Welcome to your national network - together we can transform youth mental health and substance use (YMHSU) systems in order to ensure that youth receive the right care at the right time from the right provider in Canada.
Our Vision
All youth, young adults, and their families have access to the help they need to be well, when they need it, in the context in which they live.
Our Mission
Frayme leads a national network that connects mental health, health and social services working with youth and young adults to accelerate the integration and implementation of youth care in Canada.

Shauna MacEachern
Executive Director
Tamir Virani
Senior Strategic Communications and Marketing Lead


Eleonore Eaves
Development and Growth Lead

Alana Salsberg
Senior Strategic Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement Lead
Micaela Harley
Senior Engagement and Knowledge Equity Lead


Heather McLaughlin
Operations Lead
Travis Sztainert
Knowledge Mobilization Specialist

Julia Solimine
Communications and Policy Specialist


Szerena Szabo
Digital Social Media Specialist
Kristy Allen
Knowledge Equity Specialist


Daniel Gorecki
Project Specialist
Cynthia Joyce
As founder of the consulting firm GiveResearch LLC, Cynthia Joyce works to advance innovation and better health for individuals affected by disorders of the brain and mind and for their families. With 30+ years of experience in the research funding, fundraising and industry, and having lived and worked in the US and the UK, she brings a unique perspective to the challenges facing the healthcare system in the post-pandemic world.
Most recently, Cynthia Joyce was Executive Director of the MQ Foundation based in New York. The MQ Foundation is an affiliate of the international charity MQ: transforming mental health research where she was founding chief executive (2021-2018). In prior years, Cynthia has served as Executive Director of the SMA Foundation (NY) and Executive Director of the American Academy of Neurology Foundation (MN); she has also held positions in industry (Ciba-Geigy and Cephalon). She holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MS from the University of Minnesota.
Cynthia currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Frayme, a Canadian knowledge-exchange project focused on adolescent mental healthcare and for the Graham Boeckh Foundation (Montreal). She also serves in an advisory capacity for the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (IAMHRF) and has just joined the Mental Health Science Council of MQ.
As Regional President for Alberta and the Territories for RBC Royal Bank, Jeff leads a Team of over 2,500 employees in providing financial advice and services to RBC’s Personal, Small Business and Commercial clients in the Region. Since joining RBC in 1995, Jeff has held a variety of increasingly responsible positions including senior leadership roles in both Retail and Commercial Banking and National Sales Strategy. Prior to assuming his current role in 2014, he was Regional President, Ontario North & East.
Jeff is an active and dedicated community leader, including his involvement on the boards of Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, Arts Commons and FRAYME, as well as the Advisory Board for the University of Alberta Business School. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mount Allison University, the FICB from the Canadian Securities Institute and has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Education Program.
Mike DeGagné
Dr. Mike DeGagné helps indigenous students find, and achieve, their life purpose in his role as President and CEO of Indspire, Canada’s largest indigenous charity. He previously served as President and Vice-Chancellor of Nipissing University, in northern Ontario, Canada.
In 1998, Dr. DeGagné became the founding Executive Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation where for 15 years he worked to encourage and support community developed, delivered, and culturally based initiatives addressing the intergenerational effects of abuses suffered in the Indian residential school system. In recognition of his support for residential school survivors and First Nations communities, Dr. DeGagné was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada – Canada’s highest civilian honour – in 2014, and was also awarded the Order of Ontario.
Alisa Simon
As Executive Vice President, Chief Youth & Innovation Officer At Kids Help Phone, Alisa Simon is a celebrated leader with extensive experience and expertise strengthening the role and impact of digital mental health and the transformation of Canada’s youth mental health landscape. Through her position at Kids Help Phone, Alisa has helped lead the extraordinary evolution of the organization into a technology-enabled, data-driven e-mental health solution. This has included a focus on building innovative digital health systems that break down barriers to care by changing the way care is delivered, measured and received.
Under Alisa’s leadership, Kids Help Phone has evolved from a phone-based helpline to a comprehensive solution that fully integrates a growing number of access points, programs and resources. Achieving a record 4.6 million interactions in 2020 – a 137 per cent increase over 2019 – the organization is now in a position to double service capacity over the next three years. In addition to overseeing Kids Help Phone’s clinical operations, Alisa is responsible for innovation, quality assurance and equity programs as well as the organization’s government relations strategy, working closely with provincial and federal government representatives and stakeholders to advance thought leadership, guide policy and build partnerships.
In 2013, Alisa was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her transformational impact on youth mental health. She is a member of Digital Health Canada’s CHIEF Executive Forum, the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s e-Mental Health Collaborative and the National Collaborative for Suicide Prevention. In addition, she is a sought after speaker discussing the role of technology and data in driving e-mental health solutions and the experience of young people across Canada.
Dr. Florence Dzierszinski is the President of The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, and Vice-President of Research at The Royal. In this role, Dr. Dzierszinski champions the next chapter in ground breaking mental health research and fosters an integrated research and clinical model at The Royal, driven by the needs and experiences of clients and families in our region.
Dr. Dzierszinski has a strong track record of health research - including a CIHR Canada Research Chair at McGill University and awards from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) among others. She is well known for her organizational leadership supporting research excellence and has been instrumental in increasing research grant and partnership opportunities for researchers.
Dr. Dzierszinski is passionate about building an environment where research can thrive and where science, care and lived experience combine to create better futures for all people impacted by mental illness.
Amanee Elchehimi
Like many, Amanee’s work in the mental health field is not purely a professional endeavour. She is privileged to bring an intersectional lens to this work, with personal lived experience, academic studies and training, and over a decade of professional experience in the field.
Amanee has worked in the social services field for nearly a decade and is currently the Director, Health Promotion at DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society in the Lower Mainland in BC. She is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from SFU, as well as a Master’s of Public Health from SFU. She began her career working as a youth worker with immigrants, refugees, ethno-cultural, and racialized individuals, families, and communities. Amanee is also certified mental health first aid instructor and enjoys designing and delivering various mental health workshops and trainings.
Prior to her current role at DIVERSEcity, she was privileged to work in the Downtown Eastside and Surrey as the Manager of the Pathways to Education program and supported several education programs at Pacific Community Resources Society. Recently, she served as a member of the Family Advisory Committee with FRAYME, and previously served as a member and chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s Youth Advisory Council, supporting mental health policy and practice across Canada.
As an active member of the Muslim community, Amanee grounds her principles and work in her identity as a Muslim woman. She strongly believes that equity and justice are critical for meaningful, systemic change. As such, she is driven by her values and principles and is committed to supporting the wellbeing of children, youth and families in the community.
Pratik Nair
Caroline Pitfield
Caroline Pitfield is a lawyer by training and a policy leader in practice. After a short stint in corporate litigation, she obtained a Masters of Law in Health Law and Policy. She subsequently joined the federal public service as Legal Counsel to Health Canada. Over the next 17 years, she held various senior executive positions at Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, and in the Public Safety Portfolio. Caroline also supported two federal Ministers of Health as the Director of Policy. In January 2022, she took a leave from government to work more directly with organizations in the health and mental health sector, including as a senior associate with Santis Health.