Dr. Timothy Black
Trauma Specialist and Group Training Expert, Associate Professor, Counselling Psychology, University of Victoria

Dr. Black is a trauma specialist and group training expert who has worked with both military and civilian populations suffering from trauma. He is a published author in the areas of PTSD, teaching trauma without traumatizing, integral approaches to ethics, and group-based approaches to healing. He is an Associate Professor of Counselling Psychology in the graduate counselling psychology program at UVic; he is one of the co-developers of the UBC-Royal Canadian Legion Veterans Transition Program (VTP); and, he has a small private practice in downtown Victoria.

Sue Eastgard
Senior Trainer, LivingWorks Education Inc.

Sue Eastgard is the former director and founder of the Youth Suicide Prevention Program (YSPP). She is an accomplished practitioner and trainer in the areas of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. She was the executive director of the Crisis Clinic of Seattle/King County for 4 years and prior to that, spent over a decade providing outpatient mental health services to acutely and chronically mentally ill adults and children. Sue is a past President of the American Association of Suicidology.

Warren Helfrich
PhD Candidate, Registered Clinical Counsellor

Warren Helfrich is a human services researcher, consultant and trainer focusing on the areas of performance measurement, organizational behavior, leadership, program evaluation and human services accreditation. Warren has extensive consulting experience in the human services sector working with both public sector and private organizations. Based out of Penticton, Warren is an independent evaluation consultant and a surveyor/trainer for the accrediting body CARF. He has worked on local, provincial and national evaluation and research projects, including MCFD's Residential Review project and the first cycle of the Canadian Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. Warren is registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. He holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Toronto and recently completed all of the requirements for his PhD at the University of Calgary. His dissertation focused on the impact of leadership on client outcomes within human service organizations.

Paul Lacerte
Executive Director of the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres

Paul has been the Executive Director of the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres for the past 13 years. He is a member of the Cariboo Clan and a citizen of the Carrier Nation in north central British Columbia. His education was completed at the University of Victoria in the area of Political Science and in the study of the administration of Aboriginal Governments. He is a certified facilitator and specializes in organizational development and success planning. Paul and his partner Asma have 4 daughters and one son and his home in Victoria is commonly referred to as “the House of Happiness”.

Dr. Lynn Miller
Associate Professor in the Education and Counseling Psychology and Special Education Department, University of British Columbia

Lynn Miller, Ph. D., R. Psych., is an Associate Professor in the Education and Counseling Psychology and Special Education department at UBC. She started her career as a classroom teacher, and then worked as a school counselor K-12. She has several research grants, including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant, examining the effects of empirically supported approaches to child anxiety in the public school system. She is the lead trainer for the FRIENDS program, an evidence-based curriculum based on cognitive behaviour principals, targeting anxiety available to all grade 4-5, and 7/8 students in BC. She has conducted research on an adolescent model of school implementation of FRIENDS, as well as an enhanced version of the FRIENDS program for Aboriginal children. As the Myrne Nevison Prevention Research Professor, she is currently investigating anxiety at the entry to school in grades kindergarten and one. She is President of the Anxiety Disorders Assoc. of Canada, 2010-2012, and recently completed her term serving as the President of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (2004-2006).

Lynda Monk
Registered Social Worker, Certified Professional Life Coach and Founder of Creative Wellness

Lynda Monk, MSW, RSW, CPCC, founder of Creative Wellness, is a registered social worker and a certified professional life coach. She has a passion for informing and inspiring self-care and conscious living for helping and healing professionals, and others who make a difference with their caring. Lynda believes that self-care should not just be one more thing on your already full “to do” list but rather an inspired place to arrive to over and over again for renewal and well-being in mind, body, heart and spirit. She is the author of Life Source Writing™: A Reflective Journaling Practice and the creator of the Creative Wellness Guided Meditation CD – both are resources for the helper’s self-care toolkit. Lynda is currently co-authoring a book entitled Writing Alone Together: Journaling within a Circle of Women for Creativity, Compassion and Connection, and also writing Umbilical Cord: A Memoir of Adoption. She has 20+ years of social work experience including within child welfare, mental health, medical social work, and as trainer/consultant/coach in the area of employee and workplace wellness. She inspires helpers and healers to write and reflect for wisdom and well-being. You can learn more about how Lynda supports helping professionals.

