top of page

Career Highlights:

  • Author of two bestselling memoirs, Through the Glass (2011) and Out of the Shadows (2019), and the 2022 self-help release Heal for Real: A guided journal to forgiving others—and yourself 

  • Named one of the world’s 50 most resilient people by the Global Resilience Project, 2015

  • New York Times Woman in the World recommended writer, 2016

  • Number one in the international Empathy Library

  • Interviewed on CBC’s The Current in 2011; was voted favourite interview of the show’s run for the tenth anniversary 

  • Led 17 forgiveness retreats on-the-land for Indigenous residential school survivors in the Arctic

  • Selection committee member for Canada’s National Restorative Justice Award, 2011-2018

  • Survivor therapist, advocate and media spokesperson on the international investigation into disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard, who is currently awaiting trial on sex trafficking and assault charges in both Canada and the United States

  • Featured in the 2021 award-winning CBC podcast, Evil By Design, and the 2022 3-part TV documentary Evil By Design: Surviving Nygard, as well as the Discovery+ documentary, Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygard. Interviewed by countless Canadian, American and international media outlets as an expert on trafficking, trauma recovery, justice, mental health and survivor needs.  

  • Invited by the former federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to speak at Victims and Survivors of Crime Round Table for Criminal Justice System Review for Justice Canada, 2017

  • Contributed to Canada’s Victims Bill of Rights with the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime (2013); provided written testimony for Bill C-10, the Increasing Offender Accountability Act (2015)

  • Notable keynotes include the following:

    • National Restorative Justice Symposium (Kamloops, British Columbia, 2011)

    • Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) Research and Treatment Conference (virtual, 2020; Los Angeles, California, 2022)

    • European Forum for Restorative Justice (Northern Ireland, 2015)

    • First International Restorative Justice Conference: Humanizing the Approach to Criminal Justice (sponsored by PRODERECHO/USAID, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2008)

    • World Conference on Restorative Juvenile Justice (Lima, Peru, 2009)

  • Popular guest lecturer at universities and colleges throughout North America, with books on dozens of required reading lists in faculties of psychology, victimology, social work, law, writing and more.

Qualifications:

  • B.A., International Development Studies, Trent University (1998)

  • B. Ed., Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto (2001)

  • Masters of Arts, International Child Welfare, Elizabeth Fry School of Social Work, University of East Anglia, UK, with distinction

  • Bombardier Internationalist Fellowship for Graduate Study (2008)

  • Counselling Specialist Certificate, Queen’s University (2004)

  • Trauma and Restorative Justice Certificate, Eastern Mennonite University (2008)

  • Certified Restorative Justice Facilitator, Peacebuilders (2009)

  • Certificate of Social Innovation Leadership, The Banff Centre (2015)

  • Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist, registered with Ontario College of Social Workers (OCSWSSW) and Manitoba College of Social Workers (MCSW)

  • EMDR Certified Therapist, EMDRIA (Summer 2022)

  • Safe and Sound Certified Therapist, UNYTE/ILS Integrated Learning Systems (Summer 2022)

  • Member of Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW)

  • Health Canada Registered Therapist for Indigenous People (NIHB)

  • Fluent in Spanish, strong conversational French

bottom of page