Acknowlegements and Gratitude

Dr. Bruce Fraser – taught the first training I took in facilitation skills. We practiced our newly emerging skills out in the world at environmental summits and a mining reclamation conference.  His encouragement started me on a long journey!

Debbie Larson – beautiful co-facilitator of “Children Who’ve Witnessed Abuse” contracts and parenting workshops.  She gently gave me important feedback that when I got nervous, I sometimes dominated the co-facilitation process. I have paid particular attention to that power dynamic in the years since.

Leslie Comrie – Designed and co-facilitated “Living Life On Purpose” workshops with women and then co-piloted many healthy campus initiatives at Selkirk College.  I remember lots of laughter and mutual respect as we created interactive learning experiences for a variety of groups.

Sarah Beth Hughes – Sarah Beth is gifted narrative therapist who challenged me to expand my counselling world view.  We co-facilitated women’s groups and supported community members to organize meaningful rural women’s retreats and conferences.

Qamargul Esoeva – Qamargul and I co-facilitated 14 life skills seminars for first year university students covering everything from self-esteem, cultural identity, study skills, time management, intercultural communication and conflict resolution. In addition, we organized Mental Health conferences both online and off-line that included people from many different countries and backgrounds.  She is an awesome organizer, and it was a joy to co-facilitate educational events with her.

Dr. Murodbek Laljabaev –  Murodbek and I  created a research project that explored ways that new discoveries about neuro-science could enhance quality of life for students. Murodbek and I come from very different professional worlds as he is an environmental scientist, but we balanced each other’s styles and enjoyed including the students as our co-researchers for this innovative project. We had both completed  the Harvard on-line course  the “Science of Wellbeing” taught by Dr. Laurie Santos and we wanted to see if her approaches were relevant for our Central Asian students.  Murodbek presented our project and findings at a Teaching and Learning Conference in Karachi and we won  a prize for our research.  Here is a summary of our research posted in the British Pluralistic Practice blog: Pluralistic Practice/shaking-the-pluralistic-kaleidoscope-on-a-central-asian-campus

Safeera Jaffer –  When the covid crisis hit in 2020, students from the Naryn campus in Kyrgyzstan had to return to their homes. Safeera and I made the trek back across the globe to British Columbia. As part of the student life team, we decided to design an on-line version of the “Neuro-Science of Well-Being” program that Dr. Laljabaev and I had piloted.  We recruited a group of 15 students who were in lock down in their homes in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Russia.  They would join us weekly as we explored ways to make these concepts and practices relevant to the strange times we were living in.  Safeera was a wonderful partner in designing and implementing an educational program  in the new frontiers of Zoom education.  We were both blown out of the water by the quality of the students’ final projects where they presented their personal experiments that involved adapting wellbeing strategies to their lock down realities.

Bonu Hafizova – Bonu and I designed and facilitated 8 sessions for students focussed on Art and Bullet journalling to develop organizational skills and self-expression.  Bonu is a brilliant, super organized and insightful educator.   I would facilitate anything with her anywhere!

Sheroz Naimov and I co-facilitated  the  Khorog  Youth  Engagement  Project.  Sheroz  was an avid participant in the Summer Institute courses that covered counselling skills, group dynamics and conflict transformation.  It was a pleasure to see his innate skills in working with youth grow and his deep insider knowledge of Pamiri culture and the Khorog community provided immeasurable insights into how best to facilitate projects with Khorog youth.  We spent time in many highschools and then organized and facilitated a complex photo voice community project with teens.  Sheroz is an amazing human who is continuing to provide inspired and compassionate leadership to his community.

Davis Cooper and I co-piloted the Dasht community art project bringing the ocean rock mural to the village.  I had the concept and Davis made it happen with multitudes of students and children helping out. Davis is a bright light of creativity and charisma.

Alisha Rajani – Alisha is a skilled leader, educator and management professional.  We co-facilitated workshops using Clifton Strengths for self-empowerment and team building with the HR departments spread through three Central Asian countries.  We also co-facilitated on-line World Cafe teambuilding workshops for two University of Toronto departments, while everyone was still in pandemic lock downs and working from home.  I have always been honoured to work with someone with her integrity, compassion and professionalism.

Samreen Kalani and I co-facilitated the first Summer Institute to take place in Tajikistan. She is a skilled psycho-dynamic therapist and she brought new ideas and perspectives to our focus on mental health and counseling.

Dr. Elena Kolesova –  Elena and I met each other in Kyrgyzstan just before the world closed down with covid. When she was back teaching from home in New Zealand and I was counselling from home in Canada, we collaborated to design and facilitate an on-line workshop in “Intercultural Skills for Faculty at UCA.”  This was an online opportunity for new and old faculty from two campuses to get to know each other and explore ways to understand each others’ cultures and values.

Dr. Randy Janzen –  Randy and I were colleagues at Selkirk College in British Columbia where we co-facilitated a program called “Good Neighbours” that taught mediation skills to community members. Years later Randy reached out as he was interested in teaching “Conflict Analysis and Transformation Skills” in Central Asia.  He and his intrepid partner, Mary Ann Morris, are both amazing  educators and social justice activists.  It was a total pleasure to collaborate with both Randy and Mary Ann in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan where they brought their skills, expertise, openess and humour to our Central Asian communities.

Moik Alisher – Moik and I co-facilitated staff development sessions for the 2023 Summer Institute on Naryn Campus.  She is a powerhouse of ideas and is skilled at helping  groups explore issues related to mental health, support skills and team building.  It was a pleasure to watch her strong skills as a therapist and facilitator and our styles were complementary in helping the group to bond and grow together.

Abdullah Nazari –  Abdullah is an important member of the KAAJ Team that is empowering education for Afghan female students.  It has been a mind and heart opening experience collaborating with Abdullah to offer workshops on resilience, communication and wellbeing.  The young women in this program are passionate about learning and the KAAJ team is helping them to work towards their educational goals despite living in a country that bans education for women.