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I am cross-appointed to the Departments of Criminology and Psychology, and my academic background is primarily based in training as an experimental forensic psychologist. I am appointed to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and currently serve as the Graduate Coordinator for the Criminology MA program.
I received my MA (2004) and PhD (2010) in forensic psychology and law from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. I received my BA (Hons) in psychology from Carleton University in my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario (2001).
Prior to joining Laurier, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario (2010) where I contributed to the Mental Health Commission of Canada National Research Team on the At Home/Chez Soi Research Demonstration Project on Mental Health and Homelessness.
I conduct nationally and provincially funded research focused on police interactions with people in mental health crisis. My program of work investigates the effectiveness of police de-escalation and crisis response training models, the use of co-response models, and police decision-making during encounters with citizens in mental health crises. I also explore how people with lived experience of mental illness and family carers experience and perceive police encounters during crisis. I am currently leading and working in partnership on a number of research initiatives to develop, produce and test de-escalation and crisis intervention training for frontline police officers using high fidelity, immersive virtual reality simulations.
I have been awarded funding from national bodies (SSHRC, NSERC), received provincial and community funding. I was recognized with a Merit Award for Research Excellence in 2017 and 2020 from Laurier.
The following are a selection of funded research projects that I have been involved in:
Lavoie, J. (Principal Investigator) Virtual Reality-based Mental Health Crisis Response Training (VR MHCRT) Curriculum. Research Contract. This is an industry-partnership initiative with Ryerson University and Lumeto, 2021-2022, $3,165,300
Lachman, R. Khan, N. Alvarez, N., & Lavoie, J. (Co-Applicant) COVID-19 and Using Virtual Reality Scenarios to Safely Train Police in Mental Health Crisis Response. Ontario Centres of Excellence Grant, 2020-2021, $20,000
Khan, N., Lachman, R., Alvarez, N., Lavoie, J. (Co-Applicant). COVID-19 and Efficacy of Using Virtual Reality Scenarios to Safely Train Officer in Mental Health Crisis Response, with Dark Slope Studios Inc. NSERC Alliance Grant, 2020-2021, $50,000
Lavoie, J., Alvarez, N., & Kandil, Y. (Principal Investigator). Training Police to Respond to People in Mental Health Crisis: A Scenario-Based Training Curriculum and Evaluation Framework, Research Contract, 2019-2021, $300,000
Alvarez, N., Kandil, Y., & Lavoie, J. (Co-Investigator). Scenario Training to Improve Interactions between Police and Individuals in Mental Crisis: Impacts and Efficacy, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant, 2017-2021 $310,950.
Popham, J., Lavoie, J. (Co-Applicant). Big Data in Cities: Barriers and Benefits, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant, 2017-2018, $24,800
Lavoie, J., Sanders, C., Schulenberg, J., & Huey, L. (Principal Investigator). Exploring Police Responses to Citizens in Mental Crisis (Social Science and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant, 2015-2017, $56,253
I am willing to supervise graduate students using quantitative or mixed methods to explore the nexus between criminology and mental health, as well as policing, de-escalation, and forensic psychology topics.
My research lab is currently full for the 2021-2022 academic year.
- Sanders, C. B., Lavoie, J. A. A. (2020). Boundary objects and technological frames: Officer’s perceptions and experiences with using mental health screeners on the frontline. Policing and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2020.1813140
- Popham, J., Lavoie, J., & Coomber, N. (2020). Constructing a public narrative of regulations for big data and analytics: Results from a community-driven discussion. Social Sciences Computer Review, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0894439318788619
- Lavoie, J. A. A. & Blandford, S. (2019). Police response to crisis involving suicide risk: Strategies for suicide intervention and prevention (pp. 223-244). In Canadian Perspectives: A Practical Approach to Mental Health Response for Police Personnel (Edited by Uzma Williams). Canadian Scholars.
- Shore, K. & Lavoie, J. A. A. (2019). Exploring mental health-related calls for police service: A Canadian study of police officers as “frontline mental health workers”. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 13 (2),157-171.
