Toula Kourgiantakis completed her Ph.D. at Université Laval and joined the faculty in 2016 as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. Dr. Kourgiantakis is committed to promoting the social work profession in the field of mental health and addictions through family and equity-focused interventions and research on social work education.

Her specific areas of research focus on (1) family-focused practices in mental health and addictions, (2) accessibility, equity, and culturally adapted mental health services for youth and families, (3) cannabis use and mental health in youth and young adults, (4) recovery oriented mental health policies and practices, and (5) social work education. Her research is informed by more than 25 years of social work practice across different sectors including child welfare, schools, and hospitals. She continues to work with families in private practice and she also provides supervision and consultation to professionals and agencies.

In 2015, Dr. Kourgiantakis developed Practice Fridays which is an innovative simulation-based learning method that prepares students for social work practice. She also developed the Advanced Standing Practice Seminar to enhance clinical competencies in Advanced Standing students. Dr. Kourgiantakis has been the recipient of several awards such as the University of Toronto Teaching Fellowship (2018), the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work Teaching Award (2018), and the 2019 University of Toronto Early Career Teaching Award which recognizes exceptional commitment to student learning, pedagogical engagement, and teaching innovation.

Dr. Kourgiantakis has a passionate commitment to service in the profession and she served on the Council for the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers from 2017 -2021, and she was the President from 2020-21. She is currently a member of the Commission on Educational Policy (COEP) for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

Dr. Kourgiantakis teaches the following MSW courses: Social Work Practice in Mental Health (SWK 4604), Elements of Social Work Practice (SWK 4103), Social Work Practice Laboratory (SWK 4105), as well as Family-Centred Practices in Addictions and Mental Health (SWK 4647). She also teaches an undergraduate course titled Social Context of Mental Health and Illness (PSYD 37H3) in the Mental Health Studies program in Psychology at UTSC.