Architecture of Belonging: Inside TEAMS Day
A feature on the Department of Psychiatry’s inaugural Toward Equity and Advocacy in Mental Health Scholarship (TEAMS) Day showcase
In a sunlit room at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, the conversation turns from theory to lived experience. During a fireside chat, colleagues speak candidly about courage, hardship, and the grit it takes to change mental healthcare systems. The moment captures what TEAMS Day set out to do: create a space where scholarship and advocacy meet in psychiatry, and where belonging isn’t an abstract ideal but an actionable practice.
Held on November 13, 2025, the inaugural TEAMS Day brought faculty, learners, and community mental health partners together to promote awareness, foster dialogue, and reduce stigma related to mental health and addictions. This day united our community of scholars in Psychiatry working towards advocacy and equity in mental health—an event that blended academic rigor with community‑engaged action.
Why It Matters
TEAMS Day grew out of a recognition that advocacy‑ and equity-focused scholarship in the Department of Psychiatry needed a dedicated platform. The department celebrates educational (Donald Wasylenki Education Day) and research (Research Day) achievements, and this is intended to be a comparable venue for Creative Professional Activities (CPA) and community‑engaged work. The new showcase fills that gap and affirms equity, diversity, indigeneity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIIA) principles in mental health scholarship.
Leaders also saw a practical need: to better support faculty preparing CPA dossiers in Psychiatry—portfolios that recognize advocacy, creative work, and public scholarship in academic promotion pathways. With all of that in mind, Co‑Chairs Dr. Adriana Carvalhal and Dr. June Lam convened a planning committee that moved adeptly from concept to reality.
The Day in Motion
The program opened with a keynote by Dr. Debra Thompson, a leading scholar of race and politics, who invited the audience to examine the ‘architecture of inequality’—how systems and personal biases shape perceptions of race and perpetuate inequities.
A fireside chat moderated by Dr. Meng‑Chuan Lai brought forward lived experiences and practical pathways for integrating equity principles into mental health care. In the afternoon, attendees moved through small‑group poster walks to explore some of the 25 projects spanning leadership, clinical practice, and research with diverse communities, followed by oral presentations.
Voices from the Community
Participants described the day as a ’rare opportunity to network and receive mentorship’—a reminder that change happens when people work together. ‘It was great to see a full day dedicated to inspiring EDIIA work across our department,’ one attendee reflected. Others pointed to the poster format—moving in small groups and discussing together—as a catalyst for deeper connection.
Labatt Family Chair of Psychiatry, Dr. Simone Vigod, praised the organization, the strong turnout, and the lineup of speakers and participants, noting that the event underscored the importance of this area of work.
Celebrating Excellence
A number of award recipients were applauded for their efforts, and we recognize them all here again.
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Poster Award (Trainee): Semir Bulle — ‘Whose safety? Who’s violent? How do service user experiences of different models of mental health crisis response inform changes to improve crisis services?’
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Poster Award (Faculty): Kayle Donner, Mary‑Ellen Ruddell, and Sophie Soklaridis — ‘Our Communities, Our Outcomes: Co‑producing Pan‑Canadian Recovery College Metrics’
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Zofia Pakula Social Justice Award: David Dai — ‘How youth and families with migration history make sense of early psychosis: A qualitative exploration of explanatory models of psychosis’
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Harinder K. Gaind Bending the Arc Award: June Lam — ‘Lived Experience & System Change for Mental Health Equity in Gender‑Affirming Care’
How It Was Built
For the organizing team, integrating foundational principles wasn’t a slogan—it was a blueprint. Guided by a Terms of Reference that centered the voices of those most impacted, the committee emphasized relational safety as a process, applied an anti‑oppression lens and an intersectionality‑based equity framework, and engaged mental health community partners at every stage.
Looking Ahead
Buoyed by strong attendance and the quality of scholarship, organizers plan to expand next year—potentially welcoming up to 200 attendees—while deepening community mental health partnerships and building on mentorship lunches and other programming that make the day as connective as it is scholarly.
If scholarship in advocacy, community engagement and EDIIA for mental health is a map, TEAMS Day is a route drawn together—by learners, faculty, and community—all moving toward mental health equity.