Peer Guides
Make a Connection
Peer Guides are knowledgeable family physicians who have clinical experience in mental health care, substance use disorders and/or chronic pain. Peer Guides also understand mentoring, coaching and practice facilitation.
As a Peer Learner, your Peer Guide will support you in achieving your learning objectives by providing insights from their own personal experience and expertise.
Ready to Become a Peer Learner?
Find the Peer Guide you would like to connect with and select their profile. Click on the ‘Request [insert name] as a Peer Guide’ button from their profile and complete the form.
If you’d like the Peer Connect team to connect you with a Peer Guide based on your learning objectives, click here to send us your information.
Showing biography of Dr. Marina Abdel Malak (she/her) .
“Being a family physician means that I have the opportunity to work with people of all ages. The relationship between a family doctor and their patients is truly unique. When people ask me what I specialize in, I say – everything! I’m a family doctor!”
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Physician Wellness
Identifies As: Arab/West Asian
Languages Spoken: Arabic, English
Preferred Communication Method: Phone, Email
Practice Model: Family Health Organization (FHO)
OH Region: Central Region (MH/CW/C/NSM)
Biography
Dr. Malak graduated from U of T Family Medicine, during which she spent a considerable time focusing on leadership, education, and mental health. She took various courses that certified her in CBT, DBT, and EFT, and she has training in treating eating disorders, depression, and anxiety.
Her passion for helping others motivated her to pursue further education and training in these areas to support her patients and colleagues.
Her interest in medical education is satisfied through various initiatives. Aside from teaching residents and students, she is a member of the CFPC Continuing Education Committee. As part of this work, she works with a team to ensure that MainPro standards are updated, adhered to, and regularly reviewed. This experience has been helpful in understanding and supporting colleagues in their journeys towards continuing medical education. She is also the Family Medicine Rounds Chair at Trillium Health Partners, where she leads the Continuing Medical Education program for primary care.
In her spare time, Dr. Malak enjoys yoga, reading, and writing. She has her own podcast called ‘3P – pills, pearls, and patients’. She is an avid crafter and puzzler, and treasures time spent with her family. Oh, and she loves puns – they are quite humerus!
Communities Served
Dr. Malak works in Mississauga. The community is very diverse in terms of ethnic backgrounds, religions, cultures, and family units, and has a large population of new immigrants, families who have moved, couples with children, and elderly patients in retirement.
OCFP Programs
Peer Connect
Clinical Interest
Psychiatry Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Physician Wellness
Showing biography of Dr. Sara Cohen-Gelfand (she/her) .
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
OH Region: Toronto Region (TC)
Biography
Dr. Cohen-Gelfand works at Wilson Medicine Corp in Toronto. She is a family physician with specialized interest in ADHD, Autism and Developmental Medicine. She attended U of T medical school and was a resident at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dr. Cohen-Gelfand also has an MSc in Public Health.
Communities Served
Dr. Cohen-Gelfand’s practice is full service family medicine, serving patients’ whole lifespan.
OCFP Programs
Peer Connect, Child and Adolescent Health: Best Evidence for Preventive Care
Clinical Interest
Psychiatry Mental Health, Pediatrics
Showing biography of Dr. Jon Davine .
Affiliated With: McMaster University
Practice Model: Royal College Specialist
OH Region: West Region (ESC/SW/WW/HNHB)
Biography
Jon Davine is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, with a cross appointment in the Department of Family Medicine. His outpatient psychiatry practice focuses on liaising with primary care physicians in a shared care model.
For a number of years, Dr. Davine has taught courses in behavioural sciences to family medicine residents and to family doctors in the community. He has lectured nationally and internationally on this topic, and co-edited a book, Psychiatry in Primary Care, a Concise Canadian Pocket Guide in 2011 (second edition in 2019).
His main career interest has been in working with and teaching family doctors about mental health issues in primary care and supporting their role in the delivery of mental health care.
He won the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada Award for Excellence in Education, in 2018.
OCFP Programs
Peer Connect
Clinical Interest
Psychiatry Mental Health
Showing biography of Dr. Nermine Gorguy .
“I am privileged to walk with my patients through some of their most difficult times. It is a joy to see them reclaim pleasure in their lives despite their struggles and illness.”
