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Meet the Founder
Eleanor
Founder & Lead Peer Support Specialist · Recovery Coach · Advocate
I don't just understand the mental health system from a textbook. I know it from the inside out.
My Story
As a cis queer woman of colour (biracial — Black and White), I live and work at the intersection of complex identities and challenges. I have navigated severe and persistent mental illness, C-PTSD, Polysubstance Use Disorder (PSUD), ADHD, ASD, physical disability, and the heavy weight of systemic racism and social disadvantage.
But I also know what it means to heal. I was diagnosed in 2010 and have been in recovery for over 15 years, helping clients recover for over a decade.
My background spans a previous career in publishing as an editor, a lifetime in the narrative arts, and over 20 years of direct action and advocacy work in mental health and Harm Reduction. Working from the framework of Narrative Therapy techniques, today, I combine my lived experience with over a decade of professional practice to help you reclaim your narrative, find your baseline, and step into personal empowerment.
My Practice Philosophy
I work from a client-centered, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive lens. At Mood Mend, we reject the hierarchical clinician-patient dynamic. Instead, we operate on a Therapeutic Alliance and Power-Sharing Model where equity and inclusion are paramount.
You lead. I facilitate.
Professional Experience
Where I've Worked
Program Design and Peer Engagement
CAMH — Collaborative Learning College
Peer Support Specialist
Co-designed and facilitated provincial-scale recovery programs, developing specialized, resiliency-focused curricula tailored for BIPOC peers and psychiatric survivors.
Assertive Community Treatment
St. Michael's Hospital Mental Health and Addictions Service
ACT Team — Peer Support Specialist
Worked as a Mental Health Peer Support Specialist on the ACT Team — an Assertive Community Treatment team providing the highest level of community mental health support.
Integrated Care Coordination
Cota
Peer Support Specialist
Empowered clients navigating complex mental health challenges by leveraging lived experience to foster trust and bridge gaps to collaborative, community-based care.
Eating Disorder Support
Sheena's Place and Hope's Garden
Access and Triage (peer capacity)
Provided care routing for individuals taking their courageous first steps into eating disorders recovery.
Harm Reduction (Addictions)
Moss Park and Parkdale Queen West CHC
Overdose Response Worker (peer capacity)
Frontline Harm Reduction work at Moss Park's Overdose Prevention Service and later at PQWCHC's Supervised Consumption Service.
Peer Support Group Facilitation
Mood Disorders Association of Ontario — Hope + Me
Peer Support Specialist
Peer Support group facilitation for those living with mood disorders in the GTA.
National Advocacy
Changing the System
True support requires changing the systems that harm us. Eleanor is an active lobbyist, advocate, and activist at the federal drug policy and law enforcement level.
CAPUD
Since 2022Canadian Association for People Who Use Drugs
Advocacy Volunteer & Policy Representative
CDPC
Since 2024Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (via Simon Fraser University)
Volunteer Advocate & Community Educator
HAC
Since 2024Harm Reduction Advocacy Coalition
Volunteer Advocate & Strategic Organizer
HRHH
Since 2023Harm Reduction Happy Hour Toronto
Volunteer Advocate & Community Organizer
Specialized Programs
26 Programs Developed
Shifting the perspective from pathology to personal empowerment across 13 years of practice.
Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating Support
Harm Reduction 101© (co-designed with Matt Johnson, founder of Moss Park OPS)
B{L}ACC© — Black Afro Caribbean Canadian Critical Conversation Group
Writing for Wellness©
Conscious Creativity©
Mood Disorders Recovery Groups
Gendered and LGBTQ+ Groups (specialized men's curricula)
Expressive Arts Groups e.g. Graphic Novel Storytelling© with Penguin Books author Willow Dawson
...and 18 more specialized programs across 13 years
Ready to Connect?
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and let's co-create your path to stability.
Book Free Discovery Call📞 647-518-6939 · ✉️ moodmend@gmail.com