Photo credit: Pavel Fiala
MHWFA hosts regular guest speakers, all mental health professionals who are speaking to topics relevant to wilderness or remote areas. These online live events are an awesome way to network with others in the industry as well as access and learn directly from a variety of experts in the mental health field.
Views expressed are the guest speakers' own and may or may not reflect the views of MHWFA.

Rich Parlee
​Pastor, Elder, and storyteller -- Ucluelet, B.C.
May 9, 2023

Talking to God in the wilderness: 
​spirituality and mental health

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A child of the backwoods, Rich trained in a small Missions School in Saskatchewan to learn how to read and teach the Bible. His first posting was Esperanza, a tiny Hospital among the Nu Cha Nulth villages and frontier industries.  Recognizing his career limitations, he enrolled in University of Calgary, joyfully returning to the West Coast to Ucluelet as a school teacher and pastor of a small town church in 1966 (back when there was only a winding gravel road).  By 1970 he helped found Tofino Bible Fellowship, and served remote communities up and down the rugged Pacific West Coast, travelling by boat, plane (and sometimes, canoe!) for 25 years.  After 1995 Rich took a long sabbatical in house church format in Ukee, returning in 2011 to Christ Community Church, where he currently serves as an elder.  Rich's passion is the Life of Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, and enjoys recreational reading and time on the water with his wife Adrienne.

Rich is a fantastic pastor, musician, and storyteller (and he conducted Daye's wedding in 2020).  During this event, he will speak to us about: 
  • What is the connection between spiritual health and mental health?
  • Why is it that so many historical and Biblical figures have gone out in to the wilderness to talk to God?
  • How has Rich served the spiritual and mental health of the remote communities he has worked with throughout his life's work?
  • How can we build spiritual wellness opportunities when we are out in remote areas?
  • Rich will also offer his perspective on how to make prayer a more accessible part of our wellness practice.
​Video coming soon!

Jess Cumming, M.A., C.C.C.
​Clinical counsellor, eating disorders specialist
APRIL 27, 2023

Supporting clients with disordered eating
In the Field

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Jess Cumming is a therapist at Thrive Downtown Counselling in Vancouver BC. She graduated with her Masters in Counselling Psychology from the University of Victoria in 2018. Jess's areas of interest include disordered eating, trauma and incorporating spirituality into therapy. Utilizing models such as Emotion Focused Therapy and Internal Family systems, she aims to provide a safe and supportive environment for clients to explore and deepen their relationship with their authentic selves. 

Supporting Clients with Disordered Eating in the Field discusses awareness of and recognizing eating disorders with a focus on backcountry settings, providing non-shaming support, and setting participants and ourselves up for success. 

Judy North, M.A.
Remote area crisis & suicide intervention specialist
February 21, 2023

Suicide intervention training, hope for remote areas: a brief overview

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Video Coming Soon
A past suicide attempt survivor herself, Judy North has incorporated her MA in Counselling and Psychology with 25 years of crisis intervention worker to provide empathic, wholistic, compassionate, practical, and life-sustaining suicide and crisis intervention and postvention support.  She has recently worked as a Livingworks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training facilitator, and as a consultant and crisis response expert, for remote area communities along the west coast of Vancouver Island.  Her clinical positions have included assisting children, youth, families, Aboriginal and remote communities in BC, Alberta and Ontario.  She offers private consultation and training regarding suicide intervention and postvention, and critical incident stress debriefings.

Suicide Intervention Training, Hope for Remote Areas – A Brief Overview will discuss recognizing warning signs and how to open a conversation with someone who may be suicidal. The importance of listening, determining degree of crisis, and safety planning within rural and remote communities will also be addressed in this brief interactive presentation, followed by a time for questions and answers.
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Click here for suicide and mental health resources. 
​Judy can be reached at J.NorthConsulting@gmail.com.

