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I received my BHSc in Health Sciences with an honours specialization in Health Promotion from Western University in 2019. I went on to complete my MSc (2020) and PhD (2023) in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health Promotion) at Western University. Prior to joining Laurier, I was a post-doctoral scholar within the Center for Empathy and Social Justice in Human Health at the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at the University of California San Diego.
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Milton campus. My research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
My program of research focuses on resilience-promoting behaviours toward positive mental health including kindness, prosocial behaviours, compassion, and self-affirmation. I use a strengths-based approach to explore how positive activity interventions can be leveraged to improve the mental health and wellbeing of equity-deserving populations.
- 2024 School of Health Studies Alumni of Distinction Award (Western University)
- 2023 Governor General’s Gold Medal (Western University)
I welcome opportunities to supervise undergraduate and master’s students who are interested in research related to prosocial behaviour, kindness, compassion, belonging, resilience, self-affirmation, and/or other areas within positive psychology. If you are interested in joining my research team or pursuing an independent project, I encourage you to reach out (kshillington@wlu.ca).
Shillington, K. J., Ho, H., Eck, L., Lo, S. M., Creswell, J. D., Dutcher, J., & Patrick, G. (Under Review 2025). The Impact of a Self-Affirmation Intervention on the Mental and Social Health, and Academic Performance of Minoritized Students in STEM. Acta Psychologica.
Shillington, K. J., Ho, H., Kemberling, J., Kim, H. C., Carmichael Valmadrid, L., Eck, L., Vieten, C., & Patrick, G. (Under Review 2025). Mentorship Programs to Support Undergraduate Students’ Experiences of Compassion, Empathy, and Belonging: A Scoping Review. Discover Education.
Shillington, K. J., Lo, S. M., & Hobbie, L. (In Press 2025). A Utility Value Intervention to Support the Academic Outcomes of Undergraduate Students. Frontiers of Education.
Bayne, D. & Shillington, K. J. (2025). Prosocial Behaviour Interventions Implemented Among Undergraduate Student Populations: A Scoping Review. Journal of American College Health, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2024.2447826
Shillington, K. J., Yates, J., Jackson, K. T., Tryphonopoulos, P., & Mantler, T. (2024). “It makes me feel good making other people feel good”: How Women Who Experience Intimate Partner Violence Bolster Their Resilience Through Altruism. SN Social Sciences, 4(93). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00891-z
Shillington, K. J., Vanderloo, L. M., Burke, S. M., Ng, V., Tucker, T., & Irwin, J. D. (2024). Factors That Contributed to Ontario Adults’ Mental Health During the First 16 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Decision Tree Analysis. PeerJ. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17193
Shillington, K. J., Yates, J., Vanderloo, L. M., Burke, S. M., Ng, V., Tucker, T., & Irwin, J. D. (2023). ‘When you give kindness out, you get it back ten times more’: Ontario adults’ prosocial behaviour during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288720
Shillington, K. J., Morrow, D., Meadows, K., Labadie, C. T., Tran, B., Raza, Z., Qi, C., Vranckx, D. J., Bhalla, M., Bluth, K., Cousineau, T. M., Cunningham, D. E., Estrada, M., Massey, J., Ncube, N., & Irwin, J. D. (2023). Leveraging Kindness in Canadian Post-Secondary Education: A Conceptual Paper. College Teaching, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2023.2181307
Shillington, K. J., Johnson, A. M., Mantler, T., Burke, S. M. & Irwin, J. D. (2021). Kindness as an Intervention for Student Social Interaction Anxiety, Resilience, Affect, and Mood: The KISS of Kindness Study II. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(8), 3631-3661. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00379-0