Students and Alumni

Jolene Wright is a registered social worker and educator from Alberta, Canada. Jolene's medical social work practice focused on mental health and health care administration working with gerontology, acute psychiatry and the LGBTQ2+ populations. Jolene has always had a passion for education and sees this as a conduit to bridge understanding and create social awareness and change. She teaches social work at a local college in central Alberta.

During Jolene's social work practice, she discovered the lack of resources and support for the LGBTQ2+ population, especially in central Alberta within the health care system. The desire to create an environment of diversity and inclusion prompted her to begin to further her education. Through her many years in policy development and regulation, she wants to be able to advocate for injustices and inequalities that many of those living outside the margins experience.

Jolene's research focus will be looking at creating supportive environments for LGBTQ2+ people and their families both individually and from a holistic lens. She lives and works in a rural community in Canada and appreciates the uniqueness that rural practice and community can have on people and subsequent research. This research will also include gender transitioning and coming out and exploring family supports through the lens of the cycle of acceptance.