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health
Languages Spoken: English
Preferred Communication Method: Email
Practice Model: Fee for Service (FFS)
OH Region: Toronto Region (TC)
Biography
Dr. Nermine Gorguy practices full scope family medicine with a focus on psychotherapy. She is trained in supportive psychotherapy and CBT, and is currently pursuing EMDR certification as she seeks to provide more trauma-informed care.
She enjoys working with young adults, helping them establish a healthy foundation in self-care and mental health.
Showing biography of Dr. Gregory Hariton .
“I have a particular passion for the assessment and management of patients diagnosed with chronic pain and addiction because you’re able to observe significant transformations in their ongoing care.”
Clinical Interest: Addiction Medicine, Psychiatry Mental Health, Chronic Pain
Languages Spoken: English
Practice Model: Fee for Service (FFS)
OH Region: West Region (ESC/SW/WW/HNHB)
Biography
Dr. Gregory Hariton is currently involved in the assessment and management of chronic pain patients with the concurrent diagnoses of substance use disorders at the Credit Valley Hospital’s Addiction and Concurrent Disorders Program, as well as at the Michael DeGroote Pain Centre at McMaster Health Sciences Centre.
Dr. Hariton also has a special interest in including mindfulness meditation and yoga in the treatment of his patients., as well as his personal life.
Communities Served
Dr. Hariton’s patients are all referred to both hospitals by their Family Physicians and reoresent a diverse geographical distribution.
Showing biography of Dr. Paul Hoogeveen .
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Addiction Medicine, Chronic Pain
Biography
Dr. Paul Hoogeveen graduated from the University of Toronto in 1993, and, over the course of his career, has practiced in emergency medicine (in both rural and urban settings), prehospital care, addiction, chronic pain, medical education, and medical direction.
He has 20 years’ experience as a prehospital medical director, most recently with Sunnybrook Hospital, as well as community-based practices in chronic pain and addiction for the last 15 years. He currently has a focused practice in chronic pain and holds a CFPC Certificates of Added Competence in Emergency and Addiction Medicine.
Dr. Hoogeveen is a Diplomate of the Canadian Academy of Pain Management.
He also has 25 years of experience in critical appraisal of research and knowledge translation applying the principles of evidence-based medicine.
Showing biography of Dr. Anu Joneja (she/her) .
“It is often my patient’s first time navigating the health care system independently. Being the person to help them in these times when they need extra support is truly rewarding.”
Identifies As: South Asian
Languages Spoken: English
Preferred Communication Method: Email
OH Region: Toronto Region (TC)
Biography
Dr. Anu Joneja is a family physician with over 18 years of experience in Student Health. Her entire career has been with the University of Toronto highlighting her keen interest in serving the needs of this population. She is an Assistant Professor with the University of Toronto, Department of Family and Community Medicine and has been awarded multiple teaching awards for her contribution to both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.
Communities Served
Dr. Anu’s patients are mainly late adolescent and/or university students.
Showing biography of Dr. Caroline Kargel .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Addiction Medicine, Chronic Pain
Affiliated With: The Simcoe Clinic
Practice Model: Fee for Service (FFS)
OH Region: Central Region (MH/CW/C/NSM)
Biography
Dr. Caroline Kargel is a fellow with the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She has focused on treatment of patients with chronic pain since 2007 and is currently a pain consultant at The Simcoe Clinic in Barrie, ON.
In 2019 Dr. Kargel received her Certificate of Added Competence in Addictions Medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She now also has an addictions practice at the Towards Recovery Centre in Barrie.
Other medical practices include the Huronia Urgent Care Clinic and Emergency Department at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre.
Dr. Kargel received her Bachelor of Science in physiology at the University of Toronto in 1994. She went on to study medicine at Queen’s University, finishing her MD degree in 1997. She completed a residency in family and emergency medicine at McMaster University in 2000.
She enjoys teaching and has done numerous talks for physicians in her community. She was a mentor in the OCFP’s Medical Mentoring for Addictions and Pain program. She is a compassionate physician who values collegial learning.
Showing biography of Dr. Marcia Kostenuik .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health, Physician Wellness
Affiliated With: University of Toronto
Practice Model: Fee for Service (FFS)
Practising Since: 2000
OH Region: Central Region (MH/CW/C/NSM)
Biography
Dr. Marcia Kostenuik graduated from the University of Toronto’s medicine program in 2000 and has a private psychotherapy practice. She works closely with the Physician Health Program of the Ontario Medical Association, facilitates peer support for the Canadian Medical Association and treats physicians suffering from burnout and stress.
