Our Team

Meet our directors and administration team. Please contact the appropriate person if you need assistance with any aspect of Compassionate Inquiry®.

Dr. Gabor Maté

Executive Director

Gabor is the creator of the Compassionate Inquiry approach to psychotherapy.

  • Executive Director of Compassionate Inquiry and works alongside Sat Dharam Kaur, ND on the overall vision and long-term planning.
  • Guides and supervises the activities of the corporation and of the staff, facilitators and students of the year-long professional training program.
  • Facilitates the monthly Zoom calls and engages in Guest Lectures.
  • Can be contacted via his website here.


Sat Dharam Kaur ND

Co-Executive Director, CEO, CI Facilitation Director

Contact Sat Dharam for inquiries about:

  • Questions from participants relating to course material that facilitator is unable to answer.
  • Conflicts within biweekly groups.
  • Questions about Facilitated Monthly Workshops, Monthly Discussion Groups, L2 Video Reviews.
  • Changes to Compassionate Inquiry curriculum.
  • Suggestions for Guest Lectures.
  • Zoom calls with Gabor and list of questions.
  • International opportunities within Compassionate Inquiry or for outreach.
  • Questions or suggestions related to Facilitation.
  • Facilitation Reviews and Facilitator Meetings.
  • Request by a Facilitator for a leave of absence.
  • Arranging time slots for upcoming cohorts.
  • Request for support for a Facilitator.

Email: sa[email protected]


Stephanie Lee

Director of Operations

Stephanie works with Dr. Maté and Sat Dharam on external projects, processes and dispute resolution.

  • Aids in the creation and management of processes and systems to streamline operating procedures.
  • Builds and manages workflows and project management systems for the Operations team.
  • Creates and manages the Compassionate Inquiry Standard Operating Procedures.
  • Aids in the creation of new offerings.
  • Is the liaison between Dr. Maté and the course participants and facilitators.
  • Organizes workshop communication and guest speaker invitations.
  • Manages employee contracts with the HR department.
  • Works closely with the Project Coordinator to streamline workload and offer efficiencies.
  • She is also Dr. Maté’s Business Manager.

Email: [email protected]


Gurudayal Khalsa

Technical Director, Media Producer

Contact Gurudayal for inquiries about:

  • How to access the course, website, or online forum(s).
  • Technical difficulties with emails, content, or videos.
  • Updating or managing practitioner listings on the website.
  • Access to the Submittable platform for course applications or course completion submissions.
  • Access to media and Zoom call recordings.
  • Pages on the website or course platform.
  • Files and forms related to the training and intake process.

Email: [email protected]

Michelle Peddle

Executive Officer, CI Facilitator and Practitioner

Contact Michelle Peddle for inquiries about:

  • Concerns about the Compassionate Inquiry Program Administrator, Coordinators, and Administration Team.
  • The delivery of Compassionate Inquiry services.
  • Help with communication between departments.
  • Development of policies and procedures.
  • Questions about protocols, the design and implementation of Compassionate Inquiry systems.
  • Promotion and enhancement of Compassionate Inquiry's vision, mission, and purpose.
  • Michelle acts as a liaison between the CEOs and Director of Operations and the Compassionate Inquiry Organization.

Email: [email protected]

Kristen Delorenzi

Program Administrator (on Maternity Leave)

Kristen is currently off on Maternity Leave; for any further questions, please contact Sahiba - [email protected]

  • Kristen manages all program-related communication with current participants, including any scheduling or time slot issues, and the welcome emails to new students.
  • She organizes the online groups for each cohort, creates the attendance sheets for each facilitator, troubleshoots with participants who are having difficulty scheduling their triads, and looks after our Q&A document.
  • She handles the requests for CE credits.

Email: [email protected]

Sahiba / Dayana Rivera

Program Administrator

Contact Sahiba for inquiries about:

  • Biweekly groups management, including rescheduling and student withdrawals.
  • Administrative documentation for each cohort including attendance sheets, pod schedulers, safety plans, and mastersheets.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Spanish Program (Sahiba is the Compassionate Inquiry Spanish Program Administrator).

Email: [email protected]



Daniela Garcia

Digital Content Coordinator

Contact Daniela for questions regarding:

  • General information about The Professional Training Course including: applications, subsidies, and waitlist.
  • The Professional Training Course communication including: newsletter, course emails, and workshop notifications.
  • Self-Study Short Course for individuals.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, including questions about accessibility.
  • General information about Compassionate Inquiry Spanish, including applications and course emails.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Circles Español.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Spanish Submittable documents.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Spanish Social Media.

