Board of Directors

Michèle Audette has made an outstanding contribution to the defence of Indigenous women’s rights in Canada. Through her political and social commitment, she has played a key role since the 1990s in transforming relations between Aboriginal peoples and Euro-descended society in Québec and Canada, particularly by giving visibility to the political and social issues affecting Indigenous women. She has successfully advocated and continues to advocate for changes in provincial and federal policies to address discrimination, violence against Indigenous women and social inequalities.

Denis Fournier completed his doctorate in medicine at Université Laval and has devoted his entire career in family medicine since 1988 exclusively to the care of the elderly population suffering from a loss of autonomy in the beautiful provincial capital, Quebec City. His experience incited him to invest himself even more in the mental health cause and more specifically these days to open  a discussion over the importance of creating psychologically safe workspaces and more people-oriented work environments in order to battle the professional burnout epidemic in our modern societies.

A retired professor and president and founder of several community organizations in Québec, Karen Hetherington is Executive Director of OPTION MILIEU, a mental health planning and training enterprise. For a number of years, she has been a senior consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) and is President of the Canadian Mental Health Association – National.

Jean-Rémy Provost is Executive Director of Revivre, an organization that helps those living with anxiety, depressive, or bipolar disorders and their loved ones. A member of the organization since 1994, he has been a mental health worker, support group coordinator, and director of services and programs; he has been at the helm of Revivre since 2001. As the spouse of someone living with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress, part of his personal and professional commitment is to break down taboos surrounding mental illness and to promote mental health.

Georgia Vrakas is an Associate Professor in the Psychoeducation Department at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Centre universitaire de Québec). She holds a doctorate in community psychology from Université du Québec à Montréal and did postdoctoral work at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec in population mental health. She is a member of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec and the Ordre des psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices du Québec. Her research focuses on positive mental health (well-being), mental illness, mental health among Indigenous people, and suicide prevention. On the clinical front, Dr. Vrakas works with teens and adults who are living with common, persistent mental disorders.

Martin Wiedenhoff is Director of Consulting at a Canadian financial institution, where he helps entrepreneurs design their international marketing, sales, and expansion strategy. He has 20 years of experience in technology and marketing. Martin has lived in five countries and speaks five languages. He has worked for a range of companies, including IKEA, Insight, CGI, TELUS and Videotron. He sits on his employer’s diversity and inclusion committee, which handles mental health education among employees.