Dr. Kostenuik teaches psychotherapy skills to resident physicians at the University of Toronto Department of Family & Community Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program on their core Mental Health rotation and has years of experience teaching in the emergency department and general family practice.
Marcia has developed multiple online live interactive learning series and teaches, mentors, and coaches individual physicians and residents in communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, organization and practice management skills, psychotherapy, parenting, and mindfulness.
She was awarded the Daniel Glazier Award by the College of Family Physicians of Canada for her work on suicide prevention, published in Canadian Family Physician. Marcia values an integrative approach to health and views the student-teacher dynamic as a rich field of learning for both parties.
Showing biography of Dr. Samantha Lavitt (she/her) .
“We all deserve a better quality of life. I’m committed to finding ways to make that happen.”
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health, Equity Diversity and Inclusion including vulnerable populations, Palliative Care includes End of Life care, Physician Wellness
Practice Model: Other
OH Region: East Region (CE/SE/CH)
Biography
Samantha practices family medicine as a locum in Ottawa and the surrounding area. She enjoys teaching preclinical medical students at the University of Ottawa through small groups and physician skills development in clinic.
In the past year, she is spending more time writing about her experiences with disability and pursuing further studies in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). She has recently completed the Love Your Brain yoga training program for health professionals and has become a certified yoga instructor to assist people with traumatic brain injuries through meditation, breathwork, and modified yoga postures, in addition to conventional care.
Samantha shares her home with her husband and four furry friends. She enjoys gardening, crafting, music, and tabletop games. She would be equally delighted if you asked her about her latest plant project or her favourite Dungeons and Dragons podcasts.
Through the OCFP Peer Guide Program, she offers mentoring and coaching with a focus on quality of life improvement, including disability support (both for physicians themselves and their patient care approach), mental health and wellness support, EDI advocacy in healthcare, as well as incorporating palliative care values before reaching end-of-life care.
Communities Served
Dr. Lavitt cares for patients of all ages, currently with a focus on disease prevention, health education, mental health and wellbeing.
Showing biography of Dr. Kyle Lee (He/Him) .
“I look forward to building sustainable practice models for learners and peers alike so that family physicians can continue to find longevity and joy in their daily work.”
Clinical Interest: Mental Health
Identifies as: Chinese
Languages spoken: English, Cantonese and Mandarin (conversational)
Preferred Communication Method: Phone, Email or Video Conferencing
Practice Model: Family Health Organization (FHO)
OH Region: Toronto
Biography
Dr. Lee is a Canadian and Irish trained family physician and Assistant Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is also the Treasurer and Billing Liaison for the St. Michael’s Family Medicine Associates. He is also a member of the Tariff Committee in the Section of General Family Practice (SGFP), Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
In 2023, Dr. Lee was recipient of a Faculty Development Mentorship Award at University of Toronto.
Dr. Lee has worked in multiple settings including at The Possibilities Clinic treating patients with ADHD and other mental health disorders. He also has interests in primary care skin disorders, medical billing, practice management, and consulting for industry.
Communities served
Dr. Lee’s practice captures a downtown inner-city Toronto population mostly consisting of new Canadians, including many with language barriers and socioeconomic challenges to health care.
OCFP Program
Peer Connect
Showing biography of Dr. Bryan MacLeod (he/him) .
“Throughout my work as a family doctor I have come to love the implicit focus on quality of life and function, an approach that requires us to work as “interprofessional” teams even when we have to create those teams from a limited “roster”. I also greatly value the opportunities to teach and learn on these essential, universal topics with my peers.”
Clinical Interest: Palliative Care includes End of Life care, Physician Wellness, Rheumatology, Chronic Pain
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
OH Region: North Region (NE/NW)
Biography
Dr. Bryan MacLeod is a FCFP family doc, chronic pain consultant and Mindful self-Compassion Teacher. He is the outgoing Medical Director of SJCG’s Chronic Pain Management Program and Chair of SJCG ECHO Chronic Pain (www.echoontario.ca). He cut his teeth as a rural family doc in Marathon Ontario after graduating CCFP from the Northwestern Ontario family medicine program in 1998.
