VISION
Self-management is essential to navigating life with many, or even one chronic condition. Think Self-Management provides the tools and resources busy healthcare providers need to empower people living with chronic conditions to cultivate the self-management skills they need to live happier, healthier lives.
At Think Self-Management our goal is to make sure that whenever healthcare professionals think about management of chronic conditions, they Think Self-Management.
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VALUES
Person-Centered Practice
We believe that patients/clients are the experts and should be active participants in their healthcare journey.
Evidence-Based Practice
All Think Self-Management products are firmly evidence-based. Think Self-Management maintains strong relationships with our research colleagues around the world to ensure our products are based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.
Easy Access
Access to effective self-management tools shouldn't be a challenge for patients or providers. Think Self-Management aims to improve access to evidence-based self-management tools so that all people living with chronic conditions receive the supports they deserve.
TEAM
Tanya Packer, PhD, OT Reg (NS)
Chief Scientist & Co-Founder
Dr. Packer is an occupational therapist by profession and Director, School of Health Administration (SHA) at Dalhousie University. She is a highly accomplished senior scholar, academic leader, and a tenured full professor. In addition to her leadership at the School of Health Administration, she is the Assistant Dean (International Partnerships) in the Faculty of Health. Dr. Packer brings to her role extensive international scholarship and research networks. Dr. Packer has an active research program focused on “chronic and complex conditions”. Recognized as a world leader in self-management science, she has published over 125 peer reviewed manuscripts and currently holds more than CAN $3.5M in research funding as either principal or co-investigator. Working with partners and research trainees, her currently funded projects are focused on the design and testing of self-management interventions including fatigue management, development of a patient reported outcome measure, low vision rehabilitation and developing age-friendly communities.
Michelle Lehman, MSc OT, OT Reg (NS)
CEO & Co-Founder
Michelle is an occupational therapist based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After receiving her BSc in Psychology from Dalhousie, Michelle went on to complete her MSc in Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto. Upon graduating, Michelle returned to Nova Scotia and began working as a research occupational therapist. Michelle was then introduced to the world of entrepreneurship through the completion of the Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneurship Program and the inaugural Lab2Market Women in Research cohort. Michelle is currently an Ontario Brain Institute NERVE Entrepreneur. As both a clinician, and person living with a chronic condition, she is passionate about increasing the accessibility of evidence-based self-management tools and resources.
THINK SELF-MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Dr. Edith Cup
Edith graduated in 1988 as an occupational therapist. She started to work in two hospitals in Coventry and Walsgrave in England. In 1990 she started her career in Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Alongside her work as an occupational therapist, she studied Human Movement Sciences, initially (in 1994) at the University of Amsterdam and in 1998 she graduated from Maastricht University. Since then she combined clinical work and research and in 2011 she defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘Occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy in persons with neuromuscular diseases, an evidence based orientation’. From 2012 until 2021 she was head of the occupational therapy department of Radboudumc and combined management with research and clinical work. Since 2021 she has combined research and clinical work with teaching at HAN University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen for the Master neurorehabilitation and innovation. Her special interest and expertise are in the field of fatigue and self-management in persons with chronic diseases and the development and validation of outcome measures.
Dr. Eva Månsson Lexell
Dr Månsson Lexell is an occupational therapist, and a certified clinical specialist in occupational therapy. She earned her PhD at Lund University (2009) and was appointed associate professor in 2017. Dr Månsson Lexell is head of the research group ‘Sustainable occupations and health in a life-course perspective’ and holds a position as senior lecturer at the Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund in Sweden. In addition, she is also assistant head of the department, responsible for premises, work environment, and safety. Dr Månsson Lexell’s main research interests are rehabilitation and occupational therapy interventions that can improve people’s daily life activities, especially for those who struggle with managing symptoms such as fatigue and cognitive difficulties. Her teaching assignments involve students at undergraduate, advanced, and PhD level. She is currently supervising two master's students, three PhD students, and one post-doctor. Besides her academic position, she also holds a position as a registered occupational therapist at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Skåne University Hospital, Lund-Malmö, Sweden.
Denise Stevens, PhD
Denise Stevens, Ph.D. has served as President and founder of MATRIX Population Health Strategies (www.matrix-phs.com), a health and human service-focused social enterprise that has provided guidance to governments (local, state, federal), industry, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and health care systems globally with specific expertise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). MATRIX was created in 2001 to weave together data science, health content expertise, and management consulting principles into health and human services practice. As a pragmatic solution-focused problem solver that integrates data science into her work Denise has designed programs, integrated evidence-based practices into health care and human services, conducted needs assessment and evaluation studies, as well as developed strategic plans for small and large health departments and health-focused consortia nationally and internationally. Her work has led to international presentations and publications in peer reviewed journals. She received her doctorate from the School of Epidemiology and Public Health (YSPH) at Yale University’s School of Medicine. Prior to this, she received her M.Sc. in Neuropsychology at the University of Otago, New Zealand and her B.Sc. in Biology and Psychology (Honours) from McMaster University, Canada. For over 20 years she has been on the faculty of Yale where she has taught health program evaluation, chronic disease measurement issues and a seminar in chronic disease epidemiology. She currently is adjunct faculty at Dalhousie and Yale where she teaches/mentors, serves on several non-profit boards, and is involved in entrepreneur mentoring.