- Lavoie, J. A. A. (2018). Relative invisibility: An integrative review of carers’ lived experiences of a family member’s emergency mental health crisis. Social Work in Mental Health,16 (5) 601-626. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2018.1467845
- Adair, C. E., Streiner, D. L., Barnhart, R., Kopp, B., Veldhuizen, S., Patterson, M., Aubry, T., Lavoie, J., Sareen, J., LeBlanc, S. R., & Goering, P. (2017). Outcome trajectories among homeless individuals with mental disorders in a multisite randomised controlled trial of Housing First. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62 (1), 30-39. DOI: 10.1177/0706743716645302
- Adair, C. E., Kopp, B., Distasio, J., Hwang, S. W., Lavoie, J., Veldhuizen, S., Voronka, J., Kaufman, A. E., Somers, J. M., LeBlanc, S. R., Cote, S., Addorisio, S., Matte, D., & Goering, P. (2016). Housing quality in a randomized controlled trial of Housing First for homeless individuals with mental illness: Correlates and associations with outcomes. Journal of Urban Health, 93 (4), 682-697.
- Connolly, D. A. & Lavoie, J. A. A. (2015). Discriminating veracity between children’s reports of single, repeated, and fabricated events: A critical analysis of Criteria-based Content Analysis. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 33, (1), 25-48.
- Lavoie, J. A., Eaton, J., Sanders, C., & Smith, M. (2014). “The Wall is the City”: A narrative analysis of Vancouver’s Post-Riot Apology Wall. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 43, 203-222. DOI:10.1108/S0163-239620140000043019.
- Adair, C. A., Kopp, B., Lavoie, J., Distasio, J., Hwang, S. W., Watson, A., Veldhuizen, S., Chislett, K., Voronka, J., Ahmad, M., Ahmed, N. & Goering, P. (2014). Development and initial validation of the Observer-Rated Housing Quality Scale (OHQS) in a multi-site trial of Housing First. Journal of Urban Health, 91 (2), 242- 255.
- Lavoie, J. A. A. (2013). Eye of the beholder: Perceived stress, coping style, and coping effectiveness among discharged psychiatric patients. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. Aug; 27(4):185-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2013.02.004.
- Broadcast Interviewee (June 25, 2020), CBC Radio: The Current with Matt Galloway Mental health and police wellness checks [Radio Broadcast].
- Broadcast Interviewee (June 24, 2020), Global National [Television Broadcast].
- Interviewed and featured on Global News (June 24,2020) Police wellness checks: Why they’re ending violently and what experts say needs to change by Beatrice Britneff [Newspaper].
- Interviewed and featured on CBC News Front Burner (June 24, 2020) Should police be on mental health calls? [Podcast].
- Interviewed and featured in The Globe and Mail (June 23, 2020), “We need justice”: Brother of police shooting victim Ejaz Choudry, by Patrick White and Vjosa Isai [Newspaper].
- Interviewed and was featured on CTV News on Quibi (June 22, 2020) with Jeremiah Rodriguez.
- Interviewed by The Canadian Press and was featured in Ottawa Matters (June 15, 2020), With a spotlight on policing failures: How can the system better respond to mental health crisis? by Cassandra Szklarski [Newspaper].
- Interviewed and was featured in Alberta Views: New Perspectives for Engaged Citizens (November, 2019). Changing the culture of Canadian policing by Doug Horner.
- Broadcast Interviewee (April 6, 2018), Global News Radio 640 Toronto: The Exchange with Matt Gurney [Radio Broadcast].
- Broadcast Interviewee (April 6, 2018), Jennifer Campbell Show [Radio Program], 570 News Kitchener.
- Interview and was featured in The Toronto Star [Newspaper] (April 9, 2018), Deaths by police can and must be reduced, by Star Editorial Board.
- Interviewed and was featured in CBC Investigates [Newspaper] (April 4, 2018), Most Canadians killed in police encounters since 2000 had mental health or substance abuse issues, by Katie Nicholson & Jacques Marcoux.
- Interviewed and was featured in the Toronto Star [Newspaper] (October 13, 2017), In suicide attempt calls, police can be the difference between life and death, by Vjosa Isai.
- Press Conference Panel Speaker, Brantford Police Service, Wednesday April 20, 2016. Featured in Brant News [Newspaper] (April 22, 2016), Police partner with agencies to improve mental health crisis response, by Mike Peeling.
- Press Conference Panel Speaker, Brantford Police Service, Wednesday April 20, 2016. Featured in Brantford Expositor [Newspaper] (April 20, 2016), This has been a game changer, by Vincent Ball.
Contact Info:
Office location: GRH122
Office hours:
Fridays, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Languages spoken: English