Other interprofessional passions include: geriatrics, rheumatology and palliative care. He is a very active Associate professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
Research interests include Physician Wellness; Chronic Pain in the ER, chronic pain education, and The Indigenous Pain Reality, all @DrBMacLeod (twitter)
He is a father of and ATM for three busy increasingly adult, university students. His passions include: his family, Improv theatre, cycling, and of course medical education.
Communities Served
The entire NWO region.
Connect With Dr. Bryan MacLeod
Showing biography of Dr. Zaven Mangassarian (he/him) .
“I enjoy taking the time to truly understand people’s stories, strengths, and challenges; integrating a variety of therapeutic approaches; and seeing people gradually develop self-compassion and move towards more personally meaningful lives.”
Clinical Interests: Mental Health
Identifies as: Armenian
Languages Spoken: English, Western Armenian
OH Region: West Region (ESC, SW, WW, HNHB)
Preferred Communication Method: Video conferencing
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
Biography
Dr. Mangassarian provides trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming psychotherapy, both in-person and virtually. He draws from various mindfulness-based approaches, including ACT. He is particularly interested in late-identified innate neurodivergence, including autism and ADHD. He collaborates with other mental health professionals, including non-medical psychotherapists.
He is of Armenian heritage and lived in three Arab countries before moving to Canada. He studied Engineering and Medicine at the University of Toronto and completed Family Medicine Residency at the University of Calgary. After a period of full scope family medicine practice, he found his passion in a focused practice in psychotherapy. He balances his work with other activities, including spending time with his family, connecting with his heritage, being outdoors, listening to music, and making wheel-thrown pottery.
Communities Served
Dr. Mangassarian serves a diverse population, ranging from university students to retired adults. Many of the people he works with are neurodivergent, with a history of adverse experiences, marginalization, and co-occurring mental health and medical conditions.
OCFP Programs
Peer Connect
Clinical Interests
Mental Health
Showing biography of Dr. Chase McMurren .
Identifies As: Indigenous (Inuit/Métis/First Nations)
Languages Spoken: English
Preferred Communication Method: Email, Phone, Video Conference
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
OH Region: Toronto Region (TC)
Remote: No
Availability: No
Connect with Dr. Chase McMurren:
“Every (clinical) encounter is an opportunity for all involved to learn and to heal. Practicing as a family physician is an honour that is easy to dismiss when preoccupied by paperwork and the belief that we need to fix or refer. Sitting with people while ‘playing doctor’ & witnessing the complexity of being alive is a privilege that requires humility, skillfulness & a compassionate circle of support.”
Bio
My name is Chase. I live and work in Tkarón:to | GichiKiiwenging, though come from Lethbridge, which is on traditional Siksikaitsitapi | Blackfoot Confederacy Territory and is covered by Treaty 7. My clan is the Turtle and my spirit name is Water Song Medicine Keeper. My ancestors are Michif/Métis, Celtic, French and Ukrainian. Clinically, I am privileged to provide medical psychotherapy, primarily for physicians and artists struggling with grief and overwhelm, and I also have a small home-visiting palliative practice for long-living people with advanced illness. Currently, I am serving as the Indigenous Health Theme Lead in the MD Program and the Indigenous Practitioner Liaison within the Office of Indigenous Health in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. At the moment, I am honoured to co-chair the National Consortium for Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME) Working Group on Physician Wellness and Joy in Work.
(Profile photo: Stef & Ethan)
Communities Served
A home-visiting physician for long-living people with advanced illness, and an integrative psychotherapist for professional artists & physicians.
In My Own Words
I am a certified practitioner of both the Hakomi Method and Deirdre Fay’s Becoming Safely Embodied Model. Carefully integrating auricular acupuncture (based on the NADA protocol) and harp therapy into my practice has been nourishing for me. For several years, I have been training as a nâtawihôwêw* [not-a-way-who-ee-oo], or Medicine Man (*in Michif) and appreciate the complexity & nuance involved.
Past Sessions
- Navigating undifferentiated distress during the pandemic – February 23, 2022 Practising Well CoP
- Self-management for chronic pain – June 23, 2021 Practising Well CoP
- Grief Medicine: Giving space for acknowledging life’s losses – June 22, 2022 Practising Well CoP
OCFP Programs
- Peer Connect
- Mood Disorders: Comprehensive and Realistic Strategies for Primary Care
Clinical Interest
- Palliative Care includes End of Life care
- Psychiatry Mental Health
- Physician Wellness
Showing biography of Dr. Adam Newman (he/him) .
