Lydia Yang, Board Director, Canada (On leave until November 30,2020)

Lydia Yang, MSW, RSW, Senior Child / Youth Mental Health Specialist

Board Director, Canada

Ms. Yang is a registered social worker and psychotherapist. She completed her education and clinical training from the University of Windsor, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto and George Brown College. She has training and experience in a number of psychotherapy approaches including: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Bibliotherapy and Narrative Therapy.

Ms. Yang has extensive experience in clinical psychotherapy and is passionate about providing evidence-based treatment for her clients that are tailored to each individual’s needs. In recent years, she has focused on treating children and adolescents who are suffering from emotional and behavioural disorders including anxiety, depression, perfectionism, procrastination, ADHD, emotional injuries, video game addiction, parent-child relational difficulties, academic stress, school avoidance, as well as parents who have been in conflict with the law while struggling with parenting challenges. Throughout her years of frontline clinical experience, Ms. Yang has seen first-hand that many tragedies can be avoided and prevented if timely and effective intervention and emotional support are obtained. This has compelled Ms. Yang to start partnerships with schools and community agencies to conduct educational workshops and groups on emotion/behaviour regulation and parenting issues to raise awareness. This is why she strongly promotes the concept of prevention over treatment. In order to develop a preventative practical strategy, Ms. Yang is currently conducting a community based participatory research on needs assessment for mental health and well-being of international students. 

Ms. Yang has been running court mandated Anger/Stress Management and Emotion Regulation treatment programs since 2014. These programs are designed for clients in both federal and provincial jails, on probation and parole, and in the community, who are at risk of being in conflict with the law. She has conducted the research and developed the curriculums based on the best practice guidelines.