Email: [email protected]


Alanna Brennan

Project Coordinator

Contact Alanna for inquiries about:

  • Translation - inquiries about translating the Short Course or Professional Training.
  • The Compassionate Inquiry Conference - event organization and general questions.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Focus Groups - inquiries about joining or starting a focus group.
  • Compassionate Inquiry Education Foundation.

      Email: [email protected]


      Gabriel Olivella

      Administrative Assistant

      Contact Gabriel for inquiries related to:

      • Course Completion.
      • CE Credits.
      • Compassionate Inquiry Educator Certificates and Compassionate Inquiry Short Course Certificates.
      • In addition, Gabriel reviews feedback forms.

      Email: [email protected]


      Ognjen Vukotić

      Technical Assistant

      Contact Ognjen for questions regarding:

      • Email support related to our online course platform.
      • Website and online course FAQ and Documentation creation, design, maintenance, and updates.
      • Design work, creation of course content and promotional materials.
      • Upload, organization and editing of Video content (such as Zoom Calls).
      • Scheduled emails, application and registration forms.

      Email: [email protected]


      Jill Forsyth

      Administrative Assistant

      General Inquiries about Compassionate Inquiry Short Course with facilitation for groups.

      • Jill responds to Compassionate Inquiry Participant administrative questions.

      Email: [email protected]

      Dispute Resolution:

      The Office of Integrity and Equality is available to anyone who is aggrieved by anything that happens or anything that is done or said in the context of Compassionate Inquiry. The Office of Integrity and Equality promotes an ethical community culture based on our shared values of integrity, accountability, transparency and respect, and based on the Compassionate Inquiry Code of Ethics, which can be found here.

      We invite you to submit any complaint, grievance, or dispute that you may have in the context of Compassionate Inquiry to us, after you have first spoken to the person directly about the issue using the Compassionate Inquiry Communication Guidelines, and after you have practiced Compassionate Inquiry with yourself using self-inquiry, or worked it through with a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner or your therapist. Please submit your complaint, grievance or dispute here. Once you have done so, please email Siri Dharma at [email protected]

      Members of the Dispute resolution team:

      Sheila Ann Tyacke

      CI Facilitator and Practitioner

      Sheila grew up with a great sense of justice and, because of that, went on to study law and become an attorney. She studied three of her degrees in South Africa and the fourth at Stanford University, where she studied subjects such as Racism in American Law and Feminist Legal Theory. She practiced law in both the corporate environment and in human rights. As a human rights lawyer in the years preceding the first free elections in South Africa, she represented the ANC and various civic associations in challenges against the repressive national and local governments of the days. She also represented victims of brutal state violence. She grew her skills in corporate law in order to start mentoring and teaching those skills to young lawyers, which she still does today. Sheila has studied and taught Non-Violent Communication and is a certified mediator with CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution), an international organization specializing in conflict management, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution.

      Vimalasara (Valerie Mason-John)

      CI Facilitator and Practitioner

      Dr. Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John M.A (hon.doc) is the award-winning author of 9 books. She worked as an international correspondent covering Aboriginal deaths in custody and Land Rights in Australia. After retiring from journalism she trained in the field of anger management and conflict resolution, going on to work as a senior trainer for one of the leading organizations in the UK, LEAP Confronting Conflicts, whose clients included the police, social services, the educational system,  prisons, gangs, and youth offending teams. In 2007 she moved to Canada, and retrained in the field of Restorative Justice RJ, working for Alberta Conflict Transformation ACTS, and developed a Train the Trainer program for youth to deliver the RJ circle. She has trained teachers throughout Canada in RJ approaches for education. She works as a public speaker in the field of Conflict Transformation, and Mindfulness Approaches for addiction. She is an ordained Buddhist and is Chair of Vancouver Buddhist Centre.

      Certification Coordinator:

      Lara Longo

      Certification Coordinator, CI Facilitator and Practitioner

      Contact Lara for inquiries and requests about Certification and Recertification:

      • Organizes and maintains effective records of certification and recertification submissions, database as well as the outcome of all applications of certification and recertification 
      • Act as a liaison between Compassionate Inquiry Mentors, Certification Reviewers, Program Administrator, Technical Director and Billing Manager to ensure the timely evaluation of submissions.
      • Ensures that Certification Reviews and Evaluations are in accordance with the requirements established by Compassionate Inquiry
      • Co-developed and facilitates the Certification Reviewer Training, supports the development of reviewing skills through mentorship and guidance.

      Email: [email protected]

      Internship Coordinator:

      Ildiko Acs

      Internship Coordinator

      Contact Ildiko for questions regarding Internship Coordination:

      • Oversees, organizes, and maintains the Internship program.
      • Establishes safety measures for Interns to support the Compassionate Inquiry participants and Compassionate Inquiry Facilitators.
      • Provides training and provides support to Interns.
      • Acts as a liaison between Interns, Facilitators, and the Compassionate Inquiry Team.

