Mirasty, Marlene

Marlene R. Mirasty, R.N. is the part-time Team Lead of the Mental Health & Addictions Programs and mental health nurse at Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Marlene has been a registered nurse for 25 years and has dedicated the majority of her career to the field of mental health. She began her nursing career at the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC), an inpatient mental health forensic facility in June 1994. This is where her passion for working with individuals with mental illness and crisis intervention began. At RPC, Marlene helped to co -develop a program on the female unit to manage chronic self-harming behaviour. In addition, she has worked as the Clinical Supervisor for the Mental Health programs with 7 First Nations communities with the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC). She began her work in the area of crisis intervention with the First Nation communities and helped the development of crisis response teams. Marlene has co-presented at three International conferences-Custody & Caring Conference on the topic of Nursing Interventions for Self – Harming Behaviour in Female Offenders, Violence & Aggression Symposium on Incorporating Dialectical Behaviour Therapy into a Treatment Program, and the World Congress on Trauma, Stress and Coping an Overview of the Healing Ways Crisis Intervention for Indigenous People course.
Currently, Marlene has a training and consulting business and she travels to communities to offer five different mental health based including crisis intervention trainings. She became an Instructor for the Group Crisis Intervention training in October 2012 and August of 2015 she travelling to Dublin, Ireland for the Assisting Individuals in Crisis Instructor training.
Her experience and knowledge working in First Nations communities, assisting in the development of crisis response teams in First Nations and responding to critical incidents in First Nations has laid the groundwork for her contributions to the Healing Ways – Group Crisis Interventions for Indigenous Peoples workbook.