About me…

I have engaged with and pondered the K-12 education system for decades. In my teens, I witnessed the potential harmful impact of traditional school, with its narrow focus on what it means to be intelligent, on some of my peers and, as a result,  began my educational career in alternative, democratic schools. Since that time, I have danced in and out of the public system — sometimes peering in from the outside as with my work at Ashoka Canada, wrestling with how schools can support everyone to become changemakers. At other points, I have worked inside schools as a teacher, and most recently, as a Restorative Justice facilitator. I have designed and led numerous workshops and courses and am a skilled facilitator.

I know what's possible in education because I've done it. I co-founded and directed Compass Centre for Self-Directed Learning, the first school alternative of its kind in Canada. I am passionate about the potential of schools to become places where young people feel a sense of belonging and, from this, can discover their unique medicine to bring to our divided world. I feel the disconnect between where the world is headed and the skills and ways of being we are fostering in our young. We are in a time in which we cannot afford to be out of sync with our gifts. 

I hold the deep belief that it is our responsibility, particularly if we work with children, to explore our cultural conditioning so that we are not repeating the traumas of previous generations. As teachers, our potential for healing or harming is great. Imagine what schools and workplaces could be if we interacted from a place of embodied liberation. I have designed this experience to be both soothing and searching and bring the perspective of a white-bodied, middle class, CIS-gendered, queer woman. I bring humility to this work and to life — I am parent to two teenagers after all — and am constantly working to show up with less polish and more presence. We are learning to meet each other with more compassion and grace.

I have done a considerable amount of my own inner work, courses, and trainings, including:  traditional therapy, poetry therapy (yes, that’s a thing), Non-Violent Communication, Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Healing-Centred Education, embodied racial healing work, Restorative and Transformative Justice, Ember Circle and Ember Council coaching program, and Roadmap to Liberation. I hold a Master’s in Educational Philosophy, which explored the role of authenticity and interconnectedness in adult learners.