L.M. Montgomery Institute issues new publication to coincide with Canadian Mental Health Week
The L.M. Montgomery Institute has published a new online publication titled A Celebration of Montgomery’s Legacy: Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies Mental Health Collection Revisited to coincide with Canadian Mental Health Week, which takes place from May 4–10, 2026.
Authored by Montgomery scholars Drs. Lesley Clement, Rita Bode, and Margaret Steffler, this collection revisits the L.M. Montgomery and Mental Health Collection, published between 2022 and 2025 in the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies (JLMMS). In late 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jean Mitchell, professor of anthropology at UPEI, and Clement, an independent Montgomery scholar, issued a call for submissions for a publication on the topic of "L.M. Montgomery and mental health." Out of that call came eight creative pieces and scholarly papers that comprise the L.M. Montgomery and Mental Health Collection.
A Celebration of Montgomery’s Legacy: Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies Mental Health Collection Revisited profiles those eight pieces and the research that occurred before and after their publication. The authors explore how Montgomery’s life, works, and adaptations have supported mental well-being in times of turbulence and calm, and crisis and peace. From motivation and inspiration to new ways of rethinking mental health, the pieces highlight the enduring impact of her stories.
“Montgomery’s works often reflect early twentieth-century attitudes toward mental health, sometimes challenging them, questioning societal measures of well-being, and highlighting the importance of equitable access to resources and support,” says Clement. “Her life reminds us that self-worth and meaningful connection remain central to mental health.”
In the collection, the authors identified three key areas of often overlapping exploration: “Gender, Sex, and Sexuality,” which lays the foundation of relevant and important changes society was undergoing that called into question suppositions about mental health; sources of “Loss and Trauma”; and changes that society was undergoing and how these changes affected “Therapies and Healing Practices.” These topics are explored in the final section, which revisits the “Eight Reflections on Montgomery and Mental Health: Montgomery’s Legacy” in the JLMMS collection.
The theme for this year’s Canadian Mental Health Week is “Come Together, Canada,” a call to spark the everyday social connections that are essential to strengthen mental health, build healthier communities, and help more people feel connected.
“As always, Montgomery looks back through her present to the future, and one staple that always emerges as integral to mental health is a sense of self-worth and meaningful connection,” says Clement. “Montgomery was truly a woman of her own time and of our time. The theme for the CMHA’s Mental Health Week 2026 is one that Montgomery understood well.”
