our team
principal investigator
Victoria F. Burns
Dr. Victoria Burns is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary (UCalgary), and the founder and director of the UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC), and Recovery on Campus Alberta (ROC). She is a qualitative researcher specialized in place-based, social justice approaches.
Her current research activities include: recovery meanings and pathways, harm reduction, recovery justice, politics of disclosing stigmatized identities, collegiate recovery, recovery-friendly workplaces particularly in post-secondary contexts.
andrew szeto
Dr. Andrew Szeto is currently the Director of the Campus Mental Health Strategy at the University of Calgary responsible for guiding the implementation of the 28 recommendations within the strategy. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary and also a Principal Investigator at the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Dr. Szeto’s research involves the development, implementation, and evaluation of mental illness stigma reduction and mental health promotion programs for various audiences across Canada. He also conducts research and publishes on various topics related to post-secondary mental health and the stigma of mental illness.
research assistants
Chelsie Graham, BSW, RSW
Chelsie is the Project Coordinator for Recovery On Campus Alberta, a registered social worker, and a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Social Work program at the U of C. Her work history centered previously around disability support and has since evolved to other avenues of advocacy for the dignity of people. She encountered Victoria Burns in a Self and Social Care Class during her studies and was introduce to the UCRC in the last year of her studies. This introduction changed the course of her career, her attitudes towards recovery and problematic substance use, and brought her gladly to this project.
Tabitha Pruden, RSW
Tabitha is the is the Project Coordinator for the UCalgary Recovery Community. Tabitha is a proud Cree-Métis woman who has called Moh’kinsstis home since her birth. She is a registered social worker who has a passion for working alongside unhoused community members. She has spent the past two and a half years developing the Downtown Ambassador program which works to create a safe and inclusive downtown for unhoused and housed community members. Tabitha’s lived experience of both mental illness and addiction drives her passion for helping others.
Ashley Ethier
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Isaac Wright, RSW (he/him)
Isaac Wright is a graduate student in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, where his research focuses on peer support by and for trans people living with suicidality. He has been a part-time research assistant with Recovery on Campus since September 2024. As a distance student, he lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he is a social worker at the University of King's College.