A Resilience Project

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Frank King, celebrated mental health comedian, provides us with an insightful and “Frank” (pardon the pun) approach to Mental Health.  The truth is that depression and other mental health concerns are having a significant impact on people of all walks of life.  It does not discriminate between race, culture or socioeconomic status.  It has been there among  friends...

Send us Fan Mail It is often through our challenges that we discover our strengths. After a suicide attempt as a teenager, Hailima Yates wanted to stop feeling numb, sad, and angry at the world. When life’s challenges anchored her down, emotional distress kidnapped her spirit. She needed to rediscover her power. To change her life, Hailima faced the sources that birthed her fears, shattered her se...

Send us Fan Mail Over the past 15 years, Dr. Jody Carrington has assessed, treated, educated and empowered some of our most vulnerable and precious souls on the planet. As a child psychologist Jody rarely treats kids. She believes the answer lies in the big people who hold them.  This is especially the case when kids have experienced trauma, as this is when they need the adults in their life the m...

Send us Fan Mail How many of you can think of one or two key people in your life that have had a dynamic impact on you?  Was it a coach, a teacher or a family member?   In this episode we are highlighting some key elements to growing resilience, focusing on positive relationships, developing community, and the value of finding your purpose and meaning in life.   Steve Anderson is one of those teac...

Send us Fan Mail At the age of 21, Jess Van Zeil felt invincible.  From Bungee Jumping to SCUBA diving in South Africa, Jess was fulfilling her dreams as a true adventurer, a student and passionate sportswoman. In the midst of her dreams unfolding, Jess was informed she had Conjunctival Ocular Melanoma: a very rare and aggressive form of cancer.  Despite returning to Australia, home to some of the...

Send us Fan Mail In April of 2020, just a month into the Pandemic, the province of Nova Scotia experienced one of the most traumatic and devastating events in its history.  A single gunman Gabriel committed multiple shootings over two days, killing 22 people and set fires at 16 locations.   In this episode Karen Dean shares her experience of losing one of her closest friends in the shooting, and w...

Send us Fan Mail Naomi Mwaura is someone who is not content to be a bystander, but willing to spearhead an initiative for change.  As the Founder of Flone Initiative, Naomi and her team are working to a create a safe and professional public transport industry in Kenya.  Growing up in a family of matatu owner/operators Naomi has the courage to take chances, the wisdom to ask the community what they...

Send us Fan Mail In November 2019, Kerri Cryderman unexpectedly lost her sister, who was her best friend and roommate. What started out as a routine evening ended in her sister’s unexplained death in their family home. Less than three months after returning to work, COVID-19 escalated, it was suggested that Kerri work from home - the very place where her sister passed away. As an executive leader...

Send us Fan Mail Joining us for this episode is Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, considered to be the #1 international expert on resilience.  It is Dr. Stejskal’s mission to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people through the concepts of resilience by 2030. Leveraging over a decade and a half of original research on resilience, Dr. Stejskal reveals her empirically based framework, The Five Practi...

Send us Fan Mail Having lived with debilitating anxiety for a number of years, Joe Bakhmoutski did not anticipate he would also have to face testicular cancer.  Joe admits his cancer experience led him through the lowest depths of misery and pain to eventually forge a closer bond with his family.   Author of “Simplify Cancer” & “Finding Hope in Times of Uncertainty”, Joe has made it his missio...

Send us Fan Mail Rephar Salamba lives in Nairobi, Kenya and is a mother to her 16 year old son.  Sharing her experience of leaving an abusive marriage, and the key elements that have enabled her to find herself once again, Rephar has a story of strength, determination and resilience.   Remembering one of the lowest and most desperate times in her life, Rephar candidly reveals how despairing her th...

Send us Fan Mail Lisa Strogal is a Master Certified Coach, CEO and founding principal of Shadow Light Consulting Inc.  With a long list of accomplishments, certifications, and corporate experience, Lisa has developed programs for leadership development, and coaching curriculums leveraged in community, organization, team and individual transformations.  Shining a light on some of the significant li...

