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Dennis C. Wendt, PhD

Dennis C. Wendt is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar with the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at ����VR��Ƶ, and the Director of the  lab. He also is an Associate Member of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at ����VR��Ƶ, and he holds a fellowship (Chercheur boursier, Junior 1) from the Fonds de recherche du Québec: Santé (FRQS).  For the past 15 years, Dr. Wendt has collaborated with Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States in exploring, developing, and evaluating culturally relevant interventions pertaining to mental health, substance use, and community wellness. The author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Wendt is the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Early Career Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Award and the 2016 Distinguished Dissertation Award in Qualitative Inquiry, both from the American Psychological Association (APA) Division of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. He also is the 2017 Sigmund Koch Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. His current research is funded by the the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). He currently collaborates with researchers from Harvard University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Université de Montréal, and several other universities, as well as with several First Nations and Indigenous organizations in eastern Canada. 

Degree(s)

Area of expertise 

Selected publications: 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND SUBSTANCE USE HEALTH

• Zolopa, C. S., Clifasefi, S. L., Dobischok, S., Gala, N., Fraser-Purdy, H., Phillips, M. K., Blackmore, S., & Wendt, D. C. (2025). A scoping review of harm reduction practices and possibilities among Indigenous populations in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 269, 112597. Open access:
• Gala, N., Dobischok, S., Bernett, P., Parker, D., O’Callahan, A., Zentner, D., Huson, K., Tomaro, J., & Wendt, D. C. (2025). Indigenous Peoples and medications for opioid use disorder: A scoping review. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 39(7), 577–590. d
• Parker, D. G., Radin, S. M., Sorlagas, N., & Wendt, D. C. (2025). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid use disorder and services for American Indian and Alaska Native communities. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 32(3), 100–132. Open access: 
• Zentner, D., Dobischok, S., DeGrace, S., Wen, A., & Wendt, D. C. (2025). Experiences, impacts, and perspectives of recreational cannabis use among Indigenous communities: A scoping review. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 39(4), 354–364. 
• Pride, T., Lam, A., Swansburg, J., Seno, M., Lowe, M. B., Bomfim, E., Toombs, E., Marsan, S., LoRusso, J., Roy, J., Gurr, E., LaFontaine, J., Paul, J., Burack, J. A., Mushquash, C., Stewart, S. H., & Wendt, D. C. (2021). Trauma-informed approaches to substance use interventions with Indigenous Peoples: A scoping review. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 53(5), 460–473. Open access:
• Wendt, D. C., Marsan, S., Parker, D., Lizzy, K. E., Roper, J., Mushquash, C., Venner, K. L., Lam, A., Swansburg, J., Worth, N., *Sorlagas, N., Quach, T., Manoukian, K., Bernett, P., & Radin, S. M. (2021). Commentary on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on opioid use disorder treatment among Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 121, 108165. Open access:
• Wendt, D. C. (2019, December). “Careful the tale you tell”: Indigenous Peoples and alcohol use problems. Psynopsis (Magazine of the Canadian Psychological Association), 41(3), pp. 11, 13. Open access (English) Open access (Français):
• Wendt, D. C., Hartmann, W. E., Allen, J. A., Burack, J. A., Charles, B., D’Amico, E., Dell, C. A., Dickerson, D. L., Donovan, D. M., Gone, J. P., O’Connor, R. M., Radin, S. M., Rasmus, S. R., Venner, K. L., & Walls, M. L. (2019). Substance use research with Indigenous communities: Exploring and extending foundational principles of community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1–2), 146–158. Open access:
• Venner, K. L., Donovan, D. M., Campbell, A. N. C., Wendt, D. C., Rieckmann, T., Radin, S., Momper, S. L., & Rosa, C. L. (2018). Future directions for medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder with American Indians/Alaska Natives. Addictive Behaviors, 86, 111–117. Open access:

