Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Werklund, researchers are advancing the holistic needs of children, ensuring they thrive from child to adolescent and into emergent adult, in their schools, homes and communities at large. From early learning, to social emotional learning, and in consideration of neurodiversity, researchers are redefining how teachers, school psychologists and counselling psychologists support lifelong learners.

Study finds link between high density of fracking operations and increased risk of adverse birth outcomes

House with tower nearby

UCalgary multidisciplinary team investigates relationship between maternal and child health and hydraulic fracturing in Alberta

Meet our experts

  • Jac J.W. Andrews
  • Emma Climie
  • Karlee Fellner
  • Erica Makarenko
  • Adam McCrimmon
  • Carly McMorris
  • Tanya Mudry
  • David Nordstokke
  • Gavin Peat
  • Shelly Russell-Mayhew
  • Meadow Schroeder
  • Kelly Dean Schwartz
  • Elisa Lacerda-Vandenborn
  • Gabrielle Wilcox
  • Xu Zhao
  • Child and youth mental health
  • Collaborative and expanding role of school psychologists
  • Counselling and health issues
  • Developmental wellness and resiliency
  • Educating exceptional children

Research topics:

Researchers at the Werklund School are addressing how curriculum can transform ways of thinking about schooling, knowledge, and teaching and learning, while encompassing issues of content, context and teaching in both formal and non-formal educational settings. 

At the Werklund School, we are researching strategies to better understand and improve young children's learning and development as a foundation critical for continued prosperity throughout their schooling.

Werklund researchers are fostering more diverse learning communities through addressing challenges in and outside of schools, and sharing the voices of the students, teachers, school psychologists and counselling psychologists working to eradicate conditions that have historically marginalized vulnerable populations.

Werklund School researchers are re-examining the methods and theories that have shaped teaching and learning for generations, while historically marginalizing Indigenous people and perspectives. Today,  many of our scholars are working towards a curriculum in which all people belong. In their research, they are incorporating different ways of knowing, being and doing, all essential to the process of decolonizing and Indigenizing education.

Researchers at Werklund are exploring communication through the multi-faceted dimensions of literacy, and linguistic and cultural diversity, especially as they relate to different forms of expression, including print, visual, oral, and gestural texts, as well as new literacies and digital media.

Leadership researchers at the Werklund School are analysing and resolving educational policy and leadership issues specifically related to the direction and management of schools, school systems, post-secondary institutions, and both governmental bodies as well as non-governmental organizations concerned with public and private education.

At Werklund, researchers are advancing the holistic needs of children, ensuring they thrive from child to adolescent and into emergent adult, in their schools, homes and communities at large. From early learning, to social emotional learning, and in consideration of neurodiversity, researchers are redefining how teachers, school psychologists and counselling psychologists support lifelong learners.

Werklund School researchers are doing pioneering work in the area of neurodiversity, studying developmental cognitive neuroscience, neurodevelopmental disorders, early experience and brain development.

Researchers at Werklund are exploring the relationships between education and economic, political and cultural systems, as they seek new ways to understand and address social and economic inequality, gender and race relations, multiculturalism, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, sustainability, globalization and colonialism.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are among the foundational building blocks of education. At Werklund, researchers are reimagining these core subjects while developing teaching and learning initiatives that are responsive to and reflective of the rapid changes requiring societies to be more nimble and adaptable.

Read more stories on Education and Well-being

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Want to know how school-aged children have managed during the pandemic? Ask them

A year-long study launched by a Werklund researcher looks at how children coped

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4 steps to teacher recovery from compassion fatigue and burnout during COVID-19 and beyond

Teacher stress related to chronically under-serviced schools goes beyond COVID-19, writes Astrid H. Kendrick, Werklund School of Education, in Conversation Canada

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Nurturing empathy in uncertain times (Webinar)

Exploring how parents and educators can help grow empathy in children in digital environments and uncertain times. 

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Shelly Russell-Mayhew talks about weight bias, how to promote holistic health at school, respond to weight-based bullying and how to make schools more accepting of everyBODY

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To help students overcome setbacks, they need to develop ‘academic buoyancy’

How can parents and educators assist children and youth with dealing with everyday challenges and stresses?

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Brain research shows the arts promote mental health

Practising art can be used to build capacity for managing mental and emotional well-being

Erica Makarenko

A collaborative approach to child well-being

A well child is one that can adapt — to their own feelings, to new situations, and to setbacks and struggles

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