2022-2023 ESP Section Executive
Chair:
Maria Kokai, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Private Practice
Toronto, Ontario
Dr. Maria Kokai is a registered psychologist with over 35 years of experience that includes work in school board and private practice settings. She earned her PhD at the E. Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, obtained specialized experience in Scandinavia related to psychological services for deaf and hard of hearing children. As a school psychologist, she worked with a wide range of populations, including students with LD, Giftedness, as well as deaf and hard of hearing students. As the Chief Psychologist at the Toronto Catholic District School Board for 14 years, she was overseeing and directing psychological services for the 90,000 students of this board, as well as participating in the selection, implementation and evaluation of various system-wide intervention programs in the areas of LD, resilience and mental health. She supported and facilitated collaboration in research, service delivery and training with other organizations (e.g., SickKids Hospital LD Research Program, Integra, Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario – LDAO, Psychology Foundation of Canada, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Friends Resilience), and helped establish and obtain CPA accreditation for the Toronto Area Residency Program with rotations in school psychology. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada, and the former President of the Association of Chief Psychologists with Ontario School Boards. She was also an advisory member of the LDAO’s LD@School project. She was co-chair of the Cross-sectoral Psychology Working Group creating Guidelines for Diagnosis and Assessment of Children, Adolescents and Adults with Learning Disabilities. Consensus Statement and Supporting Documents (currently available as a CPA CE workshop). Currently she is a member of the Ontario Psychological Association’s Section on Psychology in Education Council and the OPA-Ministry of Education Liaison Committee. Her co-edited book, titled Mental health consultation and interventions in school settings: A scientist-practitioner’s guide. (Eds.: Ester Cole & Maria Kokai) was published in 2021 (Hogrefe Publishing GmbH.)
Past Chair:
Maria Rogers, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health and Well-being
Associate Professor, Carleton University
Dr. Maria Rogers is an Associate Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health and Well-being in the Department of Psychology at Carelton University. Dr. Rogers holds a Ph.D. in School and Clinical-Child Psychology from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and completed her postdoctoral training at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and McGill University. Dr. Rogers has broad interests in how adult-child relationships affect children’s learning and social-emotional development across various contexts. She has published extensively about the social-emotional and academic development of youth with ADHD. Dr. Rogers is also interested in relations between family mental health and student absenteeism, and how community mental health agencies work with families and schools to meet the educational needs of vulnerable children and youth.
Dr. Rogers has received several federal and provincial awards and honours for her research, including grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Ontario’s Ministry of Research Innovation. She is also a Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and l’Ordre des psychologues du Québec and has worked clinically with children, teachers, and families in several school districts, clinics, and hospitals in Ontario and Québec. Dr. Rogers is also a member of the NunatuKavut community of Southern Labrador and currently works with Indigenous youth in both urban and rural settings near Ottawa.
Chair Elect:
Steven R. Shaw, Ph.D.
McGill University
School and Applied Child Psychology Program
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
Steven R. Shaw is associate professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He earned a M.Ed., Ed.S., and Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Florida. At McGill University, he is the Graduate Program Director of the Combined School and Counselling Psychology Program.
Before entering academia, he had 16 years of experience as a school psychologist in school, hospital, medical school, and independent practice. He served as the lead psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina and Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Shaw is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist.
His clinical and research interests include pediatric school psychology, improving education for children with rare genetic disorders, improving implementation of innovation and clinical research in education and psychology, and developing skills in children who are struggling academically. He has over 210 scholarly publications and presentations, has edited five books, and authored two others. His most recent book is, Reaching and Teaching Students Who Don’t Qualify for Special Education Strategies for the Inclusive Education of Diverse Learners (2022) published by Routledge. He sits on the editorial boards of six international scholarly journals, is past editor of School Psychology Forum, and is the current editor of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology.
Conference Chair:
Erica Makarenko, Psy.D., R.Psych.
Senior Instructor, School & Applied Child Psychology
Werklund School of Education
University of Calgary
Erica Makarenko grew up in southern New Jersey and completed her BSc degree in Psychology from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. She completed an MA degree in School Psychology and an Educational Specialist (EdS) degree from Rowan University in New Jersey. She completed her PsyD degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2012 with a specialization in School Neuropsychology. Before moving to Canada, Erica worked as a School Psychologist in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Erica came to the University of Calgary in 2012 to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in School Neuropsychology with the Werklund School of Education. From 2013 until 2016, Erica worked as the Director of Instructional Impact for the James Chaput Centre for Educational Research Applications in Calgary, where she collaborated with a team of professionals to develop and pilot 21st century learning tools and academic programming. In 2016, Erica re-joined the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary as an Instructor and the Academic Coordinator of both the Master of Education in School & Applied Child Psychology program and the Master of Counselling program. Erica has also been the Co-Academic Coordinator of the graduate certificate program in Educational Neuroscience: Applications for Teaching & Learning since 2018. From 2018 to 2022, Erica served as Director of the Integrated Services in Education (ISE) Training Clinic at the University of Calgary, the outward-facing training facility for graduate students in Educational Psychology. Erica is a Registered Psychologist in Alberta and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist in the United States.
Secretary/Treasurer:
Laurie Ford, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia
Director of Training, Ph.D. Program in School and Applied Child Psychology
Director Early Childhood Education
I am a former special education teacher having taught in early childhood and middle school settings. This work led me to doctoral study in School and Child Clinical Psychology at the University of Kansas (APA Accredited). I completed my pre-doctoral internship and a doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology with the University of Nebraska Professional Psychology Internship Consortium (APA Accredited) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Through my experiences as an educator and school psychologist I developed interest in children and families from diverse cultural backgrounds including a clinical focus on children in early childhood and families. I have been fortunate to serve and work closely with members of our section as a former Member-at-Large, Chair Elect, Chair, and Past Chair. I am also a past member of the CPA accreditation panel and CPA Board of Directors, Chair of Council of Chairs.
