Welcome New Board Member – Magnus Mfoafo-M’Carthy

Magnus Mfoafo-M’Carthy was born and raised in Accra, Ghana. He grew up in a home with nine siblings, a mother, who was a homemaker, and a father, the sole breadwinner. His parents instilled in them the importance of education, hard work and service to God.

After undergraduate study in Classics and English at the University of Ghana, he had the opportunity to study for his Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) at Columbia University in New York City in 1995. In New York, he worked at the Bowery Residents Committee (BRC), a residential program for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness and HIV/ AIDs. Upon graduation, he proceeded to Merritt, British Columbia, to take up a position as the clinical director of a Salvation Army residential program for adolescent offenders – Six Mile Lodge. He eventually moved to Toronto in 2000, to work at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Having gained a PhD in social work in 2010, from the University of Toronto, he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto and CAMH’s Social Aetiology of Mental Illness (SAMI) program under the tutelage of Dr. Kwame McKenzie.

Magnus joined Wilfrid Laurier University in 2011 as an assistant Professor and received tenure in 2016, and now an associate Professor. His research focuses on community-based mental health practice, disability, inclusive education, international social work, and Afrocentric social work practice. Magnus has held numerous Canadian research grants exploring stigma, mental health, and disability. He travels regularly to Ghana and other African countries where he researches mental health and disability. Some of his projects could be accessed through https://ghanadisability.com. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at conferences around the world.  

Magnus was actively involved in Inter-Varsity fellowship at the university of Ghana. He was introduced to Global Scholars Canada by a colleague, Dr. Steve Sider. He currently fellowships at the Waterloo Pentecostal Assembly (WPA) in Waterloo, Ontario.

Magnus is married to Stella, a counsellor at the university of Guelph, and has two daughters, both university students.