The MRSA PD Committee is pleased to present the following sessions continuing on this year’s theme of Resilience. See the speaker brochure for more information and reserve your spot today!
April 18 Session Sign-Up:
Sign up for Andrea Holwegner’s session! presenting Meal Prep & Planning for Busy People
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 9:30 am to 11 am (virtual)
Registered Dietitian Andrea Holwegner (“The Chocoholic NutritionistTM”) is founder and owner of Health Stand Nutrition Consulting Inc. since 2000. She leads a team of professional Dietitians that help empower people to create a healthy and joyous relationship with food and their body. She is an online nutrition course creator, professional speaker and regular guest in the media. Andrea is the recipient of an award by the Dietitians of Canada: The Speaking of Food & Healthy Living Award for Excellence in Consumer Education. In her spare time, she enjoys skiing, mountain biking and sipping wine with her husband over a delicious meal. Most of all, she loves being a mom and playing in the dirt in the vegetable garden she grows with her son. Visit www.HealthStandNutrition.com for her latest TV segments, articles and healthy recipes on her award-winning blog and popular weekly nutrition newsletter. Find Andrea on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter @chocoholicRD
Sign up for Leda Stawnchyko’s session! presenting Leading Self: Fostering Personal Resilience in the Post-Pandemic University
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 11 am to 12 pm (virtual)
Dr. Leda Stawnychko is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organizational Theory at Mount Royal University’s Bissett School of Business. Her research interests include leadership effectiveness and development, organizational performance, and transformative learning. Before joining MRU, she spent over 20 years as an administrative staff member at the University of Calgary. She draws on her extensive personal and professional experiences to demonstrate how adversity can be used to create new opportunities for renewal and self-transformation.
Sign up for Lee Coverly’s first session! presenting Barre
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 12 to 1 pm (Room U155)
This class will offer high energy, tempo specific music, and will focus on glutes and low back with a quick couple sets with dumbbells for arms. Lee was one of the first students to complete MRU’s PFT diploma, and has since gone on to pursue a fulfilling fitness coaching career. She spent time as a Health and Wellness Manager for Holland America Cruise Ships, working with clients from around the globe. She then travelled to India to live and study Ashtanga yoga for 3 months, followed by 10 years of teaching in Maui. Lee has also run her own corporate wellness company for 19 years, which allowed her to work with busy executives and semi-retired athletes from track and field, hockey, and volleyball teams. Lee loves to work with clients who want to work harder but smarter, believing that fitness should be fun but challenging. She lives by the saying “train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don’t want to”, quoted from Richard Branson.
Sign up for Gabrielle Lindstrom’s session! presenting Beyond Indigenous Awareness and Competencies Training: Centering Indigenous Relationality in Professional Development
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 1 to 2 pm (virtual)
This session will establish how current Indigenous cultural competency and awareness training approaches are often insufficient to address the overall lack of meaningful and authentic understandings of Indigenous people on the part of non-Indigenous peoples working in healthcare, education and social serving systems. Dr. Gabrielle E. Lindstrom, Tsa’piinak,i is a member of the Kainai Nation, Blackfoot Confederacy. An Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies with Mount Royal University, her teaching background includes instructing on topics around First Nation, Métis, and Inuit history and current issues, Indigenous Studies (Canadian and International perspectives), Indigenous cross-cultural approaches, and Indigenous research methods and ethics. Her dissertation research focused on the interplay between trauma and resilience in the postsecondary experiences of Indigenous adult learners. Other research interests include meaningful assessment in higher education, Indigenous homelessness, intercultural parallels in teaching and learning research, Indigenous lived experience of resilience, Indigenous community-based research, parenting assessment tools reform in child welfare, anti-colonial theory, and anti-racist pedagogy.
Sign up for James MacTavish’s first session! presenting Starting your Investment Journey
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 2 to 3 pm (virtual)
James is a Senior Advisor of Investor Education at the Alberta Securities Commission. He leads investor and consumer education initiatives designed to help Albertans strengthen their investment literacy and protect themselves from investment fraud. Before joining the ASC, James worked for nearly a decade in the rapidly changing technology space, delivering communications and marketing campaigns for global technology companies.
April 19 Session Sign-Up:
Sign up for Janet Arnold’s session! presenting Resilience and Secure Bases: Recognizing Your Resources and How They Help You Navigate Challenging Times
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 9 to 10 am (J301: Lincoln Park Room)
A secure base provides us with a sense of safety and caring. It can also be a source of inspiration and daring which inspires us to take risks and seek out challenges. John Bowlby originated the term as it relates to attachment theory with regard to the relationship between a child and a caregiver. The new model expands the definition of secure bases enabling us to strengthen our awareness of the vast array of support we each have to navigate challenges. This session is designed to help you identify your secure bases and recognize your ability to use them even though you may never have known they existed!
Sign up for the Indian Residential School Survivors Society session with John Jones and Yvonne Rigsby-Jones! presenting Coming Full Circle
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 10 to 11 am (virtual)
Join John Jones and Yvonne Rigsby-Jones for this interactive presentation which focuses on the lived experiences of a survivor of Indian Residential School, which will be mostly an oral presentation.The Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS) is a provincial organization providing essential services to residential school survivors/students, their families and loved ones, and Indigenous people experiencing intergenerational trauma.
