Stan Kutcher

Stan Kutcher is a Canadian Senator and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada on December 12, 2018. Before his appointment, Dr. Kutcher was Department Head of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University, as well as Associate Dean of International Health, and where he most recently held the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health.[i] He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.[i] He was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia in 2014.[ii]

The Honourable

Stan Kutcher
Senator from Nova Scotia
Assumed office
December 12, 2018
Nominated byJustin Trudeau
Appointed byJulie Payette
Personal details
Born
Stanley Kutcher

(1951-12-16) December 16, 1951
ProfessionSenator

Kutcher obtained his bachelor's degree in history and political science and his master's degree in history at McMaster University and his medical degree at McMaster University Medical School.[vi] His postgraduate training in psychiatry was at the University of Toronto and he completed a McLaughlin Fellowship at the Medical Research Council Brain Metabolism Unit in Edinburgh.[vii] He is internationally known for his clinical research, policy, and educational work in youth mental health.

Contributions to Youth Mental Health

Kutcher has made substantial contributions to Canadian and international research regarding the causes and treatment of mental illness in young people, particularly Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. [i]

He developed nationally and internationally leading innovative youth mental health research, education, treatment and community intervention programs at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.[i]

As a professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University, he helped establish the Brain Repair Centre and the Life Sciences Development Association.[vii] He was Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Mental Health Policy and Training and participated in numerous mental health initiatives led by the Pan American Health Organization, including mental health training, policy development and post-disaster mental health interventions.[i] He most recently co-chaired the Minister of Health's Advisory Panel on Innovation in Mental Health and Addictions in Nova Scotia. [ii]

Much of his work has focused on improving mental health care in primary care in Canada and around the world.[iii] His work in Canada and globally has included numerous innovative mental health interventions such as the online mental health knowledge translation resource for educators, primary health care providers, youth and parents –TeenMentalHealth.org, as well as the program An Integrated Approach to Addressing the Issue of Youth Depression which combines youth focused radio programs with teacher and student mental health literacy and clinical mental health care capacity building in Malawi and Tanzania (see external links for videos).[iv] He led the development and deployment of novel mental health competency training programs in Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America and a number of his clinical tools (such as the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale) have been validated and translated into numerous languages and are used around the globe.[v][vi]

It was at Dalhousie University that he established the first International Health program in the Faculty of Medicine and the first Global Psychiatry training program in Canada.[vii]

Kutcher has created and led numerous school-based mental health literacy programs helping young people and educators better understand mental health and mental illness. For example, the Curriculum  Guide Resource, designed for application in grades 7-10,  is now researched and used across Canada and globally.  The Transitions post-secondary schooling resource is used in Canada and being researched and applied in many other countries.  He led the development of Teachmentalhealth, a pre-service/in-service teacher curriculum, in collaboration with the Faculties of Education at University of British Columbia, Western University and St. Francis Xavier University.

As a member of the Child and Youth Mental Health Committee of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Kutcher led the development of a national child and adolescent mental health policy framework known as Evergreen.[viii] Kutcher's academic portfolio includes over 400 published papers and numerous books on topics ranging from psychopharmacology to suicide prevention, adolescent brain development and Global School Mental Health.[ix] He has taught and mentored hundreds of medical students as well as individuals pursuing Masters and PhD degrees, in and outside of Canada.[vi] He has served as a mental health advisor to organizations and governments in Canada and internationally.[vi]

Kutcher has made significant contributions to mental health related research in Canada and abroad. He has led and collaborated in scientific research in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and China.[iv] He has served as a founding board member of the Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addictions of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as on numerous other research boards and scientific advisory committees and consultancies in Canada and internationally.[vi]

Work in the Senate

As a Senator, Kutcher sees his role as representing his home province of Nova Scotia and minorities across Canada, as well as bringing a scientific lens to Senate work. He also champions science literacy, health literacy and mental health literacy as a means for helping Canada and other countries improve their health policies and health outcomes. Kutcher promotes the understanding and use of best-available scientific evidence in all his Senate activities.

