The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for eMental Health Development and Implementation is Nicholas Watters, Director, Access to Quality Mental Health Services at Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Nicholas has been a leader and champion for e-mental health in Canada since 2014 and even prior, when the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) made a strategic investment in an e-mental health program and he became Director of this (now) department. He built a strong program and team, always focusing on incorporating the lived experience voice into every project from the beginning. Through his deep connections with stakeholders across Canada and the world, he has kept current with the key issues facing e-mental health and turned this knowledge into key projects that solve these issues through knowledge exchange, convening and coordinating, and developing and supporting evidence-informed resources, tools, programs and policies.

His list of qualities is extensive but to name a just a few:

1. Connecting and collaborating: Our referees couldn’t speak more highly of this recipient’s flair for connecting and collaborating. One shared: “He is a matchmaker. I have lost count of the number of e-mental health innovators, influencers and change makers he has introduced me to. They include entrepreneurs, outside the box mental health leaders, funders, decision makers, and political champions. By convening these diverse thinkers, this award recipient helped me to discover how the many emerging population level prevention and clinic-based programs could be integrated in my work. He really created a crucial incubator space for large scale systematic change.”
2. A e-Mental Health advocate and implementer: This recipient is behind the MHCC’s Toolkit for E-Mental Health Implementation, that has since been turned into an online course, and mental health app standardization in Canada. He has also been key to working with stakeholders on implementing a successful provincial and territorial Stepped Care 2.0 approach, which has been expanded to multiple jurisdictions across Canada. He is actively involved in the eMHIC community.
3. A model diplomatic disruptor: He quite naturally facilitates breaking down barriers while inspiring hope through innovation. With a wry sense of humor, his gentle and charming manner, he brings people on board, convening those with widely varying perspectives and contributions.

It is because of this unassuming talent for high impact disruption and his commitment to the mission of mental health reform that he is the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award for eMental Health Development and Implementation. 

Congratulations Nicholas!