Dr. Nancy Lee Heath
Distinguished James McGill Professor Emerita| Director, | Director of Education for Mental Health Resilience (EMHR) Office, Faculty of Education
- Building mental health resilience in educational settings
- Mindfulness
- Non-suicidal self-injury
- Emotion regulation
- Student stress and coping
Dr. Nancy Heath is a Distinguished James McGill Professor Emerita in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology (ECP). Her research program explores resilience and adaptive functioning in young people at risk (children, adolescents, and young adults) and she is an international leader on non-suicidal self-injury. She is a founding member and Past-President of the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS), and the recipient of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies' Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship, the Canadian Committee of Graduate Students in Education’s Mentorship Award, and McGill's David Thomson Award for Graduate Supervision and Teaching, all in recognition of her outstanding support for graduate students. She has published and presented extensively on topics related to mental health and resilience in educational settings and has worked in collaboration with schools for more than 25 years. Dr. Heath has received generous funding in research grants from provincial, national, international, and foundational agencies.
Dr. Heath's research team is committed to conducting both applied and basic research addressing issues of mental health resilience in students of all ages. They focus on issues related to mental health in elementary, secondary, post-secondary educational settings; examining emotion regulatory difficulties, stress, coping, mindfulness and non-suicidal self-injury. They are very committed to outreach and support of youth/young adults who are struggling. To this end, the team provides workshops and online outreach and training around issues related to students’ mental health and wellness at every age. We commonly use participatory action research approaches, working together as equals with community-based partners and those with lived experience of mental health challenges and/or self-injury.
Currently (2025-2026) is retired from her academic position but is serving as Director of the Education for Mental Health Resilience Office for the Faculty of Education. Thus, she is no longer accepting new students as her position is an administrative one.
- Post-Doctoral Fellowship, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
- PhD, Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada
- M.Ed., Counselling Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
- BA, Psychology, McGill University, Canada
- Petrovic, J., Mettler, J., Böke, B. N., Rogers, M. A., Hamza, C. A., Bloom, E., Di Genova, L., Romano, R., & Heath, N. L. (2024). The effectiveness and acceptability of formal versus informal mindfulness among university students with and without recent self-injury: A randomized controlled trial. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
- Zito, S., Petrovic, J., Böke, B. N., Sadowski, I., Carsley, D., & Heath, N. L. (2024). Exploring the stress management and well-being needs of pre-service teachers. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 152, 104805.
- Lewis, S. P., Collaton, J., Heath, N. L., & Whitley, R. (2024). Lived experience views on what contributes to self-injury stigma: A thematic analysis, Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 43(2).
- Mettler, J., Mills, D. J., & Heath, N. L. (2024). The role of mindfulness and flow in predicting problematic video game use. The Journal of Happiness Studies, 25, 109.
- Petrovic, J., Sadowski, I., Böke, B. N., Mettler, J., Bastien, L., & Heath, N. L. (2024). Perceived degree of reaching adulthood: A novel predictor of emerging adults’ well-being in emerging adulthood. Current Psychology.
- Petrovic, J., Mills, D. J., & Heath, N. L. (2024). A Self-Determination Theory perspective on the relationship between emotion regulation styles, mindfulness facets, and well-being in adults with self-injury. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 80, 2029-2044.
- M.A. Human Development
- Ph.D. Human Development
- M.Ed. Concentrations in Educational Psychology
- M.A. School/Applied Child Psychology
- Ph.D. School/Applied Child Psychology
No longer accepting new students (supervisees).
