Ruth C. White, PhD MPH MSW RSW

Dr. White has been a therapist in private practice for 2 years and is registered in Ontario, with courtesy registration in Alberta. She earned her BSW & MSW from McGill University, and from the University of California - Berkeley, she earned a MPH (Maternal & Child Health/International Health), and a PhD in Social Welfare. Ruth currently works as Advisor on equity, diversity, and inclusion at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, where she also is also a sessional lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work. Her experience as a social worker has included stints in child welfare, addictions, corrections, and residential treatment settings in Canada, the UK and the USA. Dr. White spent 7 years as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California, where she taught MSW students. Prior to that she gained tenure during her 11 years at Seattle University, where she taught at the BSW level. In addition to her classroom activities, she has led an interdisciplinary study-abroad program in Belize for 5 years, and founded/managed a successful health improvement program in maternal and child health in rural Njeru, Uganda for 5 years. Dr. White has also taught social work courses at UC Berkeley (BASW), San Francisco State (BSW/MSW), Simmons (DSW), and Fordham University (MSW). Dr. White is the author of 4 mental health books including The Stress Management Workbook, and Bipolar 101. She writes a travel & wellness newsletter on Substack called Be Well & Wander, and has written mental health articles for Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Tracy Anderson magazine, HuffPost and Thrive Global. She regularly appears on KRON4-TV Bay Area (San Francisco) as a mental health commentator. With more than 20 years as a consultant, workshop facilitator & public speaker across the globe in academic and client-facing settings, her clients have included JPMorgan, Indeed, PwC, Aetna, Premera Blue Cross, Protiviti, NAACP and many more. Her groundbreaking research on the LGBTQ+ community in Jamaica, led her to be an expert witness in 12+ cases to support queer Jamaicans from being deported from the USA. In that capacity she has worked with Yale, Columbia and NYU law schools, gay rights and immigration rights organizations, and prestigious legal firms. Her current focus is on stress management, burnout prevention and recovery, de-stigmatizing mental health, and the provision of mental health services to marginalized populations. Born in the UK, Ruth grew up in Jamaica and Canada, and lived on the west coast of the USA for many years before recently returning to Toronto. Ruth’s wide range of accomplishments include: being a stand-in for Serena Williams as an extra; modeling for agencies in Paris, London, San Francisco & Toronto; SCUBA certifications in open water, Nitrox and drysuit; and, being a high school and college track star. Dr. White is the mother of an adult daughter, with whom she shares a passion for outdoor activities, especially hiking. An avid traveler, with a love for off-the-beaten-path wanders, her sense of adventure has led her to raft the Class IV rapids of the Pacuare (Costa Rica) and the White Nile (Uganda), hike to the top of Blue Mountain (Jamaica), and kayak from Orcas Island to Sucia Island in the Pacific Northwest Region of the USA.