INDIGENOUS MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

• Wendt, D. C., Garneau, M., Fraser-Purdy, H., Augustine, N., Gilpin, C., Stewart, S. H., Mushquash, C. J., & Burack, J. A. (2025). Depression and Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada: Prevalence, risk/protective factors, interventions. In T. M. Olino, J. W. Pettit, R. C. Boyd, B. C. Chu, E. P. Hayden, & D. A. Pizzagalli (Eds.), APA Handbook of Depression: Vol. 2. Minoritized populations, lifespan development, assessment, and treatment (pp. 57–76). American Psychological Association.
• Nweze, N., Olaogun, D., & Wendt, D. C. (2025) Inuk, urban, and unhoused: A scoping review of social worlds. Journal of Community Systems for Health, 2(2). Open access: 
• Gurr, E., Namdari, R., Lai, J., Parker, D., Wendt, D. C., & Burack, J. A. (2020). Perspective on shyness as adaptive from Indigenous Peoples of North America. In L. A. Schmidt & K. L. Poole (Eds.), Adaptive shyness: Multiple perspectives on behavior and development (pp. 239-249). Springer. 
• Gone, J. P., Hartmann, W. E., Pomerville, A., Wendt, D. C., Klem, S. H., & Burrage, R. L. (2019). The impact of historical trauma on health outcomes for Indigenous populations in the USA and Canada: A systematic review. American Psychologist, 74(1), 20–35.  Open access: 
• Hartmann, W. E., Wendt, D. C., Burrage, R. L., Pomerville, A., & Gone, J. P. (2019). American Indian historical trauma: Anticolonial prescriptions for healing, resilience, and survivance. American Psychologist, 74(1), 6–19.  Open access: 

SUBSTANCE USE TREATMENT AND RECOVERY

• Bernett, P., Ernest-Cohen, M., Baum, T., Costain, C., Kowalska, M., Asuncion, T. R., Navani, S., Janusauskas, L., & Wendt, D. C. (2026). Navigating the paradoxical roles of social support in queer substance use: A scoping review. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. Advance online publication.
• Dobischok, S., Nader, M., Goyer, M.-E., Hudon, K., L’Espérance, N., Wendt, D. C., & Archambault, L. Negotiating the tensions of applying a perinatal harm reduction approach: Service providers’ perspectives. (2026). Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 185, 209911. Open access: 
• Parker, D. G., Zentner, D., Burack, J. A., & Wendt, D. C. (2023). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medications for opioid use disorder services in the U.S. and Canada: A scoping review. Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy, 30(6), 529–542. Open access:
• Zolopa, C., Burack, J. A., O’Connor, R. M., Corran, C., Lai, J., Bomfim, E., DeGrace, S., Dumont, J., Larney, S., & Wendt, D. C. (2022). Changes in youth mental health, psychological wellbeing, and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid review. Adolescent Research Review, 7, 161–177. Open access: 
• Corace, K., Weinrib, A., Abbott, P., Craig, K., Eaton, E., Fulton, H., McKee, S., McWilliams, L., Mushquash, C., Rush, B., Stewart, S., Taylor, S., Wendt, D. C., & Wilson, K. (2019). Recommendations for addressing the opioid crisis in Canada. Canadian Psychological Association. Open access: 
• Wendt, D. C., & Gone. J. P. (2018). Complexities with group therapy facilitation in substance use disorder specialty treatment settings. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 88, 9–17. Open access: 
• Wendt, D. C., & Gone. J. P. (2018). Group psychotherapy in specialty clinics for substance use disorder treatment: The challenge of ethnoracially diverse clients. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(4), 608–628.  Open access:

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

• Bernett, P., Spence, S., Wilson, C., Gurr, E., Zentner, D., & Wendt, D. C. (2023). Canadian school psychology and Indigenous Peoples: Opportunities and recommendations. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 38(1), 10–29. Open access:
• Schroeder, M., Lacerda-Vandenborn, E., Nelson, M., & Wendt, D. C. (Eds.) (2023). School psychology and Indigenous Peoples: Critical perspectives and Indigenous-led approaches [Special issue]. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 38(1, 3). Open access: ;
• Wendt, D. C., Huson, K., Albatnuni, M., & Gone, J. P. (2022). What are the best practices for psychotherapy with Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada? A thorny question. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(10), 802–814. Open access:

EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE IN PSYCHOLOGY

• Lacerda-Vandenborn, E., Wendt, D. C., Strand, D., Albatnuni, M., Bernett, P., McDougall, T. D., & Gone, J. P. (2025). Re-imagining “multiple relationships” in psychotherapy: Decolonial/liberation psychology and communal selfhood. American Psychologist, 80(4), 522–534. (Joint first author with Lacerda-Vandenborn)
• Rodriguez-Seijas, C., McClendon, J., Wendt, D. C., Novacek, D. M., Ebalu, T., Hallion, L., Hassan, N. Y., Huson, K., Spielmans, G. I., Folk, J. B., Khazem, J. L., Neblett, E. W., Cunningham, T. J., Hampton-Anderson, J., Steinman, S. A., Hamilton, J. L., & Mekawi, Y. (2024). The next generation of clinical-psychological science: Moving toward antiracism. Clinical Psychological Science, 12(3), 526–546. Open access:
• Sakaluk, J. K., De Santis, C., Kilshaw, R., Pittelkow, M.-M., Brandes, C. M., Boness, C. L., Botanov, Y., Williams, A. J., Wendt, D. C., Lorenzo-Luaces, L., Schleider, J. & van Ravenzwaaij, D. (2023). Reconsidering what makes syntheses of psychological intervention studies useful. Nature Reviews Psychology, 2(9), 569–583.

THEORETICAL PSYCHOLOGY / RESEARCH METHODS

• Stecyk, T., Wendt, D. C., & Blackmore, S. (2026). Publication trends for qualitative inquiry in American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science journals. American Psychologist, 81(3), 403-416. . (Joint first author with Stecyk)
• Teo, T., & Wendt, D. C. (2022). Subjectivity and the critical imagination in neoliberal capitalism: Conversation with Thomas Teo. In H. Macdonald, S. Carabbio-Thopsey, & D. M. Goodman (Eds.), Neoliberalism, ethics, and the social responsibility of psychology: Dialogues at the edge (pp. 44–83). Routledge.
• Teo, T., & Wendt, D. C. (2020). Some clarifications on critical and Indigenous psychologies. Theory and Psychology, 30(3), 371–376.

Office

c/o Dennis Wendt 
Education Building 
3700 McTavish St. 
Room 614 
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2 

Office hours 

By appointment 

CV

Morgan Kahentonni Phillips

Senior Research Advisor

Morgan Kahentonni Phillips is a Kanien’kehá:ka woman (Wolf Clan) from the Kanien’kehá:ka Territory of Kahnawake and a citizen of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Dr. Phillips holds a BA Honours in Anthropology, an MA in Social & Cultural Anthropology from Concordia University in Montreal and a PhD from the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) at ����VR��Ƶ. Her research expertise includes Indigenous health and well-being, resilience, community-based participatory research, Indigenous research methodologies, and program evaluation. Morgan has a solid background in qualitative research, knowledge of her culture, and supports collaborative partnerships. Her current project based, and consultant activities include working with the ����VR��Ƶ Dept of Education Counselling and Psychology, co-teaching at Dawson College and John Abbott College/Dawson College program evaluation.

Mathilde Garneau

Collaborator

Mathilde Garneau is an assistant professor in psychoeducation at the Université de Sherbrooke. She grew up in Roberval, on the shores of the Pekuakami (Lac Saint-Jean), having contacts and being friends with Ilnu people. Non-Indigenous herself, she has always been interested in Indigenous cultures and realities, especially since an internship in psychoeducation in an Innu school in Unamen Shipu in 2011-2012. Since then, she has been involved in diverse research projects concerning the mental health and substance use of Indigenous youth, in the fields of clinical assessment, prevention and intervention. Those projects, including her own PhD thesis, concern best practices and the adaptation and/or validation of intervention programs and assessment tools among Indigenous youth and families. Concurrently, she has been involved for several years as a psychosocial intervener in a community family centre, named Famille Espoir, in Sherbrooke, with families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Her involvement continues to date as a member of their administrative council. She also teaches measurement and assessment in psychoeducation, among other classes, at Université de Sherbrooke.