Selfcare as Stewardship: sustaining wellness through challenge, uncertainty and change

Christine is an Associate Professor, and Department Head of Child, Youth, and Family Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. She has been a Certified Child Life Specialist for 35 years, and has been presenting at our conferences for the same period of time, first with ACCH and CLC and now ACLP. Christine has participated on numerous committees and has served on the CLC board as the Canadian Liaison. She proudly participated in CLC’s Vision-to-Action initiative. Previously she was the Director of Child Life at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, and has been employed as a Child and Youth Care Counselor, and as a nurse in psychiatry/mental health. Christine teaches the Child Life and Community Health course as the foundation for the Child Life Specialization and is faculty liaison for the Child Life Internship. Most recently she created a Graduate Certificate Program in Child Life and Community Health. Christine holds a Certificate in Appreciative Inquiry Facilitation and is a Certified Trainer of the Appreciative Leadership Development Program. She is skilled in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. Christine developed and teaches the Wellness and Mindfulness-Based Practices course which is required in the CYC degree program and is open to students across the university. She completed a series of research projects exploring mindfulness-based practices and contemplative pedagogy in both the K-12 and university settings, and teaches the Introduction to MBSR and neurobiology of mindfulness regularly on campus and in the community. Christine has completed the Labyrinth Facilitator training through Veriditas and hosts labyrinth workshops for children, youth and adults across diverse settings.