Ryan Dermody

As a Veteran of the Royal Navy who has experienced his own struggles, Ryan Dermody understands the difficulty in accessing care and the urgent need to better support Veterans with mental illness.   

While living in the United Kingdom, Ryan Dermody volunteered his time for two years with the Maple Leaf Trust, an organization to provide relief to Canadian Veterans and their dependents residing in the United Kingdom.

Now in Canada, Ryan has used his platform as an executive to speak publicly about his own experiences to combat stigmas and encourage others to reach out if they are struggling.

In 2018, Ryan was motivated to engage with the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry, a department that trains more than a quarter of Canada’s psychiatrists. In collaboration with the university, Ryan fundraised to support a study which identified key issues in the current state of Veterans’ psychiatric care. Two of the key issues found were clinicians’ unfamiliarity with military culture and lack of experience treating conditions related to “military trauma” and “lack of research into new treatment models that address the specific needs of Veterans.”   

Ryan used his vast network in business, politics and philanthropy to raise over $500,000 to fund both a professorship and fellowship in Veteran mental health. A new professorship in Veteran mental health launched at the University of Toronto in January 2022. The fellowship will be a collaboration between Canadian Universities.

Ryan continues to support these efforts as a member of the Veteran Mental Health Advisory Committee and ensures a Veteran-centric approach to program development with involvement of important military and Veteran partners.