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Vision Statement
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BC Families in Transition is the province’s premier agency for all family members facing change and challenges in their relationships. BCFIT’s professional staff combines current knowledge with training to provide a wide range of caring, timely, and effective services.
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Mission Statement
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BC Families in Transition helps children, youth, and adults manage the challenges of separation, divorce, or transition to a new family structure. Our highly qualified staff, working with other community agencies, provides information and practical and emotional support so people facing these challenges can make the decisions that are best for everyone. BCFIT believes all individuals can find ways to move forward in their lives when family relationships have changed or are changing.
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Executive Director
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Richard Routledge, M.A., R.C.C. - Executive Director
Richard is a registered clinical counsellor with over 20 years of experience in counselling, therapy, and community rehabilitation, largely focused on family communication and family violence issues. Since 1985 he has provided counselling and therapy for women, men, couples, teens, families, and groups. He is an adjunct faculty member in the master’s degree program in Counselling Psychology at City University and also in the Certificate in Adult Continuing Education program at the University of Victoria. He has served throughout his career in various leadership capacities and has been a presenter and guest lecturer on topics such as post-traumatic stress, grief and recovery, family relationships, parenting, mental health, alcohol and drug addictions, sexual health issues, organizational behaviour, and conflict resolution. He served for two years on the Inquiry Committee of BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, and currently serves on the University of Victoria’s School of Social Work Community/Practice Advisory Committee as well as the steering committee for the Association of Family Serving Agencies. Richard is passionate about developing innovative programs and services, and joined the agency at the end of August 2005.
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Staff
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Pam Rudy, B.Ed., Legal Support Services Coordinator
Pam has been a central pillar of BC Families in Transition ever since December 1986. Beginning in 1988 she has served as a legal advocate responsible for the agency’s Legal Support Services program. She enhances her professional training annually by participating in advocacy conferences sponsored by the Law Foundation of BC and the Legal Services Society. She provides clients and the public with information about legal rights, responsibilities, and options, attends Family Court, assists with court preparation, and offers other forms of practical and emotional support. Additionally, Pam was the agency’s acting executive director throughout most of 2003, all of 2004, and most of 2005. She has proven an invaluable ‘backbone’ for the organization throughout her many years of dedicated service and since 2007 she has supervised a team of three other legal advocates in the Legal Support Services program.
Raji Goel, Dip. Office Admin., Executive Assistant
Raji was born in Calgary and moved to Victoria in 1991. He volunteered for several agencies, contributing both his computer skills and his general office skills. He first joined BC Families in Transition in 1994 as a volunteer. His computer expertise and endless creativity is seen everywhere in our office, as well as on agency brochures, funding proposals, brochures, and handouts. In 1996 he pursued his Diploma in Office Administration. He graduated in the spring of 1997 and was hired in the fall as the agency's first paid secretary/receptionist. His role in the agency has grown over the years and he is now responsible for numerous tasks, including providing the public with general information and referrals, supervising volunteers in office reception, creating handouts, assisting the executive director with proposals and reports, and handling the agency’s bookkeeping.
Paula Murphy, M.A. (Honours), R.C.C., Lead Counsellor/Facilitator
Paula began her work with BC Families in Transition as a practicum student in the “Caught in the Middle” program prior to becoming a full-time staff member in May 2006. During the past decade she has worked with various agencies as a counsellor and group facilitator with adults, couples, and children. At BC Families in Transition she provides individual, couple, and family therapy, developed the “Single Again Support Group,” and both coordinates and facilitates that program as well as the “Evolutions” group. Paula’s master’s thesis focused on women’s experiences of separation and divorce at midlife and she has a strong interest in exploring midlife issues from a Jungian perspective. She has specialized training in Jungian/analytical psychology and dream analysis, psychological trauma and interpersonal violence, and somatic transformation.
Sue Duffy, M.Ed., R.C.C., Counsellor/Facilitator
Sue has worked with BC Families in Transition for 3 years. She began with her practicum in the Counselling Psychology program at the University of Victoria, and then became a contract facilitator for the Caught in the Middle program. In 2005, the University of Victoria honoured her with a Blue and Gold Award for outstanding contributions to the community as a volunteer. Since September 2005 Sue has proven herself a vital and versatile staff member, serving as counsellor, program developer, and coordinator of multiple programs. She has an extensive background in community rehabilitation, including clinical work with high-risk youth and survivors of violence, and is most in her element when connecting with people. Currently her responsibility is specific to the Caught in the Middle program, sharing the coordination role with Jette Midtgaard.
