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Alexandria Pavelich, PhD Student, Researcher
Alexandria is a current SSHRC CGS-D and Dean’s Doctoral Scholarship recipient studying at the University of Saskatchewan. She identifies as a “pain sociologist,” where her academic pursuits revolve around experiences of pain and social suffering. Her work is informed by an interdisciplinary approach combining elements of social psychology, medical anthropology, critical disability studies, and sociological theory. An aspiring suicidologist, her primary academic interests include the chronic pain, mental health, mattering in the context of health promotional, animal-assisted intervention, and trauma-informed practice.
Alexandria’s SSHRC CGS-M and Dean’s Master’s Scholarship funded Master’s thesis - “Exploring Mattering and the Human-Animal Bond: The Impact of Service Dogs for Military Veterans at High Risk for Suicide” - was a secondary thematic analysis conducted with Canadian military veterans to analyze the potential impact psychiatric service dogs have for those at high risk for suicide. Primary findings of the thesis – available HERE - concluded that mattering can exist through human-canine interactions (which has previously only been explored on a human-human basis), and that service dogs are reported as being a direct catalyst in reducing suicidality, therefore highlighting the importance of the human-animal bond in assisting with overall suicide risk.
Alexandria received her Sociology Honours (Summa Cum Laude) B.A. from York University in Toronto. With a major focus on medical sociology, she had a minor focus in medical anthropology and was the Blishen-Richmond Award recipient of her graduating class. At YorkU, Alexandria was the sole sociology research assistant in the Infant and Child Mental Health Psychology Lab working under Dr. Yvonne Bohr on a CIHR-funded Inuit youth suicide prevention project – “Making I-SPARX Fly in Nunavut.” She has been a research assistant in the One Health & Wellness office since 2019, and collaborates with the Saskatchewan Pain Society as a patient advocate and researcher. Alexandria was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduating Sociology Student award for her Master's level work in 2022 on behalf of the Canadian Sociological Association. As of 2023, she is a Mental Health of Canada Studentship Research award recipient, and will be proceeding with her PhD research on how the human-animal bond impacts suicidality. She has completed over 2 dozen media appearances nationally and abroad, positioning herself as an early-career researcher in animal-assisted intervention. More information regarding her award history and project management skills can be found on LinkedIn.
Alexandria grew up on a farm in central Saskatchewan and currently lives with her grouchy senior cat, Ivan, and her St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog, Zola. Alexandria spends her spare time volunteering with SaskPain, as a Therapy Dog recruiter/evaluator for St. John Ambulance, and when she is not focusing on her studies, Alexandria is busy gardening, attending concerts, or taking photos. Her history of academic project involvement can be found at www.alexandriapavelich.com