Richard Ramsay
Professor Emeritus of social work, University of Calgary,
and Co-founder, LivingWorks

Richard Ramsay is professor emeritus of social work at the University of Calgary. He was with the Faculty of Social Work from 1975 until his retirement in 2004. A long serving president of the Alberta Association of Social Workers, he is also a co-founder of LivingWorks Education (Canada and the United States) and a co-developer of its suicide prevention programs. LivingWorks has earned several export achievement awards and exemplary program recognitions, highlighted in 2002 with the receipt of Canada's Social Policy Research Knowledge Broker Award. The LivingWorks’ ASIST program was also selected as one of Canada’s gifts to the United Nations Decade of Culture of Peace, 2000-2009. In 2006, Richard was presented with the Andrew Mouravieff Award by the International Federation of Social Workers for advancing visibility of social work internationally and pioneering work in suicide prevention training.

Katy Rose
Registered Clinical Counselor, Human-Nature Counselling and Consulting

Over the past 10 years Katy has been discovering the joys of experiential and nature-based approaches to working with children, youth and families for the promotion of healing and growth. Katy's deep trust in the healing power of connection with the non-human natural world is informed by her training in Transpersonal Counselling Psychology, with a specialization in Wilderness Therapy, from Naropa University in Colorado. This training has inspired her to work creatively in the outdoors in many capacities including: with children affected by anxiety, families and couples experiencing conflict, youth struggling with addictions, and adults seeking change in their lives. Recently, Katy has been developing accessible counselling programs in the community of Sooke with a particular focus on filling a gap in family counselling services. Katy loves to share her passion for the exciting field of nature-based therapies, and has provided several workshops and presentations on this topic in the hopes of encouraging other counsellors and youth workers to step beyond the office walls. Katy is a Registered Clinical Counselor with the BC Association of Clinical Counselors.

David Segal
Registered Clinical Counselor, Human-Nature Counselling and Consulting

David Segal has been involved in providing therapeutic outdoor adventures for youth and families for more than 10 years. He is deeply passionate about how the ways we relate with the more than human natural world influence our collective and individual well-being. He has given presentations and workshops on nature-based therapy, adventure therapy, and ecopsychology and has been contributing to the emerging field of Ecotherapy through his work as a counsellor, author, and facilitator with Human-Nature Counselling and Power To Be Adventure Therapy Society. He completed a Masters degree in Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria and is registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors.

Dr. Susan Tasker
Assistant Professor in the Counselling Psychology Program of the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria

Dr. Susan Tasker is Assistant Professor in the Counselling Psychology Program of the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies. Susan has her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from McMaster University and her certification and registration with the Canadian Counselling Association. Her doctoral research investigated the role of joint attention in the social/emotional development of deaf toddlers with hearing mothers. Prior to joining the faculty at UVic, Susan worked in private practice in Burlington, Ontario and coordinated a family communication research project for the University Health Network in the palliative care and terminal stage oncology wards at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto. She also taught at McMaster University, Sheridan College, and with Campus Alberta’s Graduate Program in Counselling Psychology. Her primary research interests focuses on looking at how people live and cope with brain injury and unplanned life events. Currently Susan is investigating the effects of murder on the siblings of young murder victims in Canada. The study is one of the first Canadian studies to examine the immediate needs and longer-term experiences and lives of the brothers and sisters of young murder victims. In 2008 Susan completed the Specialized Training in Compassion Fatigue and Accelerated Recovery Program at the Traumatology Institute in Toronto Canada, and has a strong interest in compassion fatigue in caregivers and helping professionals and what factors contribute to and protect against its development.

Dr. Dave Whittington
Principal, Calliope Learning and Associate Faculty Member at Royal Roads University

Dave Whittington lives in Victoria with his wife and business partner, Tammy Dewar. They moved to Canada from Glasgow, Scotland after he was granted Canadian Permanent Residence in 2004. Dave grew up in the UK and spent his childhood in the Midlands of England. He always enjoyed being outside and exploring, something that is still with him today. Tammy and Dave do their best to keep themselves fit and enjoy walking, cycling and geocaching in this beautiful part of world. Originally, Dave's background was in science, engineering and education and he has a PhD in computer science. With time, he became more interested in why various projects he was involved in had a mixed success rate. It became to clear to him that human factors such as open communication, team work, and leadership were critical, in addition to having technical expertise. Dave has been an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University since 2000 and he teaches in the MA, MBA and Executive Leadership programs.