Jette Midtgaard, M.Sc. (Clinical Psychology), Counsellor/Facilitator
Jette began with the agency as a clinical intern in February 2007, and was hired as a staff member 8 months later. She provides adult, couple, youth, and child counselling as well as group facilitation and program development for the agency. Together with Sue Duffy, she handles the task of coordinating the Caught in the Middle program. In addition to her growing role with BCFIT, she works part-time at a youth detox facility. Previously she has worked at the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre as a crisis line support worker and has been part of the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). She has also worked at CAFCA as an autism interventionist.
Hazel Loewen, M.A., R.S.W., Counsellor/Facilitator
Hazel began her connection to the counselling field as a volunteer at sexual assault centres in W\innipeg and Edmonton. For over 16 years she has worked as a trauma specialist in the area of sexualized violence and abusive relationships. Her keen personal and professional interests in parenting led her to become involved in teaching parenting education courses. She wrote her thesis on the experience of mothering for childhood sexual abuse survivors, facilitated groups for mothers whose children witnessed violence, and took training and supervision in family therapy. Hazel also branched out into the addictions counselling field and provided individual, couple, and group counselling for 7 years at an outpatient addiction agency. It was during this time that she began developing her leadership skills by providing clinical supervision and becoming involved in program development. Hazel has also worked as a public education coordinator in developing, writing, and delivering educational workshops, as well as presentations and seminars to the community in the areas of sexualized violence and mental health awareness. Most recently, she has trained in meditation and incorporates this perspective into her practice. Hazel is a member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and joined BC Families in Transition as a clinical intern in February 2007, before being hired part-time in October of that year.
John Ricker, M.A.
John joined BC Families in Transition as a clinical intern in September 2007, initially working with adults and couples and later also working with children and youth as well as providing program coordination. He completed his master's degree in counselling at Bastyr University in Seattle, focusing on systemic approaches to family therapy. Concurrently he fulfilled a practicum at Citizen's Counselling Centre in Victoria and pursued further studies in somatic experiencing and integrated body psychotherapy. He has taught yoga and meditation for many years, and has also lived and worked in diverse parts of the world including New Zealand, Peru, and both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. He is now working toward his designation as a registered clinical counsellor.
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Contractors
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Susan Grady, M.A., M.S.W. - Facilitator
Susan has 20 years of varied experience in counselling individuals, couples, families, and groups, and she has facilitated group counselling workshops for BC Families in Transition since 1998 chiefly in the Evolutions program. She has a strong interest in new ideas in the field and is passionate about theoretical and ideological issues. She currently works as a social worker for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Barbara Green, M.A. - Facilitator
Barbara has worked in human services for over 26 years, both in Canada and in Europe. She graduated from the University of Victoria with a B.A. in Human and Social Development and later from Royal Roads University with an M.A. in Leadership and Training. She is also a certified addictions counsellor. For most of her professional life she has served as a counsellor and group facilitator, and her clients have included children in care, youth at risk, families in crisis, couples, and inmates. Her first love is group facilitation with topics including addictions, parenting, anger management, behaviour change, money management, and life skills. Barbara has been an enthusiastic facilitator in the Parenting with a New Partner program for 2.5 years, and in the Building Healthy Relationships workshop series for 2 years.
Donnarose Law, B.A., B.Ed. - Facilitator
Donnarose graduated from Simon Fraser University with a B.A. in Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in Education. She has more than 26 years of experience in youth and family work, and has been an important member of the team at BC Families in Transition for 11 years. She was as a staff member for most of this time, serving as a counsellor, group facilitator, and coordinator of programs including Evolutions, Caught in the Middle, and a Step-Parenting program. For the last few years she has worked on a contract basis, facilitating Parenting After Separation and both the children’s and the parents’ segments of Caught in the Middle. Prior to joining BC Families in Transition she facilitated single-parent groups for the Single Parent Resource Centre.
