Who I am

Alan Leschied Ph.D. C. Psych.
Psychologist and Professor
Faculty of Education
The University of Western Ontario
519 661-2111, ext. 88625
leschied@uwo.ca

What I do

Alan is a psychologist and professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario. He began working in children’s mental health in 1977 at the London Family Court Clinic. Since then, he has worked at the Clinic with the exception of from 1980 – 82 when he worked at the Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario. He joined the faculty at Western in 1998.

Alan has served on numerous children’s services Board’s of Directors, including the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex, The Coordinating Committee for Children and Youth, and The Canadian Council on Social Development. He currently co-chairs the Board of Directors for London’s Investing in Children. He is a founding member of the International Prisons and Corrections Association, serves on the research advisory committee of the Sparrow Lake Alliance and, from 1993 to 1998 was the Canadian Psychology Association’s representative to the Health Care Advisory for Correctional Services Canada.

Alan’s research interests have been in areas related to children’s legislation and how policies promote the welfare of children and families. He has produced numerous publications in areas related to young offender assessment, treatment and rehabilitation. Of note have been the edited books, The Young Offenders Act: A Revolution in Canadian Juvenile Justice (1991);Offender Rehabilitation in Practice: Implementing and Evaluating Effective Programs (2001), and Research and Treatment for Aggression with Adolescent Girls (2002). Alan has provided presentation in many parts of Canada and the United States. Internationally he has recently traveled to the Netherlands, Argentina and Japan representing Canadian perspectives on youth justice. Alan has appeared as an expert witness in youth courts and in coroner’s inquests on matters related to youth justice in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Currently, Alan’s research interests have included the completion of the clinical trial with Multisystemic Therapy, funded by the National Crime Prevention Centre and the examination of factors related to increases in the demand for child welfare services in London and Middlesex. He chairs the graduate program in Counselling Psychology at Western’s Faculty of Education. Alan is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychology Association, a recipient in 2003 of both the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Judge Wendy Robson Award for outstanding service to children in Ontario. In 2004 he was a recipient of a life-time achievement award through the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Psychology Association.