Andrew Leonard is a community leader, researcher, and clinician-in-training based on Bowen Island, British Columbia.

He currently serves as Mayor of Bowen Island Municipality and Board Chair of the BC Mental Health Foundation, where he works at the intersection of public governance, mental health systems, and community wellbeing. His professional career spans three decades across youth development, community mental health, housing and homelessness outreach, and public policy.

Andrew holds a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies (Psychology) from Harvard University, where he graduated with distinction. His research interests centre on embodiment processes in crisis and suicidal distress, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and psychosocial outcomes for youth living with chronic illness. He is a published co-author on intervention research with adolescents with type 1 diabetes and developer of PSI:FI, an online research platform for psychedelic preparation and integration.

He is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy at Vancouver Island University and pursuing advanced training in Hakomi body-centred psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, and psychedelic somatic interactional psychotherapy (PSIP).

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I've spent most of my adult life in rooms where things are hard. Camp dining halls full of kids learning to manage a disease that will never leave them. Crisis lines at two in the morning with someone who isn't sure they want to be alive tomorrow. Council chambers where a community's future hangs on a zoning vote. Shelters where a person's entire life fits in a backpack.

What connects these rooms is a set of questions I keep returning to: How are people helped? What does it look like when someone moves through acute distress toward something more bearable? And how do we build systems — clinical, communal, political — that support that movement rather than obstruct it?

These questions are now carrying me toward the work I do in all areas — whether governance, mental health, or research — where I intend to investigate them with the rigour they deserve.

Professional Background

My career began in youth development and experiential education, directing national programs for children and families living with type 1 diabetes through Camp Banting and the Diabetes Canada D-Camps network. Over six years I led medically supported summer camps, peer support programs, and family retreats serving thousands of participants annually, and spoke on this work at international conferences in Australia and the United States.

I later shifted into direct clinical service, training as a developmental coach through Integral Coaching Canada and then delivering evidence-based behavioural interventions to families through CMHA BC's Confident Parents, Thriving Kids program. In my most recent operational role, I managed housing and outreach programming for Progressive Housing Society, overseeing a caseload of approximately 200 clients across the housing spectrum — from street outreach and encampment response to shelter operations and transitional housing.

At the governance and systems level, I serve as Mayor of Bowen Island Municipality, where my work has focused on sustainable community development, reconciliation, and regional collaboration through Metro Vancouver and TransLink. I also serve as Board Chair of the BC Mental Health Foundation, working alongside PHSA and BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services on provincial mental health funding and evaluation priorities.

Research & Scholarship

My research sits at the intersection of embodied therapeutic process, crisis intervention, and psychedelic-assisted therapy.

I am a co-author on a study evaluating a Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens intervention for adolescents living with type 1 diabetes (Dover et al., 2023; published in JMIR). For this work, I completed certification as an MSC-T facilitator and delivered the structured intervention protocol to treatment and control groups across multiple cohorts. A second study assessing the effect of summer camp on illness-specific health-related quality of life and psychosocial outcomes is currently in preparation (Baxter et al.), developed through a collaboration between my professional network and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

My master's capstone at Harvard resulted in PSI:FI (Psychedelic Support and Integration: Facilitated Innerwork) — a 12-week online research platform designed to deliver structured preparation and integration programming to participants in both clinical and non-clinical psychedelic contexts while providing the statistical platform to compare both populations. Built on open-source infrastructure with integrated psychometric assessment (PROMIS-57 / NIH Toolbox), qualitative data capture, and social learning functionality, PSI:FI was designed to enable mixed-methods comparison across diverse treatment settings. A manuscript describing the platform design and study protocol is in preparation.

Clinical Training

My clinical training reflects a deliberate orientation toward embodied, relationally grounded approaches to therapeutic work.

I am completing a Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy at Vancouver Island University, which includes a clinical preceptorship in ketamine-assisted therapy at the Roots to Thrive Clinic. I am in ongoing training in Hakomi body-centred psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing (SE), and psychedelic somatic interactional psychotherapy (PSIP), each of which deepens my understanding of how the body holds and processes distress.

In 2024–2025, I completed over 250 hours of live crisis support through the Crisis and Suicide Intervention Centre of BC, including extensive training in suicide risk assessment and crisis intervention. I also joined the harm reduction team at Shambhala Music Festival, providing support to individuals in acute psychedelic distress.

I hold a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential through the International Coaching Federation and have training in the Parent Management Training — Oregon Model (PMTO), delivered through the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Education

Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies — Harvard University Field: Psychology · GPA: 3.91 · Dean's List Academic Achievement Award

Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy — Vancouver Island University (2026, in progress)

Professional Certificate in Trauma — Wilfrid Laurier University

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology — Carleton University

Bachelor of Science in Social Science — Excelsior College (Human Services concentration)

Selected Publications & Presentations

Dover, S., Leonard, A., et al. (2023). Teaching adolescents with type 1 diabetes self-compassion (TADS) to reduce diabetes distress. JMIR. DOI: 10.2196/53935

Baxter, S., Leonard, A., et al. (in preparation). Effect of summer camp on illness-specific HRQoL and psychosocial outcomes in children with type 1 diabetes.

Leonard, A. (in preparation). PSI:FI: Design and protocol for an online mixed-methods psychedelic integration intervention comparing clinical and non-clinical populations.

Conference presentations at the American Camp Association National Conference (2013, 2022) and the Asia-Pacific Camping Congress (2013).