Taming Trauma: Tatiana Zdyb Mental Health Promotion Fund
Taming Trauma: The Dr. Tatiana Zdyb Mental Health Promotion Fund
Tatiana Zdyb
Tatiana Zdyb’s childhood was far from typical. Homeschooled with her brother and sister in Toronto by her Polish parents, it was only when she started her undergraduate studies at Western that she experienced proper schooling for the first time. Due to a belief that women should not be educated, her parents refused to support her post-secondary studies.
“When I said I wanted to go to university, my Dad said ‘Why? You’re not ugly, you’ll find someone to marry you,’” says Tatiana. “I didn’t want to end up in the same situation as my Mom; no education, no money, no skills, and stuck in a bad marriage. I wanted to get an education.”
As a result, Tatiana worked three part-time jobs to put herself through her undergraduate degree, double-majoring in theoretical physics and psychology. Upon graduation, Tatiana applied to the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut program, and not receiving a response, decided to pursue her Master’s and PhD in Clinical Psychology at Albert University in Chicago. While working full-time as a psychotherapist and eventually head of group psychotherapy at Western’s Student Development Centre, Tatiana commuted once a week to Chicago for school. It was during this hectic and taxing period that she was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in her life.
“I had cancer when I was younger and it came back during my PhD. I had to start treatment again and commuting during treatment was not going to fly,” recalls Tatiana. “I was originally only going to take six months off, but when I had to face getting on a plane again to go to class, I thought ‘This is insane, why am I doing this?’”
In a moment of clarity, Tatiana decided to abandon her PhD in clinical psychology and pursue one in health promotion at Western, her dissertation focusing on resilience to psychological trauma. Tatiana’s difficult home-life, plagued with violence, substance misuse and childhood cancer, meant that living with trauma was something she was intimately familiar with; something she could help people through.
“I wanted to focus on resiliency and what is right about people, not what’s wrong with them,” says Tatiana. “If I can cultivate meaning around my trauma and use that experience to help other people; that makes me a better psychologist.”
Overlapping with her desire to help people heal is one to give back to her community, something instilled in her from a young age. As much as her childhood was chaotic, her family was materially well-off and the idea of leaving the world better than when you found it was ever-present. Even before Tatiana could afford to donate money, she donated her time in the form of pro bono therapy, something she continues doing to this day.
“I realized pretty early on that most people can’t afford to see a therapist, so I started offering free therapy one day a week,” says Tatiana. “I still take on five pro bono patients a year. It saddens me that therapy is not more accessible.”
In 2018, Tatiana decided to broaden her approach to tackling some of the gaps in London’s mental health services by establishing the Tatiana Zdyb Mental Health Promotion Fund at LCF.
“The purpose of the fund is to promote the mental health of materially vulnerable Londoners,” says Tatiana. “I really believe that there can be no health without mental health. That’s why I think it’s important for people to be putting money into mental health services.”
Although initially afraid to reach out and intimidated by the idea of starting a fund, Tatiana quickly realized that you don’t need to be retired or rich to begin giving back.
“I thought that you had to be a millionaire, I thought I’d get laughed at for not having enough money,” says Tatiana. “But when I met with Diane, she made me feel like my contribution mattered and didn’t pressure me to donate more than I could afford, which was really nice.”
With dreams of one day being able to offer subsidized psychotherapy to people in need and provide safe-beds on the second floor of her office to patients requiring temporary lodging, Tatiana Zdyb is at the beginning of what will surely be a long and rewarding philanthropic journey.
“My advice to younger people wanting to give back is threefold,” says Tatiana. “Find your passion, find a person or organization you can partner with, and always remember that no contribution is too small.”