About Me
I've been fortunate to have had many interesting opportunities throughout my life. Key experiences that have shaped my practice and leadership philosophy include......
Travelling with Up with People. After graduating from high school, I travelled for a year with Up with People (www.upwithpeople.org). Through travel and cultural immersion, UWP provides students with an international education and a passageway to see the world. I was, 19, away from home for the first time, and travelling with 150 other students from 24 different countries. We stayed in host families in Turkey, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, the United States and The Netherlands. What I learned about teamwork, leadership, philanthropy and self-awareness was irreplaceable.
While in graduate school for Applied Social Psychology at the University of Windsor, I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of the ATHENA Scholarship Award. ATHENA International (www.athenafoundation.org) is a worldwide organization dedicated to opening doors of leadership opportunity for women. My experience with ATHENA afforded me an education in leadership, particularly women's leadership, that has continued to influence the decisions that I make, the work that I take on and the things that I value.
In 2007 I completed my PhD in Applied Social Psychology. My dissertation looked at how organizations support their employees’ work-life balance, and whether or not doing so leads to more committed, satisfied and less conflicted employees.
In 2008, I was honoured to be recognized as one of Guelph’s Top 40 Under 40 making a difference in the community. (click here) The Senior Management Team at Guelph General Hospital nominated me in recognition of the work that I did as Director of Organizational Development.
As well as the work that I do with Chantal R. Thorn, Phd Consulting, I am also the Director of Organizational Development, Employee Health Services and Patient Relations at Guelph General Hospital.
I've been doing this work for 11 years and I love what I do. I am incredibly fortunate that individuals and organizations trust me enough to allow me to participate in their growth processes. Whether I'm providing a training and education session on Service Excellence, offering leadership development support to a new manager, coaching an individual through a particularly challenging life change or providing a keynote about self-awareness and teamwork, the client and I are in a partnership to facilitate excellence. It's an honour to do this work and I am grateful!
Finally, I’m a vocalist. While I am available for typical events such as weddings, parties, conferences, conventions, holiday celebrations, etc., I have recently been enjoying incorporating singing into my consulting work. Sound strange? I urge you to think about this possibility. I'm finding the impact of song and music during keynotes and educational training programs to be quite great.
Thank you sincerely for taking the time to view my website and for considering me for whatever need you may have. I do look forward to hearing from you.