The favourite part of my job is working with graduate students and supporting them in their research and clinical training. I have supervised 30+ doctoral dissertations and 45+ masters theses. When I am not at work I enjoy being outdoors and hanging with my dogs Gracie Belle and Cooper.
Member at Large:
Dr. Debra Lean, Ph.D., C.Psych.
School and Clinical Psychologist
Psychologist, Private Practice
Dr. Debra Lean is a School and Clinical Psychologist with over 35 years of experience in school boards, hospital mental health departments, as well as private practice. She received her Master’s and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Concordia University in Montreal. Dr. Lean has been registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario since 1988 and serves periodically as an examiner for the College’s oral exams. She recently retired, after 20 years, from her position of Chief Psychologist of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, in the Greater Toronto Area. Dr. Lean worked as a school psychologist at the board previous to her taking on the Chief Psychologist role. She will soon be returning to work as a psychologist in a large Toronto-based multidisciplinary private clinic. She is the Chair of the Ontario Psychological Association’s Section on Psychology in Education since 2011 and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology. Dr. Lean is the co-author of two books on integrating school-based mental health services, Barriers to Learning: The Case for Integrated Mental Health Services in Schools (2010) and School-based Mental Health: A Framework for Intervention (2013). Her previous research activities include school-based mental health service models, a play-based mental health prevention program for primary age children with school adjustment difficulties, cognitive behaviour intervention for anxious students, and alternative school psychology delivery models.
Member at Large:
Virginia M. C. Tze, Ph.D., C. Psych.
Assistant Professor
Department of Educational Administration, Foundations and Psychology
Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba
Dr. Virginia Tze received her Ph.D. in School and Clinical Child Psychology from the University of Alberta. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration, Foundations and Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Prior to joining the professoriate position, Dr. Tze had practiced as a school psychologist in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her research focuses on social-emotional learning, including emotional management, self-regulation and cultural diversity.
Member at Large:
G. Thomas Schanding, Jr., PhD, R.Psych.
Associate Professor, University of British Columbia
Dr. Thomas Schanding is a registered psychologist in British Columbia and the program area coordinator for the School and Applied Child Psychology program at the University of British Columbia. Originally from Paris, Kentucky, he earned his PhD in School Psychology (APA-accredited) from the University of Southern Mississippi. He completed his doctoral internship at Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (APA-accredited) in Houston, Texas. He has worked extensively with schools as a consultant and was the Supervisor of Psychological Services for Sheldon Independent School District (Texas). At the University of Houston-Clear Lake, he served as the program director for the Specialist in School Psychology program and co-director of the PsyD in Health Services Psychology (combined Clinical and School Psychology) program. Additionally, he has worked on grant projects with Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital as the lead diagnostician related to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Additionally, he worked for 10 years with UTHealth Houston’s LoneStar Leadership Education in a Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program, training families, self-advocates, and graduate students from various disciplines to become leaders in the field of neurodevelopmental disabilities. He has served as the chair of the LGBTQI2-S Committee for the a National Association of School Psychologists. He was the President of the Texas Association of School Psychologists in 2018, and worked with the Texas State Board of Examiner’s of Psychologists to develop a new definition for the practice of psychology. His passion in research is related to the assessment and intervention of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. He is the author of the Social Emotional Learning Skills Inventory (SELSI).
Student Representative:
Harris Wong, B.A., M.A.
Student in School and Applied Child Psychology
Faculty of Education | Department of Education, and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education
The University of British Columbia | Musqueam Traditional Territory
Harris is a first year PhD student in the School and Applied Child Psychology program at the University of British Columbia. He grew up in White Rock, BC and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA in Psychology. For his undergraduate thesis, he investigated how the intuitive number sense contributes to equation detection abilities. Following his undergraduate degree, he completed a Master’s degree in School and Applied Child Psychology, also at the University of British Columbia. His thesis, which involved the use of semi-structured interviews, looked at Chinese Canadian youth’s experiences with racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of academia, Harris enjoys cooking, running, and spending time with his friends, family, and dog.
Student Representative:
Candice Riopel
School and Applied Child Psychology Program, University of Calgary
Candice is a second year MEd student in the School and Applied Child Psychology Program at the University of Calgary. She previously completed her BA-Psychology and BEd-Teacher Training degrees at the UofC and has been working as a classroom teacher for several years. Candice is passionate about supporting students with their learning goals and advocating for family health and wellness. She hopes to work as a school psychologist in the public school system. Outside of the classroom, Candice enjoys hiking, yoga, and volunteering with various organizations.
Student Representative:
Amanda Krause, MA
Clinical Psychology Program, University of Ottawa
Amanda is in her third year of doctoral studies in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Ottawa. She is specializing in children, youth, and family populations. She previously completed a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her research adopts a systemic perspective to child and adolescent developmental trajectories with a special interest in how relationship quality with important others (such as parents, peers, and teachers) can both positively and negatively influence development. Her master’s thesis was a meta-analysis that synthesized the link between peer aggression and teacher-student relationship quality. Her dissertation research focuses on school attendance and absenteeism of Canadian children and youth – a topic we know very little about. She is particularly interested in how mental health and relationship quality intersect with our understanding school attendance. Outside the program, Amanda enjoys cycling in the summer, and downhill skiing in the winter.