“I love connecting with, and being present for, other human beings. Especially watching despair turn into hope.”
Clinical Interest: Addiction Medicine, Psychiatry Mental Health
Languages Spoken: English, Spanish
Preferred Communication Method: Video Conference
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
OH Region: East Region (CE/SE/CH)
Biography
Since obtaining his certification from the Canadian Association of Addiction Medicine in 2013, Dr. Adam Newman has been in private practice focused exclusively on addiction medicine and harm reduction.
Dr. Newman is the Most Responsible Physician for Opioid Dependent infants rooming-in with their mothers at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), the founding board chair of the Kingston House of Recovery for Women and Children, and a member of the Substance Treatment and Rehabilitation Team (START). He also holds an adjunct assistant professorship in Family Medicine at Queen’s University, with cross appointments to Psychiatry and Paediatrics.
He lectures colleagues, medical students and postgraduate medical trainees, and regularly supervises residents during clinical electives, in addiction medicine. He also acts as the supervising Addiction Physician for nurses, physicians, and allied health practitioners who are returning to work under a monitoring contract after being absent because of a substance use disorder.
Before 2013, he practiced full-scope medicine in Sioux Lookout and Kingston for 20 years.
Dr. Newman is married with two adult children.
Connect with Dr. Adam Newman
Showing biography of Dr. Michael Pare .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
Biography
Dr. Michael Pare is a member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and the Ontario College of Family Physicians.
He is certified in both Interpersonal Psychotherapy and Group Psychotherapy and has a diploma in the Advanced Program in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (ATPPP). He has been a Teaching Mentor/Supervisor for the Medical Psychotherapy Association of Canada (MDPAC).
Dr. Pare is Chair of the OMA Section on Primary Care Mental Health, and coordinator of the Medical Clinic for Person-Centred Psychotherapy. He has been very active in the development and delivery of Continuing Professional Development programs and training sessions for family doctors for many years.
Dr. Pare has a special interest in the foundations and fundamentals of clinical practice. He has completed The Osgoode Hall Law School Certificates in “Professional Regulation & Discipline in the Ontario Health Care Sector” and “Mental Health Care Law”.
Showing biography of Dr. Rupa Patel .
Clinical Interest: Trauma informed care, slow opioid tapering, chronic pain
Biography
Dr. Rupa Patel is a family physician at the Kingston Community Health Center. She is also an assistant professor at the Queen’s University Department of Family Medicine, and the program director for the Women’s Health Program and a board member at the CPSO.
She has worked in many settings over the past 30 years, including remote Northern Ontario, as a GP-Oncologist in a hospital, FM-obs, and as a family doctor in an academic teaching practice. Her current work is in a community health center setting.
Dr. Patel is now a passionate advocate for responsible opioid prescribing, after inheriting a practice with many patients on high-dose opioids. She has been with this group of patients for the past 14 years and has extensive experience with opioid tapering. She is also an advocate for generalist family medicine and feels that continuity of care is critical in Family Medicine and health care in general. She continues to enjoy her work and hopes to share her strategies for managing a practice in Family Medicine in this increasingly stressed health care environment.
Connect with Dr. Rupa Patel
Showing biography of Dr. Shanti Rao (Her/She) .
I love providing psychotherapy, mindfulness and DBT to teens, children and families who struggle with emotional regulation and teaching them skills from DBT and watching them cope well and flourish. My other interests are working with anxiety, depression and grief, utilizing CBT and mindful art therapy healing techniques.
Languages Spoken: English
Preferred Communication Method: Phone, Email, Video Conference
Practice Model: Solo and Telemedicine
Biography
Dr. Shanti Rao received her MD and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Calgary twenty four years ago. Dr. Rao practices full time GP psychotherapy with a focus on DBT for children, teens and families. She treats borderline seasonality disorder and uses CBT in her work with those suffering from grief, anxiety and depression. Her main focus is providing DBT to teens, children and families.
Dr. Rao’s also teaches DBT group therapy for emotional regulation to adults with anxiety, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, trauma and depressive disorders. She employs a variety of mindfulness techniques in her practice, having learned and practised yoga and meditation techniques for over twenty five years. She creates art and uses art therapy, and other creative intervention, in her treatment of teens and adults and creates inspirational art and mindfulness content on social media.
