Katy is a doctoral student with the McGill School of Social Work. She joined the school in 2018 under the supervision of Professor Katherine Maurer. Katy’s research focuses on occupational mental health and resiliency in high stress work environments. Her dissertation will examine the factors that contribute to adverse mental health outcomes in Canadian correctional officers and factors contributing to their resiliency.
Katy comes to the doctoral program after having worked as both a community worker and as a mental health clinician in Canada and the United States. She has provided individual and group counselling to individuals within a psychiatric facility and to adult males living in the community with criminal justice involvement. Katy was part of a pilot program between the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Corrections and Community Safety where she was a forensic social worker supporting adults within the Toronto South Detention Centre. Katy was also part of a province-wide initiative to deliver mental health and human rights training to correctional staff. It was in this role that Katy became inspired to research the mental health of Canadian correctional officers.
She holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of Toronto and a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia.
Contact: katy.konyk [at] mail.mcgill.ca (Email)