Dr. Henry Harder, Professor and Chair of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia, has been appointed to the prestigious Dr. Donald B. Rix BC Leadership Chair for Aboriginal Environmental Health. As Chair, Henry Harder will be examining the relationship between the environment, and the physical and mental well-being in BC’s rural and Indigenous communities. Dr. Harder was appointed to the Chair earlier this year.

Media Download: UNBC Health Sciences Professor and Dr. Donald B. Rix BC Leadership Chair for Aboriginal Environmental Health, Dr. Henry Harder.

“Access to health care in general is problematic across much of Northern BC, but access to proper mental health care can be virtually non-existent. Many identified health problems can be traced back to problematic mental health,” says Dr. Harder.  “Connection to the environment is very important. There is often interdependence between the natural environment needed for sustenance and the same environment needed for ceremony. There is a very real connection between the environment and the physical and mental well-being of the people.”

Dr. Harder’s research interests include aboriginal mental health, specifically suicide prevention, mental health in the workplace, and occupational psychology. He is also past Chair of UNBC’s Research Ethics Board, a position he held for over 10 years.

“Some of the issues in these communities include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse, dissociative disorders, poverty, and isolation,” says Dr. Harder. “These are often linked to historic trauma such as residential school syndrome, _ and sometimes family violence. The goal here is to work with communities to focus on these areas and bring in the appropriate science needed to address the issues.”

Through this Chair, Dr. Harder will be  providing leadership within the rapidly growing health research team at UNBC, and playing a key role in furthering UNBC’s internationally recognized northern, rural, and environmental health research, as well as First Nations and Indigenous research, which are both areas of great relevance to BC and beyond.

The British Columbia government through the Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF BC) provided 50 percent of the funding for the endowed BC Leadership Chair in Aboriginal Health.  Long-time UNBC supporter, the late Dr. Donald Rix contributed to the matching donation of $2.25m to establish the Chair originally.