Dr. Rao teaches at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in Windsor as an Adjunct Professor of Medicine. She has a special interest in physician wellness, with many physicians in her practice, and receives and works with the Physician Health Program at the OMA. She has also received the Fellowship designation (FCFP). In her free time she enjoys mindfulness practice, yoga, spending time in nature and creating art in watercolor and acrylic. She also likes traveling, hiking, swimming and tennis.
Communities Served
Dr. Rao works with kids, teens and adults suffering from anxiety, depression, in Windsor, the GTA, Timmins and Northern communities.
Showing biography of Dr. Lori Regenstreif .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Addiction Medicine
Biography
Dr. Regenstreif has had a focused practice in addiction medicine since 2011.
She started by prescribing methadone and buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder in Hamilton, then spent a year in New South Wales Australia, working with the Hunter New England Drug and Alcohol Clinical Service. She returned to Ontario in 2014 and completed an MScCH in Addiction and Mental Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
These experiences, together with the inspiration from many mentors, prompted her to get more involved in research, and to start comprehensive addiction care programs such as a RAAM clinic and an in-patient addiction medicine service in Hamilton.
Dr. Regenstreif has devoted much time and effort to mentoring physician and nurse practitioner colleagues in the Shelter Health Network and in the detention centres to promote the use of Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) in community and prison settings. She works in a youth detention centre in Hamilton, as well as several out-patient settings and the hospital system.
Connect with Dr. Lori Regenstreif
Showing biography of Dr. Michael Roberts .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health
Affiliated With: University of Toronto
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
Biography
Dr. Michael Roberts is an Assistant Professor and Faculty Development Lead in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
For more than 30 years, he has offered GP Psychotherapy within his own Comprehensive Family Practice. Michael’s current Toronto-based clinical work centers around counselling, psychotherapy, and teaching. He has facilitated Balint Groups and Narrative Medicine workshops through Faculty Development locally, nationally, and internationally. He was also a Mentor with the Collaborative Mental Health Networks of the OCFP.
As a community-based academic, Dr. Roberts has won a variety of awards, and was most recently recognized with a CCFP Award of Excellence for his contributions to mentorship, scholarship, and curriculum development. He believes that creating space for reflection is the cornerstone for personal and professional resilience.
Showing biography of Dr. Rachel Shour .
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health
Affiliated With: University of Toronto, McMaster University
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
Practising Since: 2013
Biography
Dr. Rachel Shour completed her Family Medicine training at McMaster University in 2013. After six years of delivering comprehensive primary care in the community, Dr. Shour completed her fellowship in Psychiatry through the Medical Psychiatry Alliance at the University of Toronto.
Her current practice is affiliated with NYGH and focuses on the delivery of mental health care to patients and their families with concurrent medical and mental illness. Her specific clinical areas of interest are in Psychosocial Oncology- specifically in cancer survivorship- and Perinatal Mental Health care, emphasizing the importance of trauma-informed care.
Dr. Shour has been delighted to remain involved in teaching opportunities throughout her career and is excited to be working with the family medicine residents at NYGH.
She is thrilled to be participating in the exciting Peer Connect program and to learn with and from the amazing Family Doctors in Ontario!
Showing biography of Dr. Helen Spenser (she/her) .
“I have met many amazing people through this work and, as a lifelong learner, I have learned a great deal from working with family physicians. I love working with children and adolescents because they have their entire life ahead of them, and the support we are able to provide them could last a life time.”
OCFP Programs: Peer Connect
Clinical Interest: Psychiatry Mental Health, Physician Wellness, Preparation for Retirement
Identifies As: White (Caucasian)
Languages Spoken: English,French
Preferred Communication Method: Email,Video Conference
Practice Model: Royal College Specialist
OH Region: East Region (CE/SE/CH)
Biography
Dr. Helen Spenser likes to think of herself as a multi-disciplinary team in the field of Mental Health Care.
She started her career as an MSW Social Worker prior to studying medicine and working as a family physician for four years. She then began her journey in psychiatry.
This background fueled her interest in the field of shared mental health care between psychiatrists and family physicians. Dr. Spenser worked as a full time Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa for 18 years. She is now semi-retired doing locums on the inpatient psychiatry unit at CHEO.
