About

Dr. Heather Baitz is a Registered Psychologist and climate activist on Vancouver Island in BC, Canada.

She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive Systems at the University of British Columbia before going on to complete her Master’s degree and PhD in Clinical Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She completed a one-year residency at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Clinical Health Psychology. She currently works in private practice at Campbell & Fairweather Psychology Group in Nanaimo, where she provides cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to adults who are experiencing depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, problematic substance use, or climate distress.

Dr. Baitz has published numerous peer-reviewed research articles related to substance use, cognition, and mental health. She is a Clinical Instructor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, and has been involved in training medical students, psychiatry residents, and psychology trainees at all levels.

She became involved in climate action in 2018 after waking up to the reality of the climate crisis. She serves as president of the Nanaimo Climate Action Hub, and is on the board of directors of the BC Climate Alliance and the West Coast Climate Action Network.

Publications

Baitz, H. A., Jones, P. W., Campbell, D. A., Jones, A. A., Gicas, K. M., Giesbrecht, C. J., … & Thornton, A. E. (2021). Component Processes of Decision Making in a Community Sample of Precariously Housed Persons: Associations With Learning and Memory, and Health-Risk Behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1911.

Vila-Rodriguez, F., Lang, D.J., Baitz, H., Gicas, K. Thornton, A.E., Ehmann, T.S., … & Honer, W.G. (2017). Verbal memory improvement in first-episode psychosis APOE-E4 carriers: A pleiotropic effect? Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 13, 2945-2953.

Gicas, K., Vila-Rodriguez, F., Paquet, K., Barr, A., Procyshyn, R., Lang, D., Smith, G., Baitz, H., Giesbrecht, C., Montaner, J., Krajden, M., Krausz, M., MacEwan, G.W., Panenka, W., Honer, W., & Thornton, A. (2014). Neurocognitive Profiles of Marginally Housed Persons with Comorbid Substance Dependence, Viral Infection, and Psychiatric Illness. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 36(10), 1009-1022.

Bücker, J., Popuri, S., Muralidharan, K., Kozicky, J., Baitz, H.A., Honer, W.G., Torres, I.J., & Yatham, L.N. (2014). Sex differences in cognitive functioning in patients with bipolar disorder who recently recovered from a first episode of mania: Data from the Systematic Treatment Optimization Program for Early Mania (STOP-EM). Journal of Affective Disorders, 155, 162-168.

Baitz, H.A., Thornton, A.E., Procyshyn, R., Smith, G.N., MacEwan, G.W., Kopala, L.C., Barr, A.M., Lang, D.J., & Honer, W.G. (2012). Antipsychotic medications: Linking receptor antagonism to neuropsychological functioning in first episode psychosis. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18, 717-727.

Smith, G.N., MacEwan, G.W., Kopala, L.C., Ehmann, T.S., Good, K., Thornton, A.E., Neilson, H., Lang, D.J., Barr, A.M., & Honer, W.G. (2010). Prenatal tobacco exposure in first-episode psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 119(1), 271-272.