Founder & Co-Director of the PAWSitive Connections Lab | CLICK HERE to learn more

Colleen Anne Dell, PhD

Colleen Anne Dell, PhDColleen Anne Dell, PhDColleen Anne Dell, PhD
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    • Home
    • About
      • About Colleen Dell
      • One Health
      • Recognitions
      • The Team
      • Get Involved
    • Dog Initiatives
      • Learn About
    • Research Areas
      • Addiction
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Inmates
      • Patients
      • Service Providers
      • Students
      • Veterans
    • Research Outcomes
      • Academic Articles
      • Creative Works
      • Fact Sheets
      • Podcasts & Vidoes
      • Reports and Magazines
      • Training & Workshops
      • Toolkit & Courses
    • Teaching
      • Teaching Philosophy
      • In the Classroom
      • Student Supervision
    • News & Media
      • News Media
      • Social Media
      • Therapy Dog Blog
      • Service Dog Blog
      • Newsletter

Colleen Anne Dell, PhD

Colleen Anne Dell, PhDColleen Anne Dell, PhDColleen Anne Dell, PhD
  • Home
  • About
    • About Colleen Dell
    • One Health
    • Recognitions
    • The Team
    • Get Involved
  • Dog Initiatives
    • Learn About
  • Research Areas
    • Addiction
    • HIV/AIDS
    • Inmates
    • Patients
    • Service Providers
    • Students
    • Veterans
  • Research Outcomes
    • Academic Articles
    • Creative Works
    • Fact Sheets
    • Podcasts & Vidoes
    • Reports and Magazines
    • Training & Workshops
    • Toolkit & Courses
  • Teaching
    • Teaching Philosophy
    • In the Classroom
    • Student Supervision
  • News & Media
    • News Media
    • Social Media
    • Therapy Dog Blog
    • Service Dog Blog
    • Newsletter

As a researcher, I have witnessed thepower of the animal-human bond for people seeking mental health & substance use healing.

As a researcher, I have witnessed thepower of the animal-human bond for people seeking mental health & substance use healing.

2025 achievement award recipient

Colleen Anne Dell is the 2025 recipient of the SK Health Research Foundation 2025 Achievement Award.

Find out more

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Dr. Dell’s latest research has been featured by CNN, People Magazine, Canadian Press, NPR, MedScape, The New York Times and more!  

Photo Credit:  Distantides Photography 

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pawsitive support dogs

 As the co-Founder and co-Director of the PAWSitive Support Canine Assisted Learning Program, along with Dr. Darlene Chalmers, Dr. Dell has the honor of working alongside some super dogs! Members of the 2023 pack with Drumheller Institution program participants are (L to R) Ruby, Reina, Molly, 

E-Jay, Reacher. 

Learn more

registration now open

This course is ideal for professionals in substance use and mental health, social service, and allied professions interested in enhancing their practice with animal aware approaches. 


It is also suitable for anyone interested in understanding their own animal relationships, including individuals on their recovery journey. 

Click hetre to learn more!

In the media

Check out Dr. Dell's podcast did with Montel Williams on his show "Free Thinking with Montel". Find the whole podcast here. 

Dr. Dell speaking on Israeli i24 news about the benefits of pets for human health. 

'Dogs as Co-Researchers' full interview with Dr. Dell is available on the Faculti.net website!     

Welcome

I work and research with my team in the areas of mental health and addictions. One of my favorite topics is the connecting bonds between humans and canines. 


Featured to the left is my early canine inspirations Subie, Anna-Belle and Kisbey. 


Today I have the good fortune to work alongside Ruby E-Jay & Molly!

Read tributes to Subie, Anna-Belle & Kisbey here
Molly

Molly

E-Jay & Molly

Ruby

E-Jay

About

Who I Am

Dr. Dell is a human-animal interaction researcher and therapy dog practitioner specializing in treatment for mental health, addictions, and well-being. She is a public sociologist, and currently a Professor and Centennial Enhancement Chair in One Health & Wellness in the Department of Sociology and Associate in the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. She is also a Senior Research Associate with the Canadian Centre on Substance Use & Addiction. She is the 2022 recipient of the the USask Distinguished Graduate Mentorship Award and a 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Saskatchewan),  

About Colleen Dell

Doing Research

Dr. Dell leads and collaborates in innovative One Health & Wellness studies. She adopts a community-based, patient-oriented participatory approach, focusing on healing from addictions and mental health, with specific attention to animal assisted interventions and Indigenous populations. 

Research Studies

Sharing Findings

Dr. Dell boldly translates the outcomes of her research into accessible products. Her commitment to enhancing understanding is recognized in the creation of a variety of unique knowledge mobilization products from her funded studies, including music videos and paintings.  

Research Results

Addictions Specific Work

Dr. Dell held a Saskatchewan Government funded Research Chair in Substance Abuse from 2007-2016. Her work concentrated on research, community outreach and training. A products catalogue and promotional video highlighting outcomes of her team's research is available here. 

Addictions Research

Research Results

Academic articles
In the news
Research fact sheets
Community reports
Creative Works
Videos

Research Chair in One Health & Wellness

“One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple health science professions, together with their related disciplines and institutions – working locally, nationally, and globally – to attain optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants, and our environment.” One Health Commission.  The foundation of Dr. Dell's work is situated within a One Health & Wellness framework. 


Key to One Health is zoonosis - the transfer of disease from animals to humans. This zoonosis article addresses how a One Health pan-species approach can help us understand the current COVID-19 pandemic, for example, and ward off the next one. A favorite line of Dr. Dell's in the article is that "No one is safe unless everything is safe". That includes human, animal and planetary health.   


Related, Dr. Dell's work increasingly recognizes the anthropocene, which is the current time period in which human-kind has caused lasting impacts on the environment. In response she considers post-humanism in her work, which attempts to de-centre human experiences.


Dr. Dell’s Chair builds on another component of One Health and that is zooeyia. Zooeyia is defined as “the positive benefits to human health from interacting with animals, focusing on the companion animal” (Hodgeson & Darling, 2021). 


To learn more about zooeyia and a One Health approach from Dr. Dell, you can listen here and to her TedX Talk here, or read here. 


Click here to learn how Dr. Dell considers animals a part of her team and how she is guided by positive animal welfare. 

Get to Know Dr. Dell

In episode #8 of On the Mike with Mike, former President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Dr. Michael Strong talks with Colleen about her research on addictions, the integration of therapy animals in her health and wellness studies, work-life balance and what the future holds for her research. 

TEDx Talk

Therapy Dogs & Recovery from Addiction

What if we included domesticated animals, and in particular dogs, into the recovery plans of people struggling with addictions? Working alongside community and academic partners, hear about Dr. Dell's animal assisted intervention research and practice focusing on healing from addictions and mental health.

Watch TedX Talk

Dr. Dell  & Dr. Peter Butt's published a novel commentary (2023) in the Canadian Journal of Addiction, titled 'Recognizing the role of companion animals in addiction recovery'.  

Read commentary

Acknowledgement

Wherever you are accessing this website from, I would like to acknowledge the land and the human and more-than-human beings we share our environment with. A large team has contributed to the work found on this website, including funders, Indigenous Elders and communities, colleagues, students, family, academic mentors and those who push me to ‘show them the evidence’. I would like to acknowledge the presence of each in this work. My sincere appreciation to all, alongside the land and animals, without whom humans would not be.  

– Dr. Colleen Anne Dell 


Photo Credits in progress 

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Colleen Anne Dell

University of Saskatchewan

(306) 966-5912 colleen.dell@usask.ca

Copyright © 2025 Colleen Anne Dell - All Rights Reserved.

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