Research · Engagement · Policy · Implementation
I listen to communities, leadership, frontline staff and funders, then turn what I hear into research, plans and processes people can actually use. Then I step away and leave it with the people who own it.
Based in Yukon · Working across Canada
What I do
Literature reviews, data and jurisdictional scans, and policy papers that show what has worked, where the gaps are, and what to do next. Written so leadership and decision-makers can act on them.
Engagement materials, regional sessions, interviews and summaries. I keep people's own words intact, so participants recognize themselves in what comes out the other end.
When a plan needs to become practice: intake, case management and reporting processes built around the skills your staff already have, with training and a clean handoff.
The gap I work in
The stories people tell about their own experience rarely match the stories systems tell about them. My work is closing that gap: hearing what people actually say, keeping their words intact, and turning them into plans that governments, funders and communities can act on.
Selected work
Research and policy paper, with the Northern Governance Institute.
Health and wellness policies and procedures, and facilitation support for Family Council, with the Northern Governance Institute.
Senior Manager of Programs at a Whitehorse nonprofit, overseeing shelter operations and staff. I also sit at the territorial working table on housing standards and homelessness.
Clinical counsellor with Yukon Government Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services, Intensive Inpatient Treatment.
PhD research (Psychiatry) on how mental wellness systems in northern and First Nations communities are designed and implemented, including Indigenous data sovereignty and implementation science.
How it works
To communities, leadership, frontline staff and funders, and to what has already been written and decided.
Review the evidence, scan what other jurisdictions are doing, and name the real gaps.
Bring what I find back to the people it affects, and shape a plan or process that works for all of them.
Written plans, procedures and tools, with training where needed, owned by your team.
A follow-up to adjust what needs adjusting.
Most consultants leave you needing them. The goal here is the opposite.
Working with First Nations information
I follow the First Nations principles of OCAP®: ownership, control, access and possession. In practice, that means:
What is collected, how it is used, and who sees it is decided with the community, not for it.
Engagement summaries go back to participants before they become findings or recommendations.
Information about a specific Nation or community is not published or shared without its permission.
OCAP® is a registered trademark of the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC).
About
I've worked as a clinical counsellor, a senior program manager and a researcher, so I know what a system looks like from the front line, the director's office and the funder's side of the table.
I've worked on homelessness from the shelter floor, at the territorial policy table and on the research side. My doctoral research at the University of Alberta (Psychiatry) looks at how mental wellness systems in northern and First Nations communities are designed and implemented, including Indigenous data sovereignty.
My work focuses on northern and First Nations systems: building from what communities are already doing toward where they want to go.
Taryn Ellens · Principal, AInome
Start a conversation
Share a few details. You will receive a direct reply from Taryn—not a sales funnel wearing a blazer.