Jackie graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Science in 1984 and became a teacher and later a counselor with the Vancouver School Board. She returned to UBC to complete her Master of the Arts in the Department of Counselling Psychology in 1995.

Jackie cared deeply about the mental health and well-being of young people. Her Master’s thesis, “The Role of British Columbia Elementary School Counsellors in Assisting Depressed Students,” was an early indication of her passion for enhancing schools’ capacity to identify and respond to students struggling with depression and anxiety. In the introduction to her thesis, she wrote: “Depression in elementary school children is a serious problem, which continues to be underidentified, misdiagnosed, and undertreated. Childhood depression can affect all aspects of a child’s development including psychological, social, emotional and academic functioning.”

Jackie joined the Vancouver School Board (VSB) in February 1995 as an elementary school counsellor. In 2006, she assumed a leadership role for the school district in critical incident response coordination, and soon after joined the Social Responsibility and Diversity Team in Learning Services. She went on to break new ground in the school district by focusing on mental health in schools. She coordinated VSB Child and Youth Mental Health Think Tanks, partnered with Vancouver Coastal Health and Mental Health on a series of professional development workshops, and helped implement the innovative East Vancouver Youth Mental Health project in collaboration with the B.C. Medical Association. Her influence extended beyond the Vancouver School Board as she made connections both provincially and nationally. Jackie was one of the few educators invited to participate at the national level and provide input to strategies supporting mental health of children and adolescents across Canada.

To balance the intensity of this work, Jackie spent her summers with her beloved partner on travel adventures to explore other cultures and remote areas of the world. Jackie was devoted to her family and a delightful aunt to her nephews.

As a counsellor and later leader in the BC school system, Jacqueline knew first-hand the importance of having access to the latest research in the field of child and adolescent mental health, in order to provide the best possible care and support for the children she worked with.

In honour of Jackie’s memory, The Jacqueline Farquhar Endowment for Children’s Mental Health will help researchers working in the field in the Faculty of Education at UBC to share and translate their research for those working with children. Your donation will help to increase awareness about child and adolescent mental health issues, support dissemination of the latest research to educators and community stakeholders, and enable the translation of research findings into forms that have practical applications. Specific projects might include the development of brochures, books, workshops, instructional materials and websites.

Please support this vital initiative. Your gift will be a tribute to Jackie’s tireless efforts in the area, and provide invaluable support for those working in the field of child and adolescent mental health.