Matthew S. Johnston

Matthew S. Johnston is an Assistant Professor of Health Sociology in the Department of Social Science at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John). He earned his BSocSc (2010) and MA (2012) in Criminology from the University of Ottawa. He earned his PhD (2019) in Sociology from Carleton University. From 2019-2026, Dr. Johnston completed postdoctoral fellowships at Concordia University and Memorial University of Newfoundland, with a focus on critically assessing mental health systems in Canada and identifying the health needs of public safety workers, including correctional workers, firefighters, police officers, and security intelligence professionals.

Dr. Johnston’s research program is interdisciplinary, with his works published across the areas of sociology, mental health, criminology, and public safety. He is keen to expand his research networks across the University of New Brunswick and beyond and continue building on his realist and appreciative praxis to studying mental health systems and public safety organizations in Canada. Dr. Johnston is a passionate advocate for disability rights and has a long history of engaging in both critical and solutions-focused scholarship. He served as a Mental Health & Addictions Policy Analyst for Health PEI in 2022 and was a member of Health PEI’s Clinical and Organizational Ethics Committee from 2022-2025.

In his spare time, Dr. Johnston enjoys having fun with his family, playing and coaching badminton and baseball, jamming on his guitars, overcoming difficult video games, and watching the Blue Jays compete for a World Series title.

Selected publications

Ricciardelli, R., Johnston, M.S., & MacLellan, S.R. (2026). Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) employees: Assessing mental health stigma, culture, and needs. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. 1-15.

Johnston, M.S., Ricciardelli, R., Vester, E., & Martin, K. (2026). “It was a very pleasant surprise”: Exploring public safety service users’ experiences with inpatient mental health treatment and recovery. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 82(4), 585-593.

Johnston, M.S., & Ricciardelli, R. (2026). “We’re still good guys”: Reshaping public perceptions of correctional officers. Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, 11(1), 1-24.

Ricciardelli, R., Carleton, R.N., Taillieu, T., Dorniani, S., Johnston, M.S., Carbonell, M., Coulling, R., Andres, E., & Afifi, T.O. (2024). Provincial and territorial correctional service workers: A Canadian national and jurisdictional assessment of mental health. Journal of Criminal Justice, 91, 1-11.

Johnston, M.S., Ricciardelli, R., & Whitten, C. (2024). “That’s not rehabilitation, that’s enabling”: Correctional officer perspectives on the Prison Needle Exchange Program. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 51(1), 66-85.

Johnston, M.S., Sanscartier, M.D., & Steckle, R. (2023). Patient resistance to psychiatric discourse and power. Disability Studies Quarterly, 42(3-4).

Johnston, M.S., Ricciardelli, R., & McKendy, L. (2022). Fight or flight? Exploring suicide thoughts, experiences, and behaviours among correctional workers and their interventions of agency. Sociology of Health & Illness, 44(9), 1500-1516.

Johnston, M.S., Ricciardelli, R., & McKendy, L. (2022). Improving the mental health of correctional workers: Perspectives from the field. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 49(7), 951-970.

Johnston, M.S. (2020). Through madness and back again: An autoethnography of psychosis. Journal of Autoethnography, 1(2), 137-155.

Johnston, M.S. (2019). When madness meets madness: Insider reflections on doing mental health research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1-13.