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Our Speaker Program

Tuesday 14 January

    Who Knew! Understanding and training your brain is one answer to managing your stress response and aging well

Dr. Andra Smith

   A healthy brain is a happy brain. Stress is not healthy but life is stressful and that isn't going to change. How we deal with that stress could, however, be life changing. Understanding the brain is of the utmost importance. Using mindfulness can help too. Skeptical? What if mindfulness could help enhance your memory, so that you don't forget where you park your car at the mall? What if mindfulness could improve your concentration, so you aren't thinking about what's for supper while reading a book, forcing you to read that page again? What if physiologically, you could go to sleep at night without the rat race of thoughts going on in your head? This talk will provide the neuroscience evidence to demonstrate how mindfulness can do all of this. Mindfulness is mental hygiene. We brush our teeth twice a day, get 7-9 hrs of sleep a night, and are active 150 minutes/week, but what about your mental health? Unlike these national dental, sleep, and physical hygiene guidelines, there are no mental hygiene guidelines. Perhaps that is why we have an epidemic of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and addiction. Dr. Smith wants to change that and will present how mindfulness can play a role. She will combine the empirical with the experiential, to demonstrate the power of mindfulness as more than a buzzword or fad. She will also address some of the misperceptions of mindfulness. Finally, she will provide real world tools to help us all take charge of our own brain health to maximize our well-being, and ultimately age without our stress response hijacking our thinking brain.  
   Andra Smith has been a professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa for 20 years. She received her BSc and MSc from Carleton University and her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of British Columbia. Her main focus for research is using brain imaging (fMRI) to understand executive dysfunction in many vulnerable populations. She has studied cancer patients, cannabis use in youth, Multiple Sclerosis, effects of oral contraceptives on the developing brain, concussion, cardiac arrest, childhood sexual abuse, and several others. The highlight of her research has been studying the neurophysiological impact of mindfulness and providing empirical evidence that it works and how. Andra has received various awards for her teaching and her supervision of graduate students. She recently wrote her first book about a course, Neuroscience of Mindfulness: Neurons to Wellness, she taught to 4th year university students. This book Who Knew! Neuroscience and Mindfulness take on Stress in the Real World, and WIN! resulted from her passion to provide everyone with tools to manage the stressors that we face in our everyday lives. Understanding our brain can help. Mindfulness can too.

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Suggestions for future speakers are welcome. Please email speakers@probuswesternottawa.ca

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Previous Speakers

Where a speaker's name and topic is underlined, this is a link to additional information.

