Meet Tala El Tal!

While completing her pediatric rheumatology and lupus fellowship training at The Hospital for Sick Children, Tala led the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program study on Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, where she was the first author and co-author of important publications.

During her fellowship, Tala identified a gap in care in the detection and treatment of cognitive impairment, mental health, and psychiatric comorbidity in childhood-onset lupus (SLE). This inspired her to apply for the Geoff Carr Lupus fellowship award (Oct 2021-Sep 2022) with the support of Lupus Ontario. Tala’s application was successful, and she was granted the opportunity to advance her rheumatology training in the field of cSLE. Additionally, she began researching cognitive function in cSLE – a project supported by a Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) grant.

Through her participation in the Pediatric Rheumatology Care and Outcome Improvement Network (PR-COIN) fellow program and Co-Learning QI course, Tala developed a keen interest in patient-reported outcomes. Recently, she completed a master’s program at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her master’s project focused on improving routine mental screening for depression and anxiety in the cSLE clinic, to ultimately optimize the capture of mental health burden and ensure appropriate equitable mental health care.

Tala has been working hard to promote multi-disciplinary mental health care by conducting workshops at the local, regional, and international levels. The primary goal of these workshops is to equip pediatric rheumatology providers with mental health assessment skills and management strategies.

Meet Emerson Picklyk!

Emerson Picklyk was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (ERA-Type) three years ago. Managing his disease, especially throughout the pandemic has been difficult, challenging him to grow new coping skills and to learn alot along the way.

As a 17-year-old male teenager, Emerson has recognized the stigmas surrounding male mental health and his disease. He understands how these stigmas can be harmful and is interested in using his experiences to inform how mental health is addressed in pediatric rheumatology.

Emerson has been an active member of the Child and Youth Advisory Council at the Alberta Children’s Hospital for the past three years. He enjoys participating in quality improvement initiatives and bringing a youth perspective to the planning table at Alberta Health Services.

Meet Deanna Picklyk!

Deanna contributes to the workgroup her perspectives as a caregiver/parent to a child with JIA and her experience as a Social Worker/Mental Health worker.

While caring for her son Emerson who is also a member of the committee, and her sister, as they have learned to work through many challenges with their rheumatic diseases, Deanna has wrestled with her mental health issues. She understands the difficulties that caregivers and parents go through while advocating for their loved ones’ needs in clinics or schools.

Professionally, Deanna is a Registered Social Worker who provides mental health support in the private sector. She has a special interest in Mindfulness-Based Approaches. She has previously worked for Alberta Health Services and focused on Public Engagement and Facilitation in the area of Patient Engagement.

Meet Luana Flores Pereira!

Luana is a Registered Social Worker with 15 years of clinical experience in various settings, including acute healthcare, private practice, and the non-profit sector. For the past 3 years, she has been supporting patients and families in Pediatric Rheumatology as an outpatient social worker at SickKids. Additionally, she has served as an interventionist in a study that provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to teens and young adults suffering from lupus. Luana has also been involved in implementing mental health screening in the Juvenile Dermatomyositis Clinic at SickKids Hospital.

Luana is eager to contribute her expertise and experiences to the workgroup. She hopes to collaborate with others to advance access to mental health services for patients and families and improve overall care.

Meet Sarah James!

Sarah is an occupational therapist who completed her research and PhD at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, in 2014. She is currently a part of the BC Children’s Hospital Rheumatology Team. Sarah believes that it is essential to manage not only the physical symptoms but also provide mental health support for children with rheumatic diseases. At present, Sarah is leading an initiative to improve the mental health screening and referral processes for patients in her clinic.

As an allied health clinician, she is thrilled to be a part of the workgroup and share insights from her ongoing projects, clinical and research perspectives to address gaps in mental health care for this population.

Meet Marissa Sangers!

Marissa is deeply passionate about mental health. To the workgroup, she brings valuable perspectives from her professional training in Mental Health First Aid and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills, and personal experiences caring for her daughter who lives with a pediatric rheumatic disease.

Marissa actively raises awareness for the vast impact of rheumatic diseases on youth mental health, including medical traumas, lowered self-confidence, and increased anxiety and depression. She has advocated in many forums, and even presented at a Hackathon in 2021 about the need for improvements in mental health care.

By participating in this workgroup, Marissa hopes to help improve youth mental health care and continue raising awareness of the broad impacts of rheumatic diseases on both patients and caregivers.

Meet Neely Lerman!

Neely brings valuable insight to the workgroup. She has a unique perspective, having lived with juvenile arthritis since the age of two, and also being a mental health professional. For the past sixteen years, Neely has worked as a social worker in the rheumatology program at SickKids Hospital. Personally and professionally she has witnessed the lack of mental health resources available to patients and their families.

This has motivated her to join the workgroup, where she hopes to improve mental health services and fill knowledge gaps to better support children, teens, and their families struggling with rheumatic illness.

Meet Emma Linsley!

Emma is a recent McGill University Bachelors of Science graduate who lives with juvenile arthritis. She has been an active participant and advisor in an array of research-related activities and has been heavily involved in patient advocacy for nearly seven years.

Throughout her work, Emma has emphasized the importance of providing developmentally appropriate care and the impact of chronic illness on youth mental health. She has spoken to medical students at the University of Saskatchewan and delivered two guest lectures at the University of Saskatchewan’s Faculty of Nursing, during which she highlighted the challenges that young people with chronic illnesses face within the Canadian healthcare system.

Emma’s unwavering focus on these issues is evident in her recent role as a primary researcher and writer on the Canadian Rheumatology Transition Guideline Working Group where she prioritizies inclusion of mental health equity considerations. In addition to the workgroup, Emma is a member of the Saskatchewan Pediatric Rheumatology Digital Presence Platform Working Group, and the Working Group for Identifying Facilitators of and Barriers to Digital Health Literacy where she hopes to continue to advance care and facilitate connections between patients, physicians and researchers.

Emma looks forward to listening and learning from her fellow workgroup members and helping to provide insight to more equitably support mental health for patients and families affected by pediatric rheumatic diseases.