Awards and Distinctions

Kutcher has received numerous awards and distinction (see table for selected). He has been a visiting scholar at 14 institutions in eight countries.

Awards and Distinctions Awarded By Year Received
Discovery Award: Professional of Distinction Finalist Discovery Centre Nova Scotia 2019
Distinguished Service Award Doctors Nova Scotia 2019
Doctoris in Legibus Honorary Degree St Francis Xavier University 2019
Naomi Rae-Grant Award for creative and innovative work in community intervention, consultation, and prevention.[i] Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2018
Champion of Mental Health Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health 2018
Award for Creative Professional Activity Association of Chairs of Psychiatry of Canada 2017
Nova Scotia Champion of Public Education The Learning Partnership 2016
Distinguished Alumni Award McMaster University 2015
Order of Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia 2014
Excellence in Education Award The Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2014
John Ruedy Award for Innovation in Medical Education The Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada 2013
Paul Patterson Education Leadership Award Canadian Psychiatric Association 2012
Robert Bortolussi Research Mentorship Award IWK Health Sciences Centre 2012
Goodwill Ambassador Counselling and Youth Development Centre for Africa 2012
Dr. John Savage Memorial Award Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University 2011
Dr Michael Smith Award Schizophrenia Society of Canada 2011
J.M. Cleghorn Research Award Canadian Psychiatric Association 2010
Physician Health Promotion Award Doctors Nova Scotia 2008
CCNP Gold Medal Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2008
Paul D. Steinhauer Advocacy Award for his advocacy for young people at a national and international level Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2008
Lifetime Achievement Award Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation 2005
Honorary Lifetime Member Turkish Association of Psychopharmacology 2005
Champion of Mental Health Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health 2004
Jim Britten Sr. Recognition Award The Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia 2004
Special Achievement in Development of Guidelines American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2004
Recognition of Achievement Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2003
Special Achievement Award Nova Scotia Hospital Foundation 2003
Award for Valuable, Unselfish and Constant Contribution to the Organization of Clinical Research in Cuba Ministry of Public Health Cuba 2003
Charlotte and Norbert Rieger Award American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1991
R.O. Jones Award Canadian Psychiatric Association 1990

Personal life

Kutcher is a first generation Canadian born to Ukrainian refugees; his parents survived World War II and made a new life for themselves and their families in Canada.[i] He credits his early life, particularly growing up in a household where community service to others was the norm, as full of the experiences that helped mould his values of civic engagement, that now inform his activities as a Senator.[x] As a young person, he worked with youth living in financially challenged circumstances in Hamilton, Ontario and with incarcerated young people in Ontario's juvenile justice system and as a labourer-teacher with Frontier College.[i]

He has travelled extensively across Canada and globally.

He is married to Jan Sheppard Kutcher whose career has focused on helping women achieve success in trades and technical vocations and helping new immigrants settle into their professional lives in Canada.[i] They have three adult children and seven grandchildren. Kutcher alternates between living in Nova Scotia and fulfilling his parliamentary duties in Ottawa, Ontario.[i]

True to his Nova Scotian spirit, Kutcher enjoys hiking and trekking across Canada and internationally. His community involvement as a teacher of international medical graduates, a youth hockey and soccer coach, and his volunteer record with community organizations highlight Kutcher's belief in the value of community building and service.[x] He has a passion for visual arts and photography and was a board member of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia prior to his appointment to the Senate.[i]

Selected Books
  • School Mental Health: Global Challenges and Opportunities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York. (2015)
  • Adolescent Brain Development. Colloquium Series on the Developing Brain. (2014)
  • Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals. Second Edition. Wiley-Blackwell, UK. (2012)
  • Practical Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Uk. (2002)
  • Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. W.B. Saunders. Philadelphia, USA. (1997)

