Talk Tools' mandate is to train caregivers of all kinds the skills needed to talk about mental health and suicide in a safe, productive way, empowering individuals and saving lives. We offer workshops in the community for the general public as well as customized workshops for organizations looking to have their staff trained.

LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a standardized, two-day course which helps caregivers of all kinds recognize the signs of persons with thoughts of suicide. Throughout this workshop, participants are taught the Pathway for Assisting Life model which helps them to feel ready, willing and able to prevent persons with thoughts of suicide from acting on their thoughts. As an independent trainer of ASIST, I offer workshops across Ontario to various organizations and community members.

As part of my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, I am completing my practicum with Jennifer Rogers Psychotherapy. I work with clients ages 12+ from a person-centered, humanistic approach on issues including anxiety, depression, grief, relationship difficulties and life's general stressors.

Ancoura is a non-profit organization offering supportive housing for adults living with mental illness. As the Assistant Coordinator, I was responsible for overseeing two of seven of Ancoura's homes in Ottawa. My work involved weekly meetings with the residents of the homes and monthly meetings with the volunteers of the homes. During my weekly meetings, I would ensure residents are living to their fullest potential by supporting them in building life skills, medication adherence, seeking out social activities and ensuring their professional supports are in place and working together well to increase stability.

As the Manager of Volunteer Development and Support, I was responsible for training Crisis Line Responders on a variety of topics including Active Listening, Limits and Boundaries, Loss and Addiction, Mental Health, and Stress and Crisis. I was also responsible for overseeing Responders' probationary period as well as supervising placement students from Carleton University. In this position I excelled at multi-tasking, volunteer engagement, managing technology issues in the Centre and training new recruits.

As the Volunteer Resource Coordinator I was responsible for ensuring information pertinent to the Crisis Line Responder role was kept up to date and relevant, including resource referrals and client care plans. As well, I trained new Crisis Line Responders as part of the Centre's 60 hour training program, including LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.

In this role I acted as a support to the Director of Operations as well as the Director of Client Services. During the Community Relations Coordinator's maternity leave, I coordinated the Centre's advertising strategy for the year (including bus, radio and print ads) as well as their social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. As well I was responsible for organizing the Chocolate Affair Gala which is the Centre's annual fundraiser. We hosted 300 guests and raised approximately $23 000 in the year I was responsible for this event.