Stronger campus mental health starts here.
Who We Are
We are Dr. Elizabeth Cawley and Sarah Mughal (MPH), two North American experts on post-secondary mental health with a combined 20+ years of experience in mental health services, digital tools, suicide prevention, and health promotion.
We met in 2018 when we were each invited by the Mental Health Commission of Canada to join 35 experts and lead the development of Canada’s National Standard for the Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students.
In the years since, we’ve built a team to help institutions in Canada and the United States leverage the guidance provided in international standards and - more broadly - to support schools, companies, and non-profit organizations in building stronger, healthier, more supportive campuses for everyone.
What We Do
We work with you to improve your mental health and well-being policies, programs, and services, informed by international best practices.
We offer four core services that we tailor to your campus. All four can be provided as a comprehensive package, or we can pick and choose what best suits your needs.
We provide training on campus mental health best practices for students, teachers, leadership, and other stakeholders. We help you digest existing evidence so you can make informed, strategic decisions.
We audit your campus against existing Standards including both student and workplace mental health standards. We let you know what you’re already doing well and where your gaps are so you can celebrate successes and plan focussed actions.
We develop mental health strategic plans for your institution outlining strategic focus areas, objectives, success indicators, and proposed timelines.
We create ad hoc policies and programs to fill your gaps and most pressing needs. These have included suicide prevention plans, harm reduction strategies, crisis response plans, and service landscape scans. We also review mental health education content and curricula to ensure safety and alignment with evidence.
In all we do, we apply the guidance in Canada’s National Standard for the Mental Health & Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students, and international best practices such as the Okanagan Charter; the International Association of Counselling Services, the Australian University Mental Health Framework, Canada’s National Standard for Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace, and Quebec’s Plan d'action sur la santé mentale étudiante en enseignement supérieur 2021-2026).
Take a look at our portfolio of recent work to learn more.
Meet Our Team
Partners
Dr. Elizabeth Cawley
Founder & Managing Partner
Dr. Elizabeth Cawley has a Ph.D. in Psychiatry from McGill University, specializing in post-secondary student mental health. She was the Medavie Healthy Campuses Coordinator for the Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) from 2017-2020, working with 18 post-secondary institutions and 4 government bodies to move the mental health agenda forward in Atlantic Canada. In 2018, she was selected to be an expert member on the technical committee for the National Standard for the Psychological Health and Safety of Post-Secondary students. As an active member of this committee, Dr. Cawley is helping to write the book on on-campus mental health.
Before joining the Association of Atlantic Universities, Dr. Cawley consulted at a number of top Canadian universities, assisting them with the development and implementation of their mental health strategies. She was also an advisory board member at Kids Help Phone, working to successfully bring Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone to Canada. In addition, Dr. Cawley has been involved with a number of private and not-for-profit organizations focused on developing innovative solutions for mental health service delivery on post-secondary campuses across Canada.
Dr. Cawley is currently the Director, National Mental Health Strategy at Studentcare | ASEQ overseeing the Student Assistance Plan “Empower Me” which provides e-mental health support to over 400,000 students across the country.
Sarah Mughal, MPH
Managing Partner
Sarah Mughal has been working in the mental health field for over a decade in non-profit, start-up, government, and community settings. She has a Masters of Public Health in Social Inequities in Health from Simon Fraser University, and she is currently finishing a PhD in Psychiatry focussed in mental health services at McGill. Sarah was also selected in 2018 to sit on the technical committee for the National Standard for the Mental Health and Well-Being of Post-Secondary students. Since this document was the first of its kind in the world, she considers it an honour to help lead this innovative work to support student mental health across Canada.
A highlight of Sarah’s career has included working for Kids Help Phone as the Director of Service Innovation. Here she was responsible for reimagining Kids Help Phone's services along an adapted Stepped Care model, and she led the development of new services, evaluation methods, and strategic plans. Prior to Kids Help Phone, she also worked for five years to help build Jack.org, a national charity training youth to lead health promotion and advocacy work across Canada. Under her leadership as Director of Programs & Evaluation, Jack.org's 3 programs grew from inception to implementation with over 3000 participants in every province and territory, and to receive international recognition.
Sarah is a strong subject matter expert in youth mental health, anti-oppression, and post-secondary environments. She is thrilled to support campuses and nonprofit organizations as Managing Partner with the Cawley Mughal Group.
Team
Leora Rich, MSW
Clinical Consultant
Leora Rich is a clinical social worker currently working in private practice. She holds a Masters in Social Work Degree. Leora has experience providing therapy and support to youth and their families through direct treatment, therapy, program evaluation and program development at. She has worked within different community mental health and hospital settings across the GTA and has supported many justice-involved youth. In her previous role as Clinical Manger at East Metro Youth Services, Leora provided training nationally to interdisciplinary service providers on the subject of Gender Based Violence and Human Trafficking. Leora is passionate about working with youth who are experiencing challenges with their mental health and substance use. She is dedicated to increasing capacity for service providers to best support youth struggling with concurrent disorders. With a strong commitment to providing trauma informed care, she acts as a clinical consultant and is dedicated to educating other service providers in this model of care. Leora is committed to continuous learning and engaging in discussions about health equity, anti-racism and trauma-informed care.
Sarah McIlwaine, MSc
Research Associate
Sarah has over seven years of research experience using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her research expertise includes clinical and developmental antecedents of youth mental health, and early psychosis within French and English populations. She holds a Master of Science in Psychiatry and is currently a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at McGill University. Leveraging her expertise in psychiatry and epidemiology, her work currently focuses on mental health service use patterns among individuals diagnosed with early psychosis in Ontario, Canada. In addition to her academic skills, Sarah is fluent in French, and has proficiency in various statistical and qualitative software.
Laura Seidel, MSc
Associate
Laura Seidel has a Master of Science in Mental Health Counselling from the University of Massachusetts and is currently a PhD Candidate in Psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her primary research focuses on resilience and its associated mechanisms within working individuals, including post-secondary students. Laura has held many roles within the mental health industry, most recently as Clinical Partnerships Lead for Kids Help Phone. Here she was responsible for advancing mental health digital supports and resources to optimize care. Creating partnerships nationally and internationally, she advanced bridging the gap in service of current digital supports. Laura has provided individual and group counselling, developed undergraduate psychology courses, and currently conducts research as a Defence Scientist within Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis for the Department of National Defence.
What Our Clients Are Saying
"Elizabeth and Sarah are true experts in the field. I have worked with them on a number of projects and witnessed their ability to bring projects to life that have a deep and meaningful impact on student and youth mental health. They are reliable, professional, and a pleasure to work with"
— Greg Kyllo, National Director, Program Innovation | Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) - National
"Working with StudentsNS, the largest student advocacy organization in Nova Scotia, Elizabeth has consistently sought out the student voice and approval when developing strategy. She made myself and our Board of Directors equal partners in our work in an authentic manner. This has kept Elizabeth in touch with the student voice which is clearly reflected in her results"
— Clancey McDaniel, Executive Director | Students Nova Scotia
The entire Cawley Mughal group consistently demonstrated deep expertise, empathy, and a profound understanding of the unique challenges facing our college community. They worked closely with staff, students and faculty to gather meaningful insights, and produced a final report that was thorough and well-researched, but also provided data-driven, practical recommendations. We are truly grateful for their valuable work.
— Alex Irwin, Director, Student Wellbeing & Support | George Brown College