Selected Recently Published Papers
  • Kutcher, S., Perkins, K., Gilberds, H., Udedi, M., Ubuguyu, O. Njau, T., Chapota, R., Hashish, M. (2019). Creating Evidence-Based Youth Mental Health Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Description of the Integrated Approach to Addressing the Issue of Youth Depression in Malawi and Tanzania. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00542
  • Kutcher, S., Sasaki, T., & Wei, Y. (2018). Mental Health Literacy and Schools: Effectively applying a similar model to help build good youth mental health outcomes in Japan and Canada. Japan Journal of School Health, 60, 141–146.
  • Lowe, G.A., Lipps, G.E., Gibson, R.C., Jules, M.A., & Kutcher, S. (2018). Validation of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale in a Caribbean student sample. CMAJ Open 6(3), E248-E253. DOI: 10.9778/cmajo.20170035
  • Ravindran, A.V., Herrera, A., da Silva, T.L., Henderson, J., Castrillo, M.E., & Kutcher, S. (2018). Evaluating the benefits of a youth mental health curriculum for students in Nicaragua: a parallel-group, controlled pilot investigation. Global Mental Health 5(4), 1-12. DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2017.27
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., Heisler, C., Gilberds, H., Udedi, M., Chapota, R., Brown, A., & Perkins, K. (accepted 2017). Evaluating Community Health Care Providers Capacity in the Identification, Diagnosis and Treatment of Adolescent Depression in Malawi. Arch Depress Anxiety 2(1): 026–00. DOI: 10.17352/2455-5460.000011
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., Gilberds, H., Brown, A., Ubuguyu, O., Njau, T., Sabuni, N., Magimba, A., & Perkins, K. (2017). Addressing Adolescent Depression in Tanzania: Positive primary care workforce outcomes using a training cascade model. Depression Research and Treatment, 2017, 1-9. DOI: 10.1155/2017/9109086
  • Kutcher, S. (2017). Child and Youth Mental Health: Investing in the Front End. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry/La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 62(4). 232–234. DOI:10.1177/0706743717698670
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Behzadi, P. (2017). Suicide Prevention: Doing the right thing is not the same as doing something. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry/La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 62(4). 296–297. DOI:10.1177/0706743717695087
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Behzadi, P. (2016). School and Community Based Youth Suicide Prevention Interventions: Hot Idea, Hot Air or Sham? The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry/La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie. DOI: 10.1177/0706743716659245
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., Costa, S., Gusmão, R., Skokauskas, N., & Sourander, A. (2016). Enhancing Mental Health Literacy in Young People. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Coniglio, C. (2016). Mental Health Literacy: Past, Present and Future. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61 (3), 154-158.
  • Bruce, V.A. & Kutcher, S. (2016). Electronic Interventions for Depression in Adolescents: Hot Idea or Hot Air? South African Journal of Psychology, 46(3), 1-13.
  • Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Morgan, C. (2015). Successful Application of a Canadian Mental Health Curriculum Resource by Usual Classroom Teachers in Significantly and Sustainably Improving Student Mental Health Literacy. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry/La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 60 (12) 580-586.
  • Bennett, K., Rhodes, A.E., Duda, S., Cheung, A.H., Manassis, K., Links, P., Mushquash, C., Braunberger, P., Newton, A.S., Kutcher, S., Bridge, J.A., Santos, R.G., Manion, I.G., McLennan,
  • J.D., Bagnell, A., Lipman, E., Rice, M., & Szatmari, P. (2015). A youth suicide prevention plan for Canada: A systematic review of reviews. The Canadian Journal Psychiatry, 60 (6), 245–257.
  • Kutcher, S., Bagnell, A., & Wei, Y. (2015). Mental Health Literacy in Secondary Schools: A Canadian Approach. Child Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 24 (2), 233–244.
  • Wei, Y., Kutcher, S., & LeBlanc, J. (2015) Hot Idea or Hot Air: A Systematic Review of Evidence for Two Widely Marketed Youth Suicide Prevention Programs and Recommendations for Implementation. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 21 (1), 5-16.
  • Zhou, H., Hoa, N., Du, Y., Liu, Y., Sui, Y., Wang, Y., Cui, Y., Zhong, Q., Jiao, X., Wei, Y., & Kutcher, S. (2015). Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 29 (6), 413–418.
  • Carew, C., Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & McLuckie, A. (2014) Using Digital and Social Media Metrics to Develop Mental Health Approaches for Youth. Adolescent Psychiatry, 4 (2), 116–121.
  • McLuckie, A., Kutcher, S., Wei, Y., & Weaver, C. (2014). Sustained Improvements in Students’ and Teachers’ Mental Health Literacy with use of a Mental Health Curriculum in Canadian Schools. BMC Psychiatry, 14 (379).