Helen Lennie, M.Ed., C.C.C. - Facilitator
Helen has a master’s degree from the University of Victoria in counselling psychology. She has over 25 years of experience in counselling, teaching, and personal growth work. While living in Los Angeles, she presented workshops on Adlerian perspectives on the parenting process. She has since been working in Victoria as a private practitioner, parent educator, and practicum supervisor, as well as a counsellor and teacher at elementary and middle schools. She has diverse experience in workshop facilitation, including in the areas of human development, conflict resolution, self-esteem, anger management, problem-solving, drug and alcohol education. Helen has worked with BC Families in Transition as a group facilitator for 7 years and is passionate about supporting families through transition.
Laura Luz, M.A., F.R.M., Comprehensive Mediator Candidate, Member of B.C. Mediator Roster - Legal Support Services
Laura joined BC Families in Transition in 2007 as a contractor in the Legal Support Services program. Prior to this, for 14 years she assisted and supported families in the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development’s child-protection system. During those years she participated in community boards and served as educator, spokesperson, and writer, as well as providing support for practitioners working with children and adults. In her final 7 years with MCFD she worked extensively with behaviourally challenging youth, young offenders, and the youth justice system. In 2003 she completed a masters degree in Organizational Leadership and Training at Royal Roads University. She then completed two certificate programs in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Management. After a practicum she certified as a national Family Relations Mediator (FRM) with Family Mediation Canada and also as a Child Protection Mediator at Seneca College in Toronto. She was accepted in 2007 to the BC Family Mediation Roster, and is currently pursuing full certification as a Comprehensive Mediator. Outside of BC Families in Transition she uses her conflict resolution skills in training, consulting, coaching, mediation, and program development.
Jacqueline Nikolejsin, M.Ed., R.C.C. Facilitator
Jacqueline completed her counselling psychology degree at the University of Victoria and first joined the agency as a clinical intern in January 2007. She now works full-time as the elementary school counsellor for Pacific Christian School, and serves as a contractor with BC Families in Transition in the Caught in the Middle program. She is keenly interested in issues pertaining to disabilities and their role in family life, and has several years of field experience in this area. Early in her internship she proposed a new group program focusing on these issues, and it is hoped she will facilitate such a group in the coming year. Some of her other professional involvements have included Victoria Hospice Society, Island Pastoral Services Association, and William Head Institution.
Susan Payne, M.Ed. - Facilitator
Susan completed a practicum with BC Families in Transition in 2007, as part of her master’s degree in counselling psychology at the University of Victoria. She began co-facilitating children’s groups for Caught in the Middle in September 2006 and has also worked with two children individually at the centre. She has proven a natural team member and brings with her several years of experience in working with children in care and special needs programs
Marie-Christine White - Certificate in Comprehensive Family Mediation, Dip. Business Administration - Legal Support Services
Marie-Christine has worked with the agency for 9 years—4 as a volunteer and 5 as a contractor—all in Legal Support Services. She now operates the agency’s toll-free Legal Support Hotline, providing consultation to the public in both English and French. In addition to her certificate in Business Administration from the University of Victoria, she completed a leadership-training program with Leadership Victoria. While taking this course, she had a vision for a community outreach program and, together with her team, implemented a program called “Squeals on Wheels” for young mothers. Between 2002 and 2006 she registered her mediation company and provided family mediation services for families in transition. Her employment history includes public relations and administration, and she has volunteered in numerous capacities including as a supervisor and facilitator with Rainbows and as an organizer for a 55+ group. Three years ago, she volunteered in Uganda by raising funds to build a kitchen in an orphanage.
Douglas Woodall, M.A., M.S.W. - Legal Support Services
Douglas earned a master’s degree in social work at McGill University in 1970, specializing in policy planning, community development, and administration. He has a certificate in Advanced Child Custody Mediation form the Haynes Mediation Institute of New York. He has completed diverse coursework in child and family welfare, public welfare, family mediation, arbitration, federal and provincial administrative law, advocacy, counselling and psychology, treatment issues in working with perpetrators of violence, intervention skills in multicultural group conflicts, curriculum design, etc. Some highlights of his career include co-founding the Victoria Family Violence Project and serving as its first Board chair, co-founding the Association of Family Serving Agencies of Victoria, and co-founding the group that evolved into the Women Against Violence in Relationships Coordinating Committee. He worked for many years as a social worker, district supervisor, and regional training coordinator for the BC Government before moving to the Law Centre Victoria where he was employed as a social worker and paralegal for 18 years. Doug volunteered with BC Families in Transition in 2005-2006, and in 2007 become a member of the agency’s Legal Support Services team.
