Our Team

---

Founder and Director, A Centre for Conscious Care

• Over 35 years of Human & Health Services’ organization & leadership development to facilitate effective, conscious and compassionate care and support;
• University of Toronto, Continuing Studies, Instructor;
• International Mindfulness Facilitator in Canada, USA and Mexico since 1993;
• Co-Founder, Director and/or Consultant to twenty Autism/DD and mental health services systems throughout Ontario;
• Former Social and Health-Care Services development consultant serving over twenty First Nations communities across Ontario and the Yukon;
• Former Regional Director of Addiction Research Foundation;
• Former CEO of EAP Institute of Canada.

Senior Consultant, A Centre for Conscious Care

• Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario
• 20+ years of experience working with children, adults and their families;
• For the last 15 years, has worked with a service provider in developmental services in various roles including direct support and in positions of management including support services, staff development and project management;
• With her education in counselling, developmental psychology, sociology and health sciences, Adriana deeply values using a comprehensive approach while providing quality support to people and families. 
• She is a true believer that all of us are interdependent and that we each carry a responsibility to help one another be the best we can. 

Senior Consultant, A Centre for Conscious Care

Xavier is the former Executive Director of Community Living Windsor, an organization that provides supports to over 600 people who have an intellectual disability and their families in the Windsor community.  Xavier retired in 2020 after 30 years and has been working with people and families since 1981.  From 2003 to 2020, Xavier also led the work of Capacita, a special volunteer project providing medical aid to children with disabilities and their families in Nicaragua.

In 2018, Xavier was a founding board member of Microboards Ontario, a provincial organization that is committed to promoting and supporting the development of microboards across Ontario through education, advocacy and support to people and communities. He remains involved today as a volunteer board member.

Xavier believes strongly in the importance of respectful and ethical leadership and the benefits that it provides on both a personal and organizational level.

Senior Consultant, A Centre for Conscious Care

• 15 years experience as an elementary school teacher, a fitness program consultant and a life skills coach and trainer;
• Gareth has many years of experience not only working with and supporting people who have autism and other developmental disabilities, but also mentoring teams who provide support. 

Senior Consultant and Mindfulness Facilitator, A Centre for Conscious Care

• 20 years of teaching students with a wide range of abilities;
• A certified elementary school teacher with additional experience in advocating with children with special needs and their families with other community professionals;
• Coordinated many of the resources for the writing of the Conscious Care and Support and the Conscious Classroom textbooks.

Senior Consultant, A Centre for Conscious Care

• 20 plus years working with youth and adults with serious mental health challenges and Intellectual disabilities;
• Last 15+ years, has worked with a service provider for adults in residential settings. Has held various positions including direct support, manager in services, transitional aged youth, and community partnerships;
• Over the past few years focus has been primarily staff development including, competencies, compassion, resilience, and mindful emotional self-regulation and awareness;
• Various certifications including Instructor of Beyond Silence-Mental Health Champions in the Workplace (PHSA);
• Shawn loves to be in nature (whether it’s a hike in the forest, wading in a river, or standing in awe during a Lake Huron sunset) and his hobby is writing poetry; mostly about the beauty we can see, the awareness of unseen beauty, and the connections in between.

 Senior Consultant, A Centre for Conscious Care 

Peter has been learning from people with disabilities since 1983.   Peter is a consultant, facilitator, listener, learner, improviser, and speaker who focuses on personalized supports and community membership for people with disabilities. 

He also writes and sings songs about human serviceland and those who find themselves connected to it.

Peter conducts workshops, develops training materials, writes songs, speaks and sings at conferences, and works with organizations, government agencies, families, and paid supporters to promote positive support, inclusion, building healthy relationships, and thinking differently about people who are called “challenging.”