2024-25	September	October	November	December	January
	Gord Larose -- Artificial Intelligence	OPP Staff Sergeant Chris Sturgeon -- Fighting Fraud	Dr. Richard Mayne -- RCAF--100 Years	Charlotte Gray -- Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons	*
	February	March	April	May	June
	**	**	**	**	**
2023-24	September	October	November	December	January
	Gary Smith -- Ice War Diplomat	Elliana Kleiner -- Living Well on Retirement Income	Johanna Lemke -- Enemy Under Our Roof	Karen McMorine, Rick Johnston, Brynn Brieda -- Refugees in Canada	Dr. Irvin Waller -- Reducing Crime
	February	March	April	May	June
	Peter Rohe -- My Experiences in Israel	Peggy Blair -- Experiernces in writing a book	Dr. Tim Pychyl -- Solving the procrastination puzzle	Dr. Ted Yeap -- Climate Conscious Farming	Dr. Ian Mackay -- What happened to Amelia Earhart?
2022-23	September	October	November	December	January
	Malaya Zehr --         Inuit Culture and Larga Bafin	Paul Allen --                    When Tobacco Was King	Nick McCarthy --           The Governor General's Foot Guards	Martha Baltron -- Hospice Care Ottawa	Janet Mason --            The Living Classroom of the Carp River
	February	March	April	May	June
	Ian MacKay -- How the Vikings changed the English language	Jill Heinert -- The Art and Science of Cave Diving	Shelagh Stevens -- Women's role in UN Peacekeeping	Helen Peacock --      The Dream of World Peace	Sandra Hawkins -- an artists perspective on climate change
2021-22	September	October	November	December	January
	Tim Moses --      Preparing for the End of Life	James Powell --         The Assassination of D’Arcy McGee	Nick McCarthy: Beechwood -- Canada's National Military Cemetery	James Jordan -- Celebrating over 100 years of The War Amps	Michele Vinet --      Writing Behind Bars
	February	March	April	May	June
	Benoit Bazinet --         The Bees of Beechwood	Jacqueline Gori --  Filling the Gap with Furry Feet	Dawn Doyle --          Discovering the Azores	*Michael Boole --- Money Laundering, Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation	John and Jan Milnes  British Home Children
2020-21	September	October	November	December	January
	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	John Boyko Sir John's Echo
	February	March	April	May	June
	Tim Burrows - Should Your Next Car Be Electric?	Jacqueline Gori - Partners with Paws	Jaqueline Gori --         Life Changing Experiences with her Service Dog	Roman Talkowski --      Climate Change	John Boyko--               How Canada fought in the Vietnam War
2019-20	September	October	November	December	January
	Maggie McDougall Understanding Medical Cannabis	Tony Atherton The Decline and Fall of the Daily Newspaper	Col. Claude Desgagne The UN mission to Haiti	Brian Hull Ending world hunger from the bottom up	Mags Gaulden The Power of DNA
	February	March	April	May	June
	Dr. Judith Rygiel	Sue Williams	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting	COVID-19 Pandemic There was No Meeting
2018-19	September	October	November	December	January
	Gary Sealey -- LRT Discussion.	Allan Symons -- Two Centuries of Canadian Clocks	Brian Tackaberry - Thw lost generatio: Eastern Ontario during WW1	Valerie Knowles - Well Known Ottawa Personalities from the Past	Dean Verger and Ruth Stewart-Verger - Connecting Through Story
	February	March	April	May	June
	Jennifer DeBruin - In Search of Home	Beth Sweetnam for Tony Atherton - Embarrassing Moments	Beth Porter - Accidental Friends - Stories from My Life in Community	Pam Thompson - Art in Canada	Terry Colfer - The Middle East
2017-18	September	October	November	December	January
	Bruce Di Labio -- Birds in the Ottawa region	David Smith --  Einstein: his life and works	Greg Matte  --  From Helmets to Hardhats	Charlotte Gray --              The Promise of Canada	Peter  Hamer -- EMR -- Electronic Medical records
	February	March	April	May	June
	Sue Garvey -- Cornerstone Housing for Women	Kate MacNeil  -- The Ottawa Carleton Wildlife Centre	Dr. John Hardie --         A dental murder mystery	Rachel Boere -- Arctic experience with Students on Ice	Judith Cox -- Purple Carrts, Honey Bees and Magic
2016-17	September	October	November	December	January
	Howard Clifford -- The Wild Child, involving youth with nature	Frank Hitchens --         Are we alone in the universe?	Richard Brisson -- The Enigma Machine	Service Clubs -- Dwight Brown, Rotary, Linda Leinan, Lions	Barrie Kirk -- Automated vehicles are here to stay
	February	March	April	May	June
	Dawn and Peter Doyle: Our cruise to Iceland	Rick Baker  --  CARP	Caroline Midgley and  Jeannie Mathews --  Home care options	Randy Boswell -- Digital databases help re-discover our past	Brock Godfrey -- Mass marketing fraud awareness
2015-16	September	October	November	December	January
	Cheryl Cooper: Tall Ships and the War of 1812	Jonathan Moore: The Franklin Expedition ship Erebus discovery	Kanina Dawson: My Afghan war experience	Ian Smillie: Blood diamonds in Africa	Jane Madigan: Service dogs and anxiety disorder
	February	March	April	May	June
	Michele Leboldus: Our heritage and the next generation	Robert Hannaberry: "Sooner or Later" housing/ care needs	Gerda Kraft: Making refugees feel welcome	Jim Holmes: Kanata Theatre and the community	Dr. Andrew Frank: Memory loss and Alzheimer's
2014-15	September	October	November	December	January
	Joyce Trafford --           The Carp Fair	Joy Forbes --                 The One-Room Schoolhouse	Miriam Rawson -- Matthew House and the Ottawa Furniture Bank	Don Wiles -- Uranium in my Bones	Matt Craig  -- The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority
	February	March	April	May	June
	Norm Christie  -- Canadian war graves -- Our Sacred Places	George Laidlaw -- The joys of Canadian history	Roddy Bolivar -- The Carp Road Corridor BIA	Brian Hartley -- Bridging the  Chasm	Nelson McDougall-- The NAC Orchestra
2013-14	September	October	November	December	January
	Mac Evans --             Canada's Space Program	Bob Slack - the Canadian Snowbirds	Dr. Andew Burtch The Korean War	Doug Harvey-Smith DesignAbility	Dr. Tim Pychyl -- Procrastination
	February	March	April	May	June
	Nadine Fowler and Cristina Myers -- The Queensway Carleton Hospital	Barry Risk -- Canada Customs    "The Thinner Blue Line"	Dave Brown -- After 10,000 columns	Guy Thatcher -- Walking the Camino de Saint-Jacques	Terry Currie --              The great Fire of 1870
2012-13	September	October	November	December	January
	Dr. Kent MacDonald -- President Algonquin College	Karen Bell -- Seniors Nutrition	Ronald Cohen -- Sir Winston Churchill Society of Ottawa	Dr.Janet Biggar and Jim Jamer -- Empowering youth in Africa	Dr. Aisha Sherazi -- Women in Islam
	February	March	April	May	June
	Ian Farthing -- St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival	Matt Warin -- US Embassy         Trafficking in persons	Peter van Boeschoten -- Ottawa Older Adult Plan	Helen Forsey -- Eugene Forsey and the Senate	J.F. Sauriol --  Computer Security for Seniors
2011-12	September	October	November	December	January
	Max Keeping -- Community Ambassador	Mayor Jim Watson	Guy Parent -- Veterans Ombudsman	Jamie Lunn -- The War Amps of Canada	Allison Knight -- Office of the Information Commissioner
	February	March	April	May	June
	Barbara Carriere -- Kilimanjaro grannies	Grete Hale --     Baker's daughter	Hon. Bill Rompkey -- Senate reform	Hon.Peter Milliken -- longest serving Speaker of the House of Commons	Rotary Club and Ottawa Police -- The ABC's of Fraud