Past Members

Darby Eakins

Research project: Risk and Resilience in Youth Living with Diabetes – A Community Study. Currently, Darby is completing her Masters in Disability Management at UNBC via distance education while working as Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant and Director of Programs with Genesis Rehabilitation Ltd. in Victoria. She is also an instructor in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University teaching disability management courses via distance education. She is cofounder of the Artist's Alliance for Mental Health (AAMH) Canada working to improve the lives of individuals dealing with mental health difficulties through the transformative power of the arts.  Her master's thesis will broadly focus on psychophysiological mechanisms of health resilience.

Jackie Moffatt

Prior to graduating in 2008, Jackie worked as a Research Assistant for the Resilience Lab and conducted interviews with at-risk youth in Nanaimo. Currently, she is in her second year at the Adler School of Professional Psychology completing an MA in Counselling Psychology. For her thesis, she will be using the enhanced critical incident technique to investigate helping and hindering factors related to coping and family resilience in families with children with autism. In her clinical practicum, Jackie is working with children and adolescents who have witnessed violence and abuse in their families as a part of the Children in the Midst of Violence program.

Tara Semple

Research project: Imposed Intelligence Beliefs and Subsequent Learning Motivation in College Students: An Examination of Longitudinal Effects. Tara is currently enrolled in the School and Applied Child Psychology Masters of Science program at the University of Calgary. She developed a project investigating emotional intelligence as a protective factor in first year university students, and a validation study of Dr. Sandra Prince Emburys resilience scale for adults. Tara aims to carry out a PhD dissertation that will explore resilience profiles of children belonging to a range of clinical populations such as Behaviour Disorders, Specific Learning Disabilities, and Mood Disorders. Tara is now the holder of a SSHRC research grant.

Tania Smethurst

Tania was involved with the Resilience research lab from 2006 - 2008 as a research assistant. Tania worked to help develop the Community Advisory board, and support the research ongoing projects in the lab at the time. During this time Tania travelled to two CPA conferences to preset work connected to the Resilience Research Lab. Tania's honours project was entitled "A look at Resilience within a Wilderness Therapy Program" which had her hiking through the west coast to collect her data - an experience that she will never forget! Currently Tania is pursuing her Master's degree at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Tania is a student in the department of psychology's life span development program where she hopes to continue researching resilience and how it can be fostered for all youth. Tania is now the holder of a SSHRC and a NAMHR grant.

Colleen Stinson

Colleen was a part of the Resilience Research Lab for two years. Currently, she is in her second year of the MSc degree in School and Applied Child Psychology at the University of Calgary. Colleen is now the holder of a SSHRC research grant and her thesis will be looking at attachment and resilience in children with ADHD Colleen hopes to conduct research with children living in northern Canada and return to her hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon to practice psychology, either as a school or child psychologist.

Yana Stratemeyer-Trinczek

Yana graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Vancouver Island University in May 2010 and is currently working on her Masters Degree in Criminology at the University of the Fraser Valley. She joined the lab in September 2008 and finds it compliments her research interest of crime prevention for youth, very well. Her other interests include program evaluation and policy analysis.

Marilyn Woodruff

Marilyn joined the lab in September 2008. Marilyn's interest in resilience has been an outgrowth of her counselling work with families and survivors of domestic violence. A firm believer that resilience begins with the development of healthy relationship skills and strong social connections, she is passionate about continuing to foster those protective factors in individuals. Marilyn is now a graduate student pursuing her M.Ed. in Counselling Psychology a the University of Victoria.