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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