Student Zone

Student
Zone

Enhancing Student Life
With Positive Psychology Tools & Practices

Welcome to The Student Zone! This is a virtual resource where you can access research-based tools & practices to enhance your day-to-day experiences as a student, no matter what subject you are studying. We also offer a variety of student-focused and student-led events that may be of interest to you.

If you’d like to present your research as a speaker during one of our student webinars, please reach out to us at cppastudents@nullcppa.ca. We would be thrilled to host you. You might also be interested in the Student Ambassador Program—see below for more information.

Meet The Ambassadors

Representing CPPA, Student Ambassadors of Positive Psychology

Student Ambassador Program

The mission of the CPPA Student Ambassador Program is to spread evidence-based positive psychology knowledge and practices to students while fostering a community that enhances well-being. We serve students across Canada from all academic disciplines and backgrounds and provide students with empowering opportunities to gain knowledge, cultivate key skills for success, and make an impact on their communities and the broader world.

Student Ambassadors of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association commit to accomplishing these five missions. We usually recruit new Ambassadors around June each year, but if you are highly motivated, please reach out to us at cppastudents@nullcppa.ca with a cover letter explaining why you would like to be a CPPA Student Ambassador and we will consider your application.

Lead Ambassadors

Andrea LeFebvre

Andrea LeFebvre is a Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Ontario. She works with Dr. Veronika Huta, director of the well-being lab at the University of Ottawa. Andrea is passionate about bridging positive psychology into clinical practice. She currently studies two main ways in which people pursue well-being: the eudaimonic orientation (seeking meaning, excellence, authenticity, and growth); and the hedonic orientation (seeking pleasure, enjoyment, and comfort). Andrea also loves to practice and teach yoga, and she is interested in the integration of yoga into psychotherapy.

Rémi Thériault

Rémi Thériault obtained his B.A. Psychology and M.Sc. Psychiatry from McGill University, Montréal, Québec. His undergraduate research has principally focused on exploring the mind-body connection through the placebo effect and the malleability of the sense of embodiment. His Master’s research focused on psychological strategies to increase empathy and reduce intergroup prejudice, such as taking others’ perspective using virtual reality technology. His current doctoral research at UQAM explores ways to boost altruism and reduce aggression through loving-kindness meditation. Overall, Rémi is passionate about putting social-psychological research to use to increase people’s wellbeing and intrinsic motivation to help one another.

Mihaela Zlatanovska

Mihaela Zlatanovska is a PsyD student at Bishops University in Sherbrooke, Quebec. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Honors Psychology Degree from Concordia University in Montreal. As a person, Mihaela is curious about many things. She is excited to explore different clinical populations during her degree. Her primary interest is to incorporate positive psychology into Couples and Sex Therapy. In her research, she is currently exploring how dreams can help process negative emotions and fears for the future for retirees. Mihaela enjoys learning about other areas of psychology and believes in the importance of making psychological research accessible to the public.

Nicholas Murray

Nicholas Murray is a Clinical Psychology PhD student at Dalhousie University. He has a Master’s in Psychiatry Research and a Bachelor’s of Science with Combined Honours in Psychology and Philosophy, also both from Dalhousie University. Nick’s research interests are primarily in attention, anxiety, and motives for problematic behaviour. He is passionate about knowledge translation and positive psychology, which is why he joined the CPPA Student Ambassador program in 2021, for which he is currently the Team Lead for the CPPA Students blog project.

Malka Hershon

Malka is a doctoral student in Counselling Psychology at McGill University, supervised by Dr. Marie-Hélène Pennestri. Her research interests include the associations between sleep-related parental practices and infant and parental sleep. Now the Instagram Team Lead, Malka has been a member of CPPA since Summer of 2020 as one of the founding members of the Instagram page. Following her doctoral degree, Malka plans to become a licensed psychologist. Outside of schoolwork, Malka enjoys teaching dance, cooking, and baking.

Past Ambassadors

Catherine Cimon-Paquet

Catherine Cimon-Paquet is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec. She holds a bachelor’s and masters degree in Psychology from the University of Montreal. Her research interests include child sleep, educational pathways, well-being, giftedness, and interpersonal relationships. In addition, she is passionate about positive psychology and human development. Catherine truly believes in the benefits of knowledge transfer and that the CPPA Student Ambassador Program has the power to inspire and make a difference in many people’s lives.

Katya Santucci

Katya Santucci is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at McGill University, Montréal, Québec. She has a strong interest in interpersonal research, more specifically in tracking the predictors of friendship maintenance and dissolution in young adulthood. Her goal is to use her research findings to develop and inform an intervention that aims to help young adults foster healthy relationships. Katya is passionate about the role that relationships play in positive psychology. She believes that the Student Ambassador Program is a great way to support, connect, and build relationships with like-minded students

Student Content

Check out our High School Outreach Program

Student Blog on Medium

Read blogs written by contributing CPPA Student Ambassadors on a wide variety of topics related to student life, concepts from Positive Psychology, Student Success stories and more. Some articles appear in English and others appear in French. Please take a moment to follow us and you’ll be notified when new content is available.
https://cppastudents.medium.com/

Student Instagram

Be inspired, learn about principles from Positive Psychology and keep up to date on CPPA Student Ambassador events through the CPPA Student Instagram channel. Content appears in both English and French for the most posts. Please take a moment to follow us and you’ll be notified when new content is available.
https://www.instagram.com/cppastudents

Student Events

Past Student Webinars

Incase you missed it, we have it all! Members have access to all our recorded discussions and events. Check it out on our CPPA Resources page.

Flourish Conference – Aug. 20-22nd at Ridley College in St. Catharines

CPPA Members can receive 10% off registration CPPA Members are invited to attend The Flourish Conference from August 20–22nd at Ridley College. This event was designed to

Authentic Learning, Self-Connection, and Student Well-Being

This is a recording from a free CPPA Webinar, organized by the CPPA Student Ambassadors that took place on February 27, 2025. You do not

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Student
Zone

Enhancing Student Life
With Positive Psychology Tools & Practices

Meet The Ambassadors