Electoral record
2011 Canadian federal election: Halifax
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticMegan Leslie23,74651.64+8.89$82,238.55
LiberalStan Kutcher11,79325.64-1.94$78,191.23
ConservativeGeorge Nikolaou8,27618.00-2.62$48,637.42
GreenMichael Dewar2,0204.39-4.26$1,663.22
Marxist–LeninistTony Seed1520.33-0.07none listed
Total valid votes/Expense limit 45,987 100.0   $84,606.68
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 2410.52+0.01
Turnout 46,228 63.02+2.35
Eligible voters 73,357
New Democratic hold Swing +5.42
Sources:[1][2]

References

[i] “The Honourable Stan Kutcher.” (Apr. 25, 2019). Making Waves. https://makingwaves.community/the-honourable-stan-kutcher/

[i] “The Naomi Rae Grant Award.” The Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Retrieved on January 10, 2019. https://www.cacap-acpea.org/explore/awards/

[i] “Identification, Diagnosis and Treatment of Adolescent Depression: A Package for First Contact Health Care Providers.” Pan American Health Organization. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7434:2007-identification-adolescent-depression-first-contact-health-care-providers&Itemid=40615&lang=en

[ii] “Government Responds to Mental Health Panel Recommendations.” https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20170320002

[iii] “About Dr. Stan Kutcher.” Mental Health Academy. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://www.mentalhealthacademy.ca/dr-stan-kutcher

[iv] “An Integrated Approach to Addressing the Issue of Youth Depression.” The Mental Health Innovation Network. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://www.mhinnovation.net/innovations/integrated-approach-addressing-issue-youth-depression

[v] Kutcher, S., Chehil, S., Cash, C., & Millar, J. (2005). A competencies-based mental health training model for health professionals in low and middle income countries. World Psychiatry Journal, 4, 177–180.

[vi] Kutcher, S., Chehil, S., & Roberts, T. (2005). Meeting post-disaster mental health needs through an integrated health care provider training program: A pilot project in Grenada post hurricane Ivan. Pan American Journal of Public Health, 18 (4-5), 338–345.

[vii] “Dr. Stanley P. Kutcher Curriculum Vitae.” Dalhousie University. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/faculty/medicine/departments/department-sites/psychiatry/KutcherS-CV.pdf

[viii] “Evergreen: A Child and Youth Mental Health Framework for Canada.” Mental Health Commission of Canada. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/C%252526Y_Evergreen_Framework_ENG_1.pdf

[ix] “Stan Kutcher”. Research Gate. Retrieved on January 10, 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stan_Kutcher

[i] “Biography: Senator Stan Kutcher.” Senate of Canada. Retrieved January 10, 2020. https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/kutcher-stan/ [ii] Benjamin, Graeme. (2018). “N.S. adolescent mental-health expert Dr. Stan Kutcher appointed to Canadian Senate. Global News. www.globalnews.ca/news/4755050/dr-stan-kutcher-appointed-to-senate/ .

  1. Elections Canada – Official voting results, Forty-first general election, 2011
  2. Elections Canada – Candidate's electoral campaign return, 41st general election
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