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by: Geron Malbas                                                                                                                                                        

Master of Science (MSc) graduand Sarah Munoz-Violant was set on pursuing a career in psychology. After her undergraduate, she started working as a front-line worker at a shelter for women and gender diverse sex workers in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. It was during this time that she saw structural gaps in the system that affect those in need of care, bringing her to the MSc program at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS).

鈥淚 particularly appreciated the flexibility of this specific MSc program; I needed to keep working to support myself and my studies, so I needed a degree that could adapt to my professional life, and this one did.鈥�

Munoz-Violant worked on her thesis with FHS associate professor Dr. Lindsay Hedden as her supervisor. Dr. Hedden鈥檚 continuous mentorship, and the biweekly analysis discussion she led, were the most transformative and valuable learning experiences of her entire degree thesis. She points to the work with her interdisciplinary team as a striking example of how profoundly perspectives are shaped by experiences, and how it pushed her to genuinely reflect on her positionality as a researcher.

鈥淲orking collaboratively within an interdisciplinary team, alongside my supervisor, clinicians, other graduate students, research staff from multiple backgrounds, and experts in different methodologies, was one of the most enriching aspects of my degree,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 remember one session vividly: we were discussing a patient who described taking benzodiazepines, and our different backgrounds immediately surfaced. The person coming from a psychology background thought about anxiety disorders, while the person from addiction medicine thought about the toxic drug supply in BC.鈥�

At SFU, she received the Dr. Elliot Goldner Graduate Fellowship in Mental Health Policy, and the Dr. Nancy Hall Graduate Award in Public Health for her research. Munoz-Violant found herself so deeply embedded in her writing that she notes reaching a point where she questioned how her research would help her community.

鈥淵ou can find yourself wondering: Who is even going to read this? How will this work actually reach the people it's meant to serve? That feeling is especially present when you've come from hands-on community work and you're suddenly spending your days writing and analyzing rather than being in the field,鈥� she explains. 鈥淓xternal recognition in those low moments 鈥� such as these two awards 鈥� is a powerful reminder that your research matters and will have an impact, even if that impact isn't immediate.鈥�

Munoz-Violant successfully defended her thesis in January 2026 and is continuing her research as she works towards a PhD. From her MSc experience, she advises others looking towards academia to surround themselves with support.

鈥淚 can't stress enough surrounding yourself with compassionate, supportive friends. My family lives on a different continent, which meant I couldn't simply ask my mum for a home-cooked meal,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲hat I had instead was a chosen family who would lend an ear when I needed to vent, drive to my place so I wouldn't waste time travelling to them, and, perhaps most importantly, force me to take breaks even when I was convinced I shouldn鈥檛.鈥