User:Alyson Budd

Alyson Budd is a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia faculty of arts in Vancouver, BC, majoring in speech sciences and minoring in psychology.

She is currently researching tongue bifurcation phonetics at the Interdisciplinary Speech Research Lab in the Department of Linguistics under an NSERC USRA grant.

Biography
Alyson was born in 1986 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her family moved several times before settling in Maple Ridge, BC, where Alyson spent her later childhood and adolescent years. Alyson moved to Vancouver at age 18, and has remained there, aside from one year living in New Zealand from 2011-2012 where she worked at the Ministry of Education in an administrative capacity.

Education
Alyson attended Langara College from 2009-2011 and UBC from 2012-2015. Alyson underwent training in 2013 to become a certified workshop leader for the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, delivered in British Columbia by the University of Victoria and the Ministry of Health.

Volunteering & Advocacy
Alyson has held several volunteer roles including UBC Hospital on-site SLP volunteer, she was the co-president of the Speech and Linguistics Student Association (2014-2015), and the secretary (2013-2014). From 2013-2014 Alyson volunteered at Janet Werker's Infant Studies Centre where she assisted with a research study. Alyson has also volunteered for Dr. Jeff Webster as a research assistant, and at a care home, providing musical entertainment and manicures to residents.

Alyson has facilitated workshops in self-care, chronic disease self-management, and ASL practice.

Alyson shares her experience living with mental illness and her mental health journey to advocate for awareness and acceptance of mental illness. In her 2015 UBC Graduation commencement speech she shares mental health mantras like "don't make a permanent decision for a temporary problem" and "put on your own oxygen mask before anyone else's" to promote self-care.

Publications
Her academic wordpress blog can be reached here.

Her essays span diverse topics like body positivity and Classical Indian literature in translation.

Music
Alyson has been a longtime musician, recording and performing as Alyson Fun, and plays in several projects including Lengthy List of Lovers and The Phobic Trust. Past projects include Vonnegut Dollhouse.

The Phobic Trust is an ambient drone band, and was conceptualized as a way to deal with anxiety through improvised gestures of sound, deep listening, and mindfulness.