The IRSSS has been serving First Nations people in B.C. since 1994, just ten years after the last Indian residential school closed in the province. Recently, the IRSSS has supported students and survivors with triggering and distressing situations, including the uncovering of unmarked graves at Indian residential schools across the province and nation, while providing emotional and spiritual support as needed.
The ever-changing and growing team at the IRSSS also provides dedicated and specialized services to support people, families and communities affected by Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). In addition, the IRSSS supports intergenerational survivors (aged 12-18) who are in the criminal justice system who seek culture as well as support with building healthy relationships.
Sign up for Bryan Miller’s session! presenting People First: How Higher Education Institutions Could Benefit From a Human-Centered Leadership Approach
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 11am -12pm (J301: Lincoln Park Room)
Join Bryan Miller for this presentation with a focus on support staff of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). We will explore how a human centered approach would be beneficial to addressing the common issues that appeared in the research surrounding HEIs.
Sign up for Lana Asuchak’s session! presenting Pilates Fit
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 12pm – 12:45pm (Room U155)
Lana Asuchak is an empowering and passionate champion for personal and professional change. She is an expert in Health and Wellness, and a successful fitness consultant. Lana has her Masters of Arts in Exercise Psychology, her Bachelor of Physical Education, and various certifications as a fitness expert. Lana is a proven and articulate expert and speaker on matters relating to stress, health and fitness. Her mission is to help people integrate vitality and energy into their lives so they not only look and feel great, but live a healthier and more active lifestyle. She discovered fitness at 16, and fell in love with it and has dedicated her life to her passion for fitness from teaching, training, and educating others to live their best life. She does have weaknesses for morning mochas, red wine and exercise.
Sign up for Nicola McCrabbe’s session! presenting Better Resilient People, One Habit at a Time
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 2 to 3pm (virtual)
When stress is all around us, it can seem normal to feel overwhelmed and stressed. We live in a world of instability and uncertainty. The challenge, of course, is figuring out when to intervene, that is when to make a change before we burn out. Unfortunately, we often crash feet-first into burnout and only know once we get there; then, it’s too late. The result can be a long recovery with lost productivity and revenue for ourselves and our organization. In this session, learn from a past MRU instructor, author and professional leadership coach where you are in the stress-burnout continuum and how to live a sustainable life today so that we can thrive tomorrow. Come on an adventure, be prepared to experiment, laugh a little, and learn new habits to be more resilient.
April 20 Session Sign-Up:
Sign up for Jessica Janzen’s session! presenting The Hard Work of Joy
Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 10 to 11 am (virtual)
The last two years threw us all some curve balls, to say the least. Jessica helps businesses & individuals move forward and build a stronger tomorrow by empowering the audience to overcome adversity, build resiliency (the foundation of joy) and help them step into their most authentic self. Today we are all faced with the ever changing landscape of challenges, roadblocks and poor mindsets that hinder us from moving forward to be the most successful, empowered versions of ourselves. What we have done to survive we can not make permanent. Jessica knows this to be true. After overcoming unspeakable tragedy and feeling completely stuck, Jessica decided she didn’t want to be in survival mode a minute longer. She used her pain as rocket fuel to create the change she desired and to build a life full of abundance and joy. Through her work, Jessica knows how to break through barriers, and roadblocks to make a massive impact for more joy in business and everyday living. We can no longer wait. We must take action to step out of survival mode and start thriving. The audience will leave feeling energized and inspired to take her playbook and apply it to their own lives and move forward confidently.
Sign up for Prasamsa Thapa’s session! presenting Embrace your Inner Dancer with Nepali Tunes for Fitness
Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 11 am to 12 pm (virtual)
A beginner-level dance fitness session in Nepali music.
Prasamsa Thapa is an active volunteer at the Nepalese communities based in Calgary. She has been part of multiple capacity-building and community outreach programs. She is passionate about dance and mainly does Nepali and Bollywood dances. She is a certified BollyX instructor as well. Professionally, she works at the City of Airdrie as Senior GIS Specialist. She holds a Master of Science degree in Geography from the University of Calgary.
Sign up for Lee Coverly’s second session! presenting Yoga
Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 12 to 1 pm (Room U155)
This class will offer a gentle flow of movements linked together with breath to create a practice that can be enjoyed by most everyone. There will be a focus on breathe, movement, strength, and body/ breath awareness.
Sign up for James MacTavish’s second session! presenting DIY Investing Fundamentals
Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 1 to 2 pm (virtual)
Sign up for Mark Tewksbury’s session! presenting Going the Distance: Finding Ways Forward No Matter What the Circumstances
Thursday, April 20, 2023 from 2 to 3 pm (virtual)
Over 35 years, Mark Tewksbury has had many roles in the Olympic movement; athlete, champion, Chef de mission, Vice President and even critic. In this presentation, Mark will share his insights on themes of resiliency; what are the secrets to getting through, no matter what the challenge.Mark Tewksbury first came to prominence as a record-breaking backstroke swimmer. His sixteen-year athletic career included 21 national titles, 7 world records, Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals, and a cover appearance in TIME magazine. When he publicly came out in 1998, Mark was one of the first openly gay Olympic Champions in the world and has been a leader with the global 2SLGBTQ+ movement ever since. In 2019, he was awarded a Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for his work in gender inclusion and sexual diversity. In 2020, Mark was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 2022, Mark represented Canada as part of the Honours Procession at Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral. Mark is currently Vice President of the Canadian Olympic Committee.