Sarah Coulter
Admissions Coordinator, Outward Bound Canada
February 8, 2023

ASKING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS: WHY WE SHOULD INCLUDE MENTAL HEALTH DURING PRE-TRIP SCREENING 

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​Asking the Tough Questions: Why we should include mental health during pre-trip screening will discuss the importance of including questions about mental health during pre-trip screening, and how Outward Bound Canada uses it as a form of risk management. We'll talk about the why, when and how of asking difficult and personal questions as it relates to a participant's mental health, and give some examples of when this has made a significant impact in our field practices. 
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Sarah has been working with youth since being a camp counselor at an overnight summer camp in Ontario since 2013. Taking a keen interest in outdoor education and the mental health and wellbeing of young people, she has found an intersection of her passions at Outward Bound Canada. As an Admissions Coordinator, she works closely with youth and their families to prepare them for the physical and mental challenges they will face on an Outward Bound program. 

Kennedy Lewis, M.A., C.C.C.
September 12, 2022

What do we mean by "self-care", anyway?  The neurology of "self-care" for frontline workers, from a trauma counsellor

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Kennedy is a clinical counsellor who runs a program called "Extraordinary Workers", providing counselling and workshops to frontline workers who encounter trauma in the field.
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She invites us to: "Have a discussion with a trauma counsellor about what the **** self care actually is, and how we can hack the nervous system to emotionally regulate. I will be talking about the physiological mechanisms that make up the stress response, to increase your knowledge of your own nervous system, to make the most out of your self care practices in the field. We will also address common barriers to self care and how to navigate through them."

Speaker bio: Kennedy Lewis is a trauma therapist with a Master's in Counselling from the University Victoria, currently practicing in Vancouver, BC. Alongside her private practice, Kennedy founded and developed Extraordinary Workers to help support workers on the front lines cope with the trauma exposed environments they are employed in. As a former support worker herself, Kennedy was able to see gaps in relevant and substantial care, leading to her unique programming.  Extraordinary Workers has been in operation for 3 years engaging the support worker community all over BC, offering workshops, groups and trainings in a variety of settings.

Kennedy approaches the topic of resiliency by addressing how the entire workplace functions to mitigate the effects of trauma exposures on staff. Believing that when workers are properly supported to cope with their job demands, they can stay longer in their roles and build the relationships with clients that are often so necessary to healing and stabilization. Kennedy's message to support workers is simple: I see the valuable work you do; I see that you carry communities on your shoulders; you deserve support, solidarity and access to information that can aid your ability to sustain your work and life.

Kate Pinsonneault, M.A., R.C.C.
Tuesday, May 17 2022

MANAGING DUAL RELATIONSHIPS
​IN SMALL COMMUNITIES AND WORK CAMPS

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What is tricky about being in a dual relationship with someone? One where you have two different roles -- say you're their guide, co-worker, teacher, water taxi driver, or supervisor -- AND you provide them a listening ear through a hard time one day. What if you have to give them some tough feedback the following week? Or what if you're a sounding board for their family woes, and you're also on a work crew with their cousin?

Our upcoming guest speaker, Kate Pinsonneault, is a clinical counsellor and supervisor with decades of experience in everything from clinical trauma healing to infant mental health (yes, it's a thing!). Kate has also spent much of her life living on a boat and working in small, remote communities such as the float-home village of Echo Bay, B.C.

Jobs are often seasonal in remote communities, and Kate knows what it means to juggle various roles from working as the Stewardship Coordinator overseeing salmon restoration programs, to running the Echo Bay general store pumping marine gas, cooking for a tree planting company, and being the special needs teacher at the one room school.  Kate understands what it's like to be part of a remote community that is rugged, resilient, and also has some particular vulnerabilities.  "If you’re hurt and there's weather, you’re not getting out and the helicopter's not coming in. As a community you become resilient through being interdependent on each other."