She has a joint appointment as Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa in both the Faculties of Psychiatry and Family Medicine. Dr. Spenser coordinated and ran a collaborative mental health clinic and resident teaching clinic with the University of Ottawa Melrose Family Family Health Team from 2018 to 2020.
She was a SOO examiner for the CCFP for over 30 exams and was involved in previous mentorship opportunities through the OCFP.
Dr. Spenser continues to enjoy teaching medical students and being an active Peer Guide in OCFP’s Peer Connect Mentorship Program through 1:1 and small group facilitation.
Communities Served
Dr. Spenser provides care to children and youth from ages 4 to 18. Her areas of interest also include:
- Anxiety disorders and OCD in youth DBT and CBT: practical approaches in family practice
- Working with suicidal teens
- Mental health assessments in latency age children and younger
- Physician wellness and preparing for retirement
Showing biography of Dr. Judy Suke .
“I feel privileged and honored to support people, including physicians, in their journey to improve their sense of well-being and desired function”
Identifies As: White (Caucasian)
OH Region: North Region (NE/NW)
Practice Model: GP Focused Practice
Bio
Dr. Judy Suke is a Family Physician practicing exclusively in Medical Psychotherapy, with a practice focus supporting physicians. Dr. Suke transitioned her work towards this area of passion in January 2022 after eight rewarding years in General Family Practice, during which time she pursued her training and then practiced with a subspecialty in Medical Psychotherapy. With an interest in Public Health, she found the timing right to focus her energies within this area of medicine. Her training in Medical Psychotherapy began at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia and involved a formal Change of Scope process with the CPSO. Her work has grown to explore Trauma Informed Treatment Approaches. After valuing her own OCFP Practising Well Peer Learner experience she is eager to give back.
When not at work, she can be found with her family enjoying trails by foot, on a bike, on cross country skis or exploring waterways by canoe.
Communities Served
Dr. Suke’s practice is composed of about 80% physician patients and 20% from referrals from her local Family Health Team in Haliburton, Ontario.
Clinical Interest
Psychiatry Mental Health
Showing biography of Dr. Shira Taylor (she/her) .
“I love teaching people mindfulness and other skills they can use to help them find release from their suffering. I also love fostering spaces where the power of a group can support deep healing for those struggling with emotional and mental health challenges. I find much joy in seeing the transformation in peoples’ lives.”
Languages Spoken: English
Preferred Communication Method: Phone, Video Conference
Practice Model: Other
OH Region: Toronto Region (TC)
Biography
Dr. Shira Taylor has been a practising physician psychotherapist since 2014. She serves individuals struggling with a wide variety of mental health and life challenges, including depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, chronic pain, spiritual and religious crises, grief, and migration-related trauma.
Trained in several mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic modalities, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, ACT, Psychodrama and MBCT, her work is focused on teaching trauma-informed approaches to mindfulness, and drawing upon the skills and wisdom of group members to create a supportive learning and healing environment.
Dr. Taylor is a trained yoga instructor through the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Organization, and brings to her practice not only her medical expertise, but also the lived experience of extensive meditation and yoga training in India and Canada.
She is currently partnering with researchers at McMaster University in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour to explore the role of mindfulness in the treatment of PTSD.
Communities Served
Dr. Taylor serves an urban population. Her practice has been entirely online for the past year and a half.
In My Own Words
“I’m from a mixed religious, racial, and ethnic family. My father is Bajan (from Barbados) and my mother is multi-generation Jewish Canadian of Eastern European descent. I have lived in India and the Middle East (both in Israel and several Arab countries) and speak a small amount of Arabic. I have familiarity with Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism and have been actively involved in organizing interfaith prayer services for peace at the Parliament of World Religions. I am also a co-organizer of the Canada Camino which is a 160km annual walk to support people in reconnecting with the earth and with themselves. It also raises funds to support First Nations communities and food security initiatives. For more than ten years I have also been actively involved with a registered charity in Nigeria called Joy Village (joyvillages.org) and have supported program development as well as fundraising there. I am deeply committed to community service work and building bridges between peoples of different backgrounds and between humans and the rest of the natural world.”
More Useful Resources
What is a Peer Learner?
Learn more about how you can participate in this program to set goals and gain skills and clinical connections to support your work.
Community of Practice
Join a session to connect in real time and learn from others who are working with patients to address their mental health, substance use disorders, and chronic pain.