Niki Kiepek
Associate Professor, MSc-OS Program Coordinator

Related information
Email: niki.kiepek@dal.ca
Phone: 902-494-2609
Fax: 902-494-1229
Mailing Address:
- Occupation
- Substance use
- Social sanctioning
- Non-sanctioned occupations
- Criminal regulation
- Social occupational therapy
- Evidence-based law
Education
- BSc, University of Toronto
- MSc(OT), University of Toronto
- LLM, Dalhousie University
- PhD, Western University
Research interests
In her work, Dr. Niki Kiepek applies critical theories to explore occupation as a social construct and investigates the construction of acceptable and unacceptable ways of acting and ways of being. The research has implications for understanding processes of social justice, inclusion, oppression, and marginalization in relation to occupational therapy practice and health service delivery. Her current research examines broad representations of substance use across health, law and lived experience.
Project Website: https://kiepekresearch.ca/
Selected publications
Articles
Kiepek, N. (2024). Discursively embedded institutionalized stigma in Canadian judicial decisions. Contemporary Drug Problems, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509241269439
Kiepek, N. (2023). Occupation in the Anthropocene and ethical relationality. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 91(1), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/00084174231169390
Kiepek, N., & Ausman, C. (2023). “You are you, but you are also your profession”: Nebulous boundaries of personal substance use. Contemporary Drug Problems, 50(1), 63–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509221132301
Kiepek, N., Ausman, C. Beagan, B., & Patten, S. (2022) “A reward for surviving the day”: Women professionals’ experiences of substance use in comparison to men. Performance Enhancement & Health, 10(2), 100200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2022.100220
Kiepek, N., Beagan, B., & Patten, S. (2022). Reflecting on conceptualisations of ‘meaning’ in occupational therapy. Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy / Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 30, e3156. https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.ctoARF24193156
Kiepek, N., Beagan, B., Laliberte Rudman, D. & Phelan, S. (2019, July). Silences around occupations framed as unhealthy, illegal, and deviant. Journal of Occupational Science, 26(3), 341-353. doi: 10.1080/14427591.2018.1499123 (available online 27 Jul 2018)
Book
Kiepek, N. (2016). Licit, illicit, and prescribed: Substance use and occupational therapy. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.
Book chapters
Kiepek, N., Benjamin-Thomas, T. E., Núñez, C. M. V., Sy, M. P., & Amores, M. (2024). Societal understandings of occupation. In Brown, T., Gustafsson, L., Dirette, D. P., Isbel, S., Gutman, S., Collins, B., & Barlott, T. Human occupation: Contemporary concepts and lifespan perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kiepek, N., Durocher, E., Hark, R., Mackinnon, A., & Phelan, S. (2022). Equity, justice, and rights through occupation. In Restall, G. & Egan, M. Promoting occupational participation: Collaborative, relationship-focused occupational therapy. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.
Rudman-Laliberte, D., Aldrich, R., & Kiepek, N. (2022). Evolving conceptualisations of occupation. In Restall, G. & Egan, M. Promoting occupational participation: Collaborative, relationship-focused occupational therapy. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists.
Teaching commitments
- OCCU 6510 Occupational Science Theory: Doing Being, Becoming, Belonging
- OCCU 4500 To Do or Not to Do: The Social Sanctioning of Occupations
- OCCU 5021 Mental Health Practice in OT I
- OCCU 6021 Mental Health Practice in OT II
Memberships
- Project Lead, MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Dalhousie University
- Research Scholar, Health Justice Institute, Dalhousie University
- Associate Scientist, Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU)
- Scientific Associate (Research), Nova Scotia Health
- Member, Centre for Transformative Nursing and Health Research
- Member, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters (CRISM)
- Member, International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law
- Member, International Society for the Study of Drug Policy
- Member, Human Enhancement Drugs Network (HEDN)
- Member, Atlantic Mentorship Network-Pain & Addiction
- Member, College of Occupational Therapists of Nova Scotia
- Member, Nova Scotia Society of Occupational Therapists
- Member, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
- Member, Canadian Society of Occupational Science
- Member, World Federation of Occupational Therapists
- Member, Society for the Study of Occupation:USA
Selected awards and honours
- Class of 2001 Faculty/Staff Awards (2023)
- Outstanding Reviewer for Drugs and Alchohol Today