Send us Fan Mail Kaleb Dahlgren is a #1 Bestselling Author with his recent memoir Crossroads - sharing his story of tragedy and resilience as a Humboldt Bronco.  After losing 16 members of his Broncos family and surviving the tragic crash, he continued to give back and help the community of Humboldt heal.  Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of four, Kaleb was told by his hockey coaches and...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Cindy Thompson is speaking with Kim Wilkinson, a mother and a Grief Recovery Specialist.  Losing her 22 yr old son Tristan to a drug Overdose in November 2019, Kim would suggest it is through this journey that she discovered healing, recovery and transformation.  With a passion for learning, Kim shares her experience with personal and family Mental Health challenge...

Send us Fan Mail Karen Alcantara is a support worker in the anti-violence sector, supporting women and gender diverse individuals who are healing from various life experiences. She has worked in the housing sector in the Downtown East Side, is currently employed at WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women) Rape Crisis Centre in Vancouver and is part of an advisory committee for the UN Women’s i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Cindy Thompson is speaking with Shannon Bergstrom about her long-standing pattern of perfectionism, people pleasing and other idealistic expectations that did not serve her well.  Responding intuitively as a pre-teen following the death of her younger sister, Shannon found a way to keep the peace and internalize her feelings. A proud educator, wife and mother, Shan...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I have the privilege of speaking with Katie Bergman a writer and social justice advocate who is very curious about the interplay between inner wellbeing and social change.    Katie has devoted the last 10 years of her career to the non-profit sector, specializing in human trafficking interventions. She has worked with teams around the world, contributing to project...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we are hearing from Santiago Dominguez, a 24-year-old young man diagnosed with high functioning Autism.   Santiago provides a window into the significant learning curve associated with his school experiences, complex peer relationships, and a desperate desire to feel understood.  Find out why every day felt like a war, and the healing process associated with re-le...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we are honouring the story of intergenerational trauma as well as one of intergenerational resilience. Henry McKay is a father and fourth year Social Work student at the University of Manitoba.  Speaking from his experience with childhood trauma, abuse, poverty, oppression, drug dealing, and street gang involvement, Henry shares critical elements that helped him tr...

Send us Fan Mail Reflecting on her journey through healing,  Carys Cragg shares her experience of meeting the man who murdered her father.  Carys' first book, titled “Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father”, tells the story of her correspondence and meeting with the incarcerated man who murdered her father when she was 11 years old. It was a Globe & Mail Best 10...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Jim Pearce is sitting down with us to reflect on pivotal events in his life.  It isn’t possible to arrive at 70 years of age and not have some interesting stories or life experiences to draw on.  Find out how a workplace accident at 17 years of age, informed Jim on how to navigate his current battle with Leukemia, and his secret to maintaining a positive attitude....

Send us Fan Mail Lynnsay Scollon is joining us for a vulnerable and authentic reflection on her journey as a first-year student at the University of Victoria.  Discover how a number of seemingly benign circumstances can add up to create the perfect storm, and what Lynnsay discovered about herself in the process.   Shining a light on mental illness and the very seductive way it can undermine one’s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Karen Huebert-Sanchez and Ricky Sanchez talk about finding meaning and purpose while serving the community of Thailand and the valuable lessons they have learned about resilience as they create loving homes for children living with HIV/AIDS.    Karen knew from the time she was 8 years old that she would one day start an orphanage.  Over the past 20 years Ricky and...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we are talking with Dr. Kirk Austin about his new book titled Buoyancy:  Building Resilient Kids.  With a wealth of experience working with complex trauma in children & youth, Dr. Austin dives into why it is important for our kids to understand their emotions, the physical responses related to  stress and strategies for growing their resilience.   Building on t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Rob de Toni and Heather Emmerzael talk about making big courageous shifts in career and life.  Despite having very successful careers, Rob as a litigation lawyer and Heather as a Registered Nurse found they were in full burn-out.  With a great reminder that even though we have realized a dream or career, it is ok to re-evaluate whether it is making you happy.  Rob...