Season 2.5 Episode Four - featuring Dr. Natasha Williams and Stacy-Ann Buchanan

Dr. Natasha Williams is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and the past Chair of the Board of Directors at Women’s Health in Women’s Hands, a Community Health Centre for black women and women of colour in Toronto. Dr. Williams is a member of the Ontario Psychological Association (OPA), Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). She was the OPA’s diversity delegate representative at the APA State Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. in 2011 and is the past Chair of the OPA Diversity Task Force whose aim is to raise awareness of the importance of diversity and to promote ongoing efforts to influence social change in the field of psychology practice in Ontario. She is also a past board member of the Ontario Psychological Association. Dr. Williams is a past faculty member with the Bridge Training program for internationally trained mental health professionals and a former trainer for TAPE Educational services which provides professional development programs for clinical teams at healthcare centres and human services organizations. She is also the former lead trainer with the Adler Graduate Professional School in the CBT certificate program. Dr. Williams is a guest facilitator/trainer with CAMH in topics such as culturally adapting cognitive behavioural therapy for the English-speaking Caribbean community and Motivational Interviewing. Dr. Williams is the Clinical Director of Allied Psychological Services and she is the current President of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPSI).

Buchanan's impact, entrepreneurial work ethic and achievements have led her to being selected as one of the 100 Black Women to Watch in Canada, one of the 150 Black Women Making Canada Better, one of the 150 Leading Canadians for Mental Health and landing a TEDx Talk.

The self-directed and self-produced, award winning documentary, The Blind Stigma, made Canadian history when it debuted as the first documentary produced in Canada that takes an in-depth look at how mental health is perceived within the Black community, and cemented Buchanan as a documentary film maker. The film chronicles the testimonies of five individuals (including herself) on their trials and triumphs with mental health by removing the veil of shame that clouds the topic in the Black communities. As a recognized brand, The Blind Stigma has since branched out into a podcast that continues to explore such stigmas, dissect the multiple factors that aid towards mental illness in the Black communities and provides a safe space for stories to be heard. She is also co-donor of the annual - The Buchanan Scholarship. The educational award is granted to a student entering their first year of post-secondary education in the Liberal Arts or the Fine Arts program and is based on a demonstrated financial need and having an excellent academic record. Highlighted as an influential leader within her community, Stacy-Ann’s courageous vulnerability in sharing her past experiences with anxiety and suicidal depression in her have landed her numerous keynote speaking engagements throughout North America and the Caribbean, and appointed her to facilitate multiple workshops on “Changing The Stigma” throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Her body of work has firmly pivoted her career on challenging anti-Black systemic racism by taking holistic approaches to demystify and decolonize how mental health is perceived and addressed within the Black/BIPOC communities. Through raising awareness, directing positive dialogues to fuel resources, and orchestrating safe, constructive spaces for black voices to be amplified, Stacy-Ann Buchanan’s ultimate objective is to take back the Black narrative.

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