Lionel Zelnicker, M.A., M.S.W. - Facilitator
Lionel graduated from McGill University in 1970 with an M.S.W. specializing in group-work practice. Since then he has served in a wide variety of family-service organizations, both in Canada and abroad. His major responsibilities have included individual and family therapy, group therapy, management, and supervision of professional social-work and child-care staff. In the last 16 years he has worked in private practice specializing in group therapy and providing various types of counselling, as well as training professional staff at various agencies in group-work methods and supervising graduate-level practicum students. He has served as a contractor with BC Families in Transition for 11 years, facilitating Parenting After Separation, Evolutions, and Caught in the Middle as well as training new facilitators.
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Counselling Interns
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Tamara Knott, M.A. (in progress) - Clinical Intern
Tamara volunteered for 5 years with Victoria Women’s Transition House, and currently works as a project manager in Vancouver. She commutes to Victoria to complete her internship, which is also the practicum component of her master’s degree in counselling psychology at City University in Vancouver. Tamara is keenly interested in family relationships; she provides individual and couple therapy as well as group co-facilitation for our centre. She uses primarily solution-focused and cognitive-behavioural frameworks, and will apply for certification as a registered clinical counsellor once she has completed her practicum requirements. She has been a clinical intern with BC Families in Transition since February 2007.
Laurie Truant, M.A., R.C.C. – Clinical Intern
Laurie is a registered clinical counsellor with more than 9 years of varied experience including addictions counselling, lifeskills counselling, and clinical work with adolescents and adults with eating disorders. She has practiced individual and group therapy with diverse client groups, designed and facilitated psycho-educational groups for adolescents and adults, and presented psychological workshops to the public. She has been working as a clinical intern with BC Families in Transition since January 2007.
Deborah Weis, M.A.,C.C.C. - Clinical Intern
Deborah has worked with BC Families in Transition as a clinical intern since February 2007, working with children and teens as well as with their parents. Over the past 21 years she has worked in a variety of settings and programs in the field of child and youth care, including in the areas of early childhood education, sexual abuse intervention, child and youth mental health, child protection, and counselling for children who witness abuse. She is currently employed as an outreach counsellor for Capital Families Association, working with children aged 0-5 years and their parents. As well as being a committed front-line worker, Deborah is interested in research and program development; her current research project is related to motherhood and the role of family support programs. During her internship she has provided both individual counselling and group facilitation, and has contributed to the development of new programs. She has recently applied for her designation as a registered clinical counsellor.
Jillian Mickelborough-Sugiyama, LL.B., M.A. (in progress)
Jillian has completed a practicum with BC Families in Transition, as part of her master’s degree in counselling psychology at Athabasca University. She has lived in Japan for over 18 years and brings with her a great deal of knowledge and experience in working with cultural diversity. She co-facilitated Evolutions in February 2008 and has been working with several individuals and some couples at the centre. Jillian is very interested in transitions as providing an opportunity for growth and development. The skills she brings from her previous career as a lawyer make her an excellent client advocate and problem-solver.
Maria Melo, M.F.S.S.
Maria is from Portugal and has spent a year in Victoria volunteering with BC Families in Transition, predominantly in the counselling team. While in Portugal she earned a licensing degree in social work in 1986 and a master’s degree in family and social systems in 1999. She is an experienced family therapist and family mediator. Beginning in 1990 she worked as a family justice counsellor in the Justice Ministry of Portugal, where her responsibilities included compiling child protection reports for court purposes; providing support to parents using conflict resolution techniques after separation/divorce; and providing supervised access.
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Board of Directors
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Jane Taylor Lee, M.A., C.C.C. - President
Bruce McGuigan, M.A. - Vice-President
Christina Dorsch, LL.B. - Secretary
Tom Dodge (Retired Businessman) - Treasurer
Susan Belford, M.A.
Ken Harper, M.A., M.Ed.
Paul MacRae, M.A.
Richard McGuigan, Ph.D.
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