Mental health researcher Dr Julia Rucklidge will be speaking at the central branch of the Calgary Public Library on 12 July 2017 on the role of nutrition in mental health.
Julia is a professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Originally from Toronto, she completed her undergraduate training in neurobiology at McGill University in Montreal, completed a master’s and PhD at the University of Calgary in clinical psychology, followed by a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 2000, she joined the Department of Psychology, where she teaches child psychology in the Clinical Psychology Programme and introduced the topic of mental health and nutrition into the wider psychology program.
Her interests in nutrition and mental illness grew out of research showing poor outcomes for children with significant psychiatric illness despite receiving conventional treatments for their conditions. In the last decade, she has been running clinical trials investigating the role of broad-spectrum micronutrients (such as Truehope EMPowerplus) in the expression of mental illness, specifically ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety, and stress associated with the Canterbury earthquakes.
Julia has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, has been featured in the media over 100 times, and has given over 100 invited talks across the world on her work on nutrition and mental health. She is on the executive committee for the International Society of Nutritional Psychiatry Research. She was the recipient of the Ballin Award 2015 from the NZ Psychologist Society, an award that recognizes notably significant contributions to the development or enhancement of clinical psychology in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She was also named one of the top 100 Most Influential Women in New Zealand in 2015.
Her 2014 TEDx talk has been viewed over half a million times. She blogs regularly on Mad in America. She is passionate about helping people find alternative treatments to medications for their psychiatric symptoms. Her current research interests can be found at the University of Canterbury website.
Tickets are $5 each, but are limited. RSVP today. All proceeds will be donated to the Nutrition and Mental Health Fund.