Dr. Tatiana Zdyb

Tatiana Zdyb

Radiating Resilience

Photography by Gabe Ramos

Tatiana Zdyb’s childhood was far from typical. Tatiana was homeschooled with her brother and sister in Toronto by her parents, and due to a belief that women should not be educated, they refused to support her post-secondary studies.

As a result, Tatiana worked three part-time jobs to put herself through her undergraduate degree, double-majoring in theoretical physics and psychology at Western University, eventually deciding to pursue her Master’s and PhD in Clinical Psychology at Alder University in Chicago. While working full-time as a psychotherapist and eventually the 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 and pursue a different one in health promotion at Western University, her dissertation focusing on resilience to psychological trauma. Tatiana’s difficult home-life meant that living with trauma was something she was intimately familiar with; something she could help people through.

Photography by Gabe Ramos

“I wanted to focus on resiliency and what is right about people, not what’s wrong with them,” she says. “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 a desire to give back to her community. That’s why, in 2018, Tatiana established the Tatiana Zdyb Mental Health Promotion Fund at LCF to promote the mental health of materially vulnerable Londoners. While her fund’s current focus is on student mental health, she has big plans for the future.

“Psychotherapy isn’t covered by OHIP, so if people aren’t independently wealthy or don’t have extended health benefits, they can’t afford it,” she says. “I’d love to eventually create a grant program where people in need can apply and receive a grant for therapy. I want to increase access and remove as many barriers as I can.”

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, and that even small contributions make a difference.

“I think a lot of people don’t get involved in philanthropy because they think they don’t have enough money to make a difference,” says Tatiana. “Let’s say you help just one person. Well, that person is a mother, a partner, or an employee. By helping that one person be the best they can, you help everyone around them.”

And while the pandemic’s been tough, Tatiana has remained grateful, and hopeful.

“As a psychologist, as much as I’ve been privy to seeing how people are getting worse, I’ve also been privy to seeing how people are really coming together and trying to support each other,” she says. “Resilience is not a personal characteristic, it’s a social process, and it’s been really amazing to see that social process in action. I’m very proud of us as a community.”

“Let’s say you help just one person. Well, that person is a mother, a partner, or an employee. By helping that one person be the best they can,you help everyone around them."

– Dr. Tatiana Zdyb

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