Todd Leader is a Registered Social Worker and a Registered Community Psychologist. He has spent his multi-decade career leading service development and organizational transformation in many areas of health and social services, with specialty focus on the experience and impact of addiction and mental health issues. He has also been teaching psychology, social work, addiction and mental health, and health promotion at the university level for more than thirty years. He is a two-time recipient of Excellence in Teaching awards, citing his practical, dynamic, and engaging style which makes learning both enjoyable and effective.
Health services under his leadership have earned two International Best Practice awards, as well as a leadership award for Excellence in Women’s Health. He led the successful transformation of an addiction and mental health system to achieve and sustain the best wait times in Nova Scotia (down from 8 months to 1 month for adults, and from 5 months to 1-7 days for adolescents). Based on this real-life success, Todd authored a book that is a how-to guide and a call-to-action for improving the addiction and mental health system in Canada, beyond the theory, cookie cutter models, and ineffective traditional approaches. It’s Not About Us; The secret to transforming the mental health and addiction system in Canada continues to influence system transformation across the country. His work has always been about real change, not just holding leadership positions while the status quo remains.
Todd was appointed by the Nova Scotia Minister of Health and Wellness to the Ministerial Panel on Innovation in Mental Health and Addictions, has been President of the Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia, Vice President of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, and President of the Public Health Association of Nova Scotia, among others.
Todd has learned a lot about leading real change, and has taught, coached, and mentored many people to become more effective leaders. He has learned how to address the psychological underpinnings of an effective leadership team in order to achieve collective accomplishments that could not have otherwise been reached. He has learned how to develop inter-agency, inter-organizational, and inter-departmental partnerships that achieve synergy and deep collaboration, not just regular meetings and information-sharing. He has learned how to create psychologically-healthy workplaces, and to effectively manage addiction and mental health issues within a work setting so the well-being of both the employees and the organization are taken into account.
As someone who has lived with depression throughout his career successes, and also survived a temporary but severe medication-induced mental illness, he brings a valuable type of knowledge to his work. By combining his academic, professional (leadership), and personal perspectives, Todd comes to his work with uniquely comprehensive insights that you will likely not find anywhere else. There are certainly those who see the world through a lens of research, leadership and management, or lived experience, but very few who bring an integration of all three.
If you want to move your team to the next level of real achievement as a leaders, to confidently manage mental health in the workplace, to improve the effectiveness of your collaborative partnerships, to transform your services to a new level of client-centeredness that is being demanded by the public, or to inspire and motivate your team of leaders and staff to reach new heights, Todd can help. This is where the theory ends and real transformational leadership begins.
