In Memoriam

Claire Crooks was a distinguished clinical child psychologist who dedicated her life’s work to advancing the well-being of children and youth through the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based interventions. Claire’s well-known work on healthy youth relationships promotion began as a postdoctoral fellow, continuing as a Research Scientist, and then Associate Director, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Centre for Prevention Science in London, Ontario. During this time, she worked with David Wolfe, Peter Jaffe, and Ray Hughes to develop the Fourth R, a youth violence prevention and healthy relationships promotion program. The Fourth R is now used across North America, benefiting countless adolescents since the early 2000s.

Claire also dedicated her research to expanding the Fourth R to meet the needs and strengths of diverse youth. Claire was a champion for the Fourth R to be continually adapted and implemented in new contexts globally, co-creating versions with and for newcomer, sexually and gender diverse, and justice-involved youth. For Indigenous youth, Claire codeveloped the Fourth R: Uniting Our Nations programs with Indigenous community leaders, knowledge keepers, and Elders, to support Indigenous youth mental health and wellness in the school setting through cultural (re)connections.

In 2014, Claire joined the Faculty of Education, Western University, as a faculty member. In this role, she also founded and served as director of the Centre for School Mental Health. Here, she led a program of local, national, and international research focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating effective school-based interventions to promote comprehensive approaches to school mental health.

Claire’s gift of humor, care, and mentorship inspired and supported her staff, students, and numerous trainees, who will carry on her legacy in school- and community-centered, strengths-based promotion of child and youth well-being. At the Centre for School Mental Health, Crooks also led the evaluation of, and supported training for, a new school-based intervention called Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups, which serves immigrant and refugee students across Canada, the United States, and Eastern Europe.

Although her career only lasted 22 years, her prolific research established the critical role of relationships in supporting youth well-being across multiple interpersonal domains and demonstrated that relationship skills can be successfully trained, with subsequent reductions in violence. Claire’s innovation and passion were always driven by her close relationships with community partners, and their wisdom is reflected across her program of work. The caliber of Claire’s career contributions was recognized by the receipt of an Order of Ontario shortly before her passing, the province’s highest civilian honor.