About
Many experiences have influenced the work I do now. I grew up in an environment where I spent time with many kinds of people including artists, physicists, activists, theologians and farmers. From early on, I enjoyed the diversity of stories that came from different lived experiences.
The value and importance of learning directly from people’s experiences came into sharper focus during my years with an "expedition school." We travelled in many states in the USA and parts of Atlantic Canada, adhering to our university-accredited curriculum but always engaging in experiential learning. This involved listening to the people in each place, for example, hearing about changes in traditions from Hopi elders in Arizona or talking with fishing families in Labrador about not depending on a single species.
Eventually I pursued formal education, but always with an interdisciplinary approach. Today, I see my work as three parts listening and one part responding skillfully to what is being said. It could involve planning, or more research, or simply drawing what is being said for the illumination it might provide.
The value and importance of learning directly from people’s experiences came into sharper focus during my years with an "expedition school." We travelled in many states in the USA and parts of Atlantic Canada, adhering to our university-accredited curriculum but always engaging in experiential learning. This involved listening to the people in each place, for example, hearing about changes in traditions from Hopi elders in Arizona or talking with fishing families in Labrador about not depending on a single species.
Eventually I pursued formal education, but always with an interdisciplinary approach. Today, I see my work as three parts listening and one part responding skillfully to what is being said. It could involve planning, or more research, or simply drawing what is being said for the illumination it might provide.
SKILLS
- Skilled researcher and coordinator for projects in environment, education and health, from research design and data collection through analysis and evaluation
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with a variety of stakeholders to meet project objectives, strengthened while working closely with rural, resource-based and Indigenous communities and partner organizations
- Excellent communication skills with experience developing a range of materials such as research papers and summaries; project reports; PowerPoint presentations; briefing notes; and educational materials (e.g. website copy) for diverse audiences (community, academic, general public, project team, NGOs, government, and low literacy audiences)
- Adept at group facilitation using visual / graphic tools cultivated through participation in community workshops, research and education programs for youth and adults
- Professional experience working in complex environments and on sensitive topics, with an ability to work independently or collaboratively while managing diverse responsibilities
- More than 15 years of experience working with Indigenous communities, organizations and governments – Inuit, Innu and Mi’kmaq – at local, regional and federal levels
FORMAL EDUCATION
Master of Environmental Studies (MES)
School for Resource & Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA
Environmental Education (two years of university credit transferred to College of the Atlantic)
National Audubon Society Expedition Institute/Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Master of Environmental Studies (MES)
School for Resource & Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
- Thesis: “Environment and Health Risk Communication in Aboriginal Communities: Learning from the Case Study of Contaminants and Nutrition Issues with Young Inuit Women in Nunatsiavut" (interdisciplinary health/environment research)
College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA
- Interdisciplinary degree emphasizing the relationship between people and the environments and communities in which they live
Environmental Education (two years of university credit transferred to College of the Atlantic)
National Audubon Society Expedition Institute/Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Environmental education program with emphasis on participatory experiential learning while travelling year-round throughout the United States and Eastern Canada
TRAINING
- Certificate in Adult Education, St. Francis Xavier University [in progress]
- Theory of Change Workshop - Canadian Evaluation Society
- Methods to Include Traditionally Disenfranchised Populations in Evaluation – Canadian Evaluation Society
- Graphic Fundamentals [See Meaning]
- Graphic Facilitation [See Meaning]
- Empower! Visuals & Evaluation for Social Change [See Meaning and Common Knowledge]
- Art of Hosting Meetings That Matter and Art of Hosting (“building confidence and capacity for complex challenges, tight budgets and systemic crises”) – ALIA Institute
- Wabanaki Confederacy Gathering (St. Mary’s First Nation, NB) and Peace and Friendship Gathering (Tatamagouche Centre) – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people gathered to talk together about building better relationships based upon shared values
- Knowledge Synthesis on Measures of Environmental Deprivation in Health Inequities (MEDHI) Research Workshop – Dalhousie University, College of Sustainability (Invited)
- Training Certificates, Health Canada’s Contaminated Sites Division:
o Communicating Health Risk Information to Stakeholders