About the Author

Global Stew Pot of Influences

I am a mother, counsellor, educator and global citizen who loves facilitating transformational learning experiences.  My professional journey as a mental health therapist, school and university counsellor and active member of the Healthy Minds/Healthy Campus design team, have all influenced my values and skills in working with individuals, groups and communities. In addition, multiple meditation retreats have shaped my understanding of the mind, the heart and the nature of interdependence.

I am sitting right now in our sweet home in Indonesia thinking about the social/emotional journey of my  life and career and how many of my  lessons about cultural intelligence and wellbeing started while living in a small village in Sumatera, Indonesia 37 years ago.  At that point I had recently completed my Masters degree in Counselling Psychology, but it was the experience of jumping frames and living outside of my own Canadian culture that accelerated  learning about what healthy humans and communities need to thrive.   It was also the experiential development education activities developed by the Canada World Youth organization that helped me to expand my role as a facilitator.  During our eight months of living together as a team in rural Canada and Indonesia, I had opportunities to support participants in a discovery process about themselves and their roles within the complexities of intercultural dynamics and global development.

Later in my life, I spent seven years launching counselling services at the new  University of Central Asia  in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.   This  gave me an opportunity to experiment with many of the learning activities I had been piloting at Selkirk College in Canada.  Living in the rural mountainous communities of Naryn and Khorog, I had a chance to collaborate with  Central Asians to see how best to respectfully adapt these experiential learning approaches to a new context.  I learned so much from my students and colleagues as we explored community building through the universal building blocks of food, art and conversation.

Most recently I have been facilitating Resilience Skills sessions with the KAAJ project – an amazing organization that supports young  Hazari Afghan women who are learning online.  I am continually inspired by their passion to continue their growth and education despite their very challenging circumstances.

My other interests include hiking, canoeing, writing, gardening, meditating, cooking, travelling and messing around with collage materials. I currently live on Saturna Island in Canada and in Ubud in Indonesia.

This book is my love letter to all of us as we find our pathways to connection and wholeness.