Kyla Brophy is a PhD student in Counselling Psychology at McGill University.  Her doctoral research investigates the role of self-compassion in promoting resilience and well-being, conducted under the supervision of Dr. Annett Körner.  Kyla’s interests in community consultation and gender-transformative programming are informed by her experiences working across Canada and internationally.

As an undergraduate, Kyla spent two summers working on initiatives to support vulnerable youth in Tanzania. Following her graduation, she worked in the non-profit sector in Vancouver, BC coordinating a social justice education program on issues related to climate justice, access to healthcare, income inequality, and gender, including developing a violence-prevention project in partnership with Status of Women Canada. She later worked on a multidisciplinary team at BC Children’s Hospital to engage patients, families, and health care providers in research to support youth during periods of transition. She holds BAs in Political Science and Psychology from the University of British Columbia, a Certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement from Simon Fraser University, and an MSc in Gender (Research) from the London School of Economics.

Kyla was an ATTSVE intern in summer 2018, and worked collaboratively with in-country staff and the McGill team on the following activities:

• Planning and conducting needs assessments, focus groups, and interviews with students and staff at four ATVETs
• Developing and administering surveys to gather student knowledge and feedback on their experiences with gender-related programming
• Coordinating workshops and student leadership trainings
• Ongoing knowledge mobilization and dissemination

To share the knowledge generated during these activities, Kyla has prepared a report with student perceptions of gender-based violence (gathered during focus groups), as well as briefing papers on several of ATTSVE’s gender transformative programming initiatives: Cash Transfer Programs, Gender Clubs, Women and Leadership.

Followings are Kayla’s ATTSVE-related publications: