical psychologist in Saskatchewan. His work is focused on supporting the mental health of first responders and other public safety personnel. He has published more than 270 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters exploring the fundamental bases of anxiety- and trauma-related disorders. He has completed more than 500 national and international conference presentations. He also serves as an active member of several national and international professional associations. As principal or co-principal investigator he has been awarded more than $100M in competitive external funding. He has received several prestigious awards and recognitions, including induction to the Royal Society of Canada’s College and as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and he was awarded the 2023 Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Mid-Career Award and the 2020 Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research. He is principal investigator for the RCMP Longitudinal PTSD Study (www.rcmpstudy.ca) and the associated extension study for Saskatchewan public safety personnel (www.saskptsistudy.ca), and co-investigator on the Federal Internet Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program for public safety personnel (www.PSPNET.ca).

Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli, PhD

Professor and Research Chair: Safety, Security, and Wellness
Memorial University of Newfoundland

Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli is Professor (PhD) and Research Chair in Safety, Security, and Wellness, at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Fisheries and Marine Institute. The winner of the 2023 International Corrections and Prison Association’s Research Excellence Award and the Canadian Sociological Association’s Angus Reid Applied Researcher Award, Ricciardelli was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research centers on evolving understandings of gender, vulnerabilities, risk, and experiences and issues within different facets of the criminal justice system and among mariners. She has published 17 books, 285+ journal articles and 70+ chapters all in the areas of police, firefighting, correctional workers, public safety communicators, and criminalized persons, and wellness – broadly defined. As a sex and gender researcher, her interests lay in the social health, identity construction, and lived experiences of individuals. She leads a longitudinal study on the mental health and well-being experiences of correctional officers employed by Correctional Services Canada.

Mike Sears

Captain
Halifax FFA

Mike Sears is a dedicated firefighter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a deep commitment to serving his community through resilience, teamwork, and compassion. Born in Halifax but raised in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, Mike grew up with a strong sense of duty and a desire to make a difference. This drive led him to pursue a career in firefighting, where he has become known for his unwavering work ethic, problem-solving skills, and ability to remain calm under pressure. Mike is currently assigned to a Technical Rescue Company in Halifax at the rank of Captain.

With 21 years of experience in emergency response, Mike has been involved in a wide range of challenging scenarios. Beyond his technical skills, Mike places a high value on mental health and well-being within the fire service, advocating for peer support and resilience training, as well as, coverage for members with no barriers to care to help his colleagues navigate the stresses of their demanding roles.

Outside of his work, Mike is an active member of his community, donating his time for the charity Fight4Life as a Founder and current President and is also the Government Affairs Liaison for the Halifax Professional Firefighters I.A.F.F. Local 268. In his downtime, he enjoys exploring the scenic beauty of Nova Scotia, spending time with family, and staying active through hunting, fishing, and anything else that brings him into nature.