Alumni Story – Addictions and Mental Health Ontario Graduate Certificate
Tags: Vol. 4, June 2024, Issue 2
Denis Lim
Denis Lim graduated from the Addictions and Mental Health (ADMH) graduate certificate program in 2017. “My time in this program is memorable because of the lasting friendships I made with several of my classmates. Although we had completed our undergraduate degrees, many of us were still unsure about our professional aspirations and hoped that the field of addictions and mental health would provide some clarity. To this day I remain close friends with them, and we look back fondly on our student days.” Denis came into the program having worked a couple of years in an emergency shelter with unhoused youth. He was looking to expand his knowledge about potential opportunities within the sector. Placement played a vital role in this.
Denis volunteered with Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre with their harm reduction supply distribution team. “This opportunity definitely helped me once the program ended. I secured employment with various social service providers - Covenant House, Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre, and Ve’ahavta. The combination of these experiences motivated me to pursue a master’s degree in Child and Youth Care at Toronto Metropolitan University (then known as Ryerson) a few years later.” After completing this program, Denis applied to TMU again for his PhD in Policy Studies. “Now, I am a PhD candidate in this very program and my research interests are in frontline work in the non-profit sector, Canadian drug policy, and harm reduction programs in Toronto.”
The story comes full circle as Denis is also a partial-load instructor for both the graduate certificate and Bachelor of Social Science - Addictions and Mental Health (BAMH) programs. “Humber has been instrumental to my academic and professional growth, and I must give a special shout out to the Program Coordinators for both addictions and mental health programs: Julie Muravsky and Kathryn Mettler. I cannot thank them enough for their mentorship when I was a young student in search of direction and meaning. I went from sitting in the far back of classrooms never participating, to now being in the front of the classroom as a professor. I never dreamed of this before and I am forever grateful to both Julie and Kathryn for their patience, kindness, and understanding.”
