Marci Gray
Marci Gray, PhD Candidate, MSW, RSW
Research Interests
- Workplace psychological health and safety
- Psychological safety in the workplace
- Anti-Black racism and racialized workplace experiences
- Mental Health and well-being
- Workplace mental health and psychosocial risk
- Leadership and organizational culture
- Trauma-informed mental health and practice
- Mental health stigma and help-seeking
- Workplace racism and employee well-being
- Organizational approaches to psychologically safer workplaces
Biography
About Marci
Marci Gray is a social worker, psychotherapist, researcher, educator, and CEO of Gray Matter Health. Her work sits at the intersection of workplace psychological health and safety, anti-Black racism, mental health, psychological safety, leadership, trauma-informed practice, and organizational well-being.
With more than two decades of experience in human services, Marci brings a practitioner-researcher perspective to understanding how workplace systems, leadership, organizational culture, psychosocial risk factors, and racialized workplace experiences influence psychological health and well-being.
Her work bridges clinical practice, academic research, education, and organizational consultation, with a particular focus on translating research into practical strategies that leaders and organizations can use to create psychologically safer, healthier, and more inclusive workplaces.
In addition to her academic and clinical work, Marci is a speaker, trainer, and consultant who works with leaders, organizations, and communities on workplace mental health, psychological health and safety, trauma-informed practice, leadership, mental health stigma, and anti-Black racism. She also contributes mental health and workplace expertise to public and media conversations.
Doctoral Research
Psychological Health & Safety in the Workplace
Marci is a PhD Candidate at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. Her doctoral research examines workplace psychological health and safety through an anti-Black racism lens, with a particular focus on the experiences of Black and racialized workers in human service organizations.
Her research investigates how organizational conditions, including leadership, workplace culture and climate, workload, interpersonal relationships, and organizational systems, shape the psychological health and safety experiences of racialized employees.
Using mixed methods, her doctoral research brings together occupational health psychology, critical perspectives on race and racism, and the lived workplace experiences of Black workers. The broader goal of this work is to contribute to more inclusive approaches to workplace psychological health and safety that recognize racial inequities and racialized workplace experiences as important psychosocial factors affecting employee mental health and well-being.
Research Experience
Marci’s research portfolio includes quantitative and qualitative research examining workplace psychological health and safety, psychological distress, leadership, organizational culture, interpersonal relationships, job demands, psychosocial risk, anti-Black racism, and racialized workplace experiences.
As part of her doctoral research, she developed the Racialized Workplace Experience Scale (RWES), a measurement tool designed to examine racialized workplace experiences and their relationship to psychological health and safety and employee mental health outcomes.
Her research interests extend beyond identifying workplace risks to understanding how research can inform organizational policy, leadership practice, workplace mental health interventions, and the development of psychologically safer and more inclusive organizations.
Leadership Research & Applied Innovation
Marci’s work also explores the relationship between leadership behaviour, psychological regulation, workplace culture, and psychological safety.
She developed the Leadership Climate Diagnostic, a leadership assessment designed to help leaders understand their leadership patterns, particularly how those patterns may emerge under pressure and influence the psychological climate experienced by their teams.
The assessment encourages leaders to develop greater self-awareness, psychological regulation, and psychologically adept leadership practices. This work reflects Marci’s broader interest in translating research on psychological safety, leadership, workplace mental health, and human behaviour into practical tools that support healthier organizational cultures.
Academic Experience
Marci teaches in the Master of Social Work program at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. Her teaching focuses on clinical social work practice, group work, critical analysis, and the integration of theory, research, and practice.
Her teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking, reflective practice, cultural responsiveness, clinical skill development, and helping emerging practitioners translate theoretical and research knowledge into meaningful practice.
Knowledge Translation, Media & Public Scholarship
Marci is committed to making psychological research and mental health knowledge accessible beyond academic settings. She regularly speaks to organizational leaders, professionals, community audiences, and the public about workplace mental health, psychological health and safety, psychological safety, trauma, leadership, mental health stigma, anti-Black racism, and Black mental health.
Her work includes organizational consultation, professional education, keynote speaking, training, and media commentary. She has contributed expert commentary and mental health education through Canadian media outlets including CTV News Channel, CP24, Global News, Citytv News, Breakfast Television, and Cityline.
Through her academic, clinical, organizational, and media work, Marci is particularly interested in knowledge translation that moves psychological research beyond academic settings and into workplaces, communities, leadership practice, and public conversations about mental health.
Education
PhD Candidate, Social Work
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
University of Toronto
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Strategic Human Service Management in Mental Health Specialization
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
University of Toronto
Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA)
Double Major: Sociology and Law
York University
Undergraduate Thesis: Youth Subculture & Community Development
Contact
Research and Academic Inquiries
Marci.gray@mail.utoronto.ca
Media, Speaking and Consulting Inquiries
info@graymatterhealth.com
Website
GrayMatterHealth.com
LinkedIn
Marci Gray