Join us Tuesday May 17th for a LIVE interactive presentation & discussion on navigating "dual relationships" in the field:
  • Risks and benefits to dual relationships
  • Changing "hats"
  • Times and places to offer support
  • Strategies for setting “Gentle boundaries"
  • Skills to wrap up a supportive conversation.​​

Tara Souch, M.A., R.C.C., C.C.C.
Thursday, April 21 2022

ACCESSING NATURE & natural cycles
​AS HEALING PARTNERs in outdoor practice

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Tara is a veteran wilderness guide and clinical counsellor working out of Ucluelet, B.C., and specializing in grief, loss, and nature-based therapy.  This workshop is an opportunity to explore ways we can incorporate nature-based healing practices into any outdoor activity.  Accessing nature as a healing partner allows for creative, spontaneous and unique self-generated insights and thus deepens the conversations around the healing journey. Nature, whether it be in a vast wilderness or a city park, is accessible to every person, and building nature-connection remains available to us as a resource throughout the lifespan.  This workshop will share specific exercises and activities that can be used with clients and for ourselves personally or professionally.

Jeremy Addleman, M.A., C.C.C.
March 30 2022

​RESILIENCE & RECOVERY:  THE POWER OF NATURE ​TO AID IN HEALING TRAUMA
FROM A SOMATIC PSYCHOTHERAPY PERSPECTIVE

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Jeremy is a trauma therapist at Point the Way Counselling in Victoria, B.C., specializing in somatic psychotherapy, looking at trauma and healing through the body and nervous system.  "In this workshop I provide information on how to use principles of somatic psychotherapy, in combination with the natural world, to build resilience and aid trauma recovery while out on the land.  Together, we will examine brief ideas of the nervous system and how using mindfulness and somatic psychotherapy concepts and practices in nature can help when dealing with stress and trauma in other situations in life, as well as in the field."

Mental Health & Resilience After the Marshall Fire
by Daye cooper hagel
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Sunday, March 6th, 2022 4pm-6pm Mountain Time (​3pm-5pm pacific)

Click image to view more event information & resources -- for those affected by the Colorado Marshall Fire.

Joelle Prevost, M.C.P., R.C.C.
sunday, february 13th, 2022

​The conversation guide

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Joelle is a clinical counsellor and author.  She works in private practice online in British Columbia, specializing in communication, trauma, and anxiety.  In November 2021 she published the book, The Conversation Guide. 

Join Joelle February 13th (in honour of Valentine's Day and Family Day) for an interactive presentation about boundaries - what they are, why we need them, how to have conversations about them, and why we avoid these conversations!  We will also discuss difficult conversations in general, how to structure them, and why it's important to have them.

​Sarah Hagar, M.Ed., R.C.C.
​November 3, 2021

The Neuroanatomy of Trauma and Healing in Outdoor Pursuits

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Why are people often naturally drawn to outdoor activities like skateboarding, surfing, treeplanting, and paddling, that offer rhythmic movement and relationship-building in nature?  
Sarah Hagar, M.Ed. is a former veteran treeplanter and Registered Clinical Counsellor with a keen interest in healing and preventing trauma for children, youth and families.  With training in neuroscience and the belief that we are drawn to what heals us, Sarah will offer a conversation that explores why we function the way we do, the neurobiology of natural healing activities outdoors, and will empower you towards doing more of what makes you feel whole.  
Join us November 3rd, 2021 to hear Sarah speak about nature as a healing place and lifestyle as the therapy.

​Michael McCarthy,
​counsellor & cultural wellness worker
​October 6, 2021

Reclaiming ancestral knowledge in modern times

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Michael McCarthy, a Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ and Hesquiaht First Nations member, is a clinical counsellor and regional coordinator at Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC).  An accomplished public speaker, Michael thrives in the intersection of western psychotherapy and traditional cultural healing teachings -- "What my Granny taught me".  As an NTC coordinator, Michael has frequently guided Daye Cooper Hagel and other mental health clinicians in weaving traditional and western mental health teachings -- "walking in two worlds".  In this spirit and time of Truth and Reconciliation, what does each mode of healing have to offer the other?  

Read more and view Michael's full talk in honour of Orange Shirt Day on our Blog page, or below.
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