      Email: [email protected]

      Mentorship Coordinator:

      Mary Lennon

      Mentorship Coordinator

      Contact Mary for questions regarding Mentorship Coordination:

      • Oversees, organizes, and maintains both the Mentorship and the Mentoring-Internship program including the L1, L2, and L3 volunteer and pro-bono sessions.
      • Provides training, and ongoing support, to Mentees and Mentors, ensuring they understand the program requirements.
      • Acts as a liaison between Mentees, Mentoring-Interns, Mentors, Volunteer Participants, the Certification Team, and the Compassionate Inquiry Team.

      Email: [email protected]

      Mentoring Support Program Coordinator:

      Stephen Brown

      Mentoring Support Program Coordinator

      Contact Stephen for questions regarding Mentoring Support Program Coordination:

      • Oversees, organizes and maintains both the Mentoring Support Program.
      • Provides CI supervision, and ongoing support, to Private Mentors to increase their competency in CI Mentoring and to support their personal and professional goals.
      • Builds and delivers monthly workshops to ensure consistency among Compassionate Inquiry Mentors and to maintain the level of excellence.

      Email: [email protected]

      Volunteer Coordinator:

      Rachèl Hughes

      Volunteer Coordinator

      Contact Rachèl for inquiries related to Volunteer Coordination:

      • Oversees, organizes, and maintains the Volunteer program.
      • Establishes safety measures for Volunteers to support the Compassionate Inquiry participants and Compassionate Inquiry Facilitators.
      • Provides training and provides support to Volunteers.
      • Acts as a liaison between Volunteers, Interns, Facilitators, and the Compassionate Inquiry Team.

      Email: [email protected]

      Spanish Program:

      Natalia Sotomayor (Sanjog Kaur)

      Spanish Program Director and CI Facilitator

      Contact Sanjog for inquiries about:

      • Spanish programs, including the Year-Long Training, Short Course and CI Circles in Spanish.
      • Conflicts within biweekly groups in the Spanish programs.
      • Questions from participants relating to course material that the facilitator is unable to answer in the Spanish programs.
      • Questions or concerns about the translation of the programs into Spanish.
      • Questions about Facilitated Monthly Workshops, Monthly Discussion Groups, L2 Video Reviews in the Spanish programs.
      • Suggestions for Guest Lectures in Spanish.
      • Zoom calls with Gabor and list of questions in Spanish.
      • Opportunities within Compassionate Inquiry or for outreach in Latin America or Spain.
      • Questions or suggestions related to Facilitation of the Spanish programs.
      • Facilitation Reviews and Facilitator Meetings in Spanish.
      • Request for support for a Facilitator in the Spanish program.

      Email: [email protected]

      Espe García

      Internship and Mentorship Coordinator for the Spanish Program

      Contact Espe for questions regarding:

      • Oversees, organizes, and maintains the Internship program in Spanish.
      • Establishes safety measures for Interns to support the Compassionate Inquiry participants and Compassionate Inquiry Facilitators in the Spanish program.
      • Provides training and provides support to Interns in the Spanish program.
      • Acts as a liaison between Interns, Facilitators, and the Compassionate Inquiry Team in both English and Spanish.
      • As a Mentorship Coordinator, she is currently adapting the Mentorship Program into Spanish, for it to be offered in 2023.

      Email: [email protected]

      Leonardo Salas Zapata

      Spanish Program Technical Assistant

      Contact Leo for questions regarding:

      • Email support related to our online course platform in Spanish.
      • Website and online course FAQ and Documentation creation, design, maintenance, and updates in Spanish.
      • Design work, creation of course content and promotional materials in Spanish.
      • Upload, organization and editing of Video content (such as Zoom Calls) in Spanish.
      • Scheduled emails, application and registration forms in Spanish.
       

      Email: [email protected]

      Compassionate Inquiry® Circles:

      Alina Karlewicz

      Circles Coordinator

      Contact Alina for:

      • General Inquiries about Compassionate Inquiry Circles
      • Individual and group registration for Compassionate Inquiry Circles
      • Compassionate Inquiry Leader/Intern applications 
      • Assignment of Interns to Circle Leaders
      • Organizes Circle time slots and assigns participants
      • Tracks all Circle programs and internship process

      Email: [email protected]

      Compassionate Inquiry® Circles Stewards:

      Compassionate Inquiry® Founding Facilitators:

      Meet the Founding Facilitators of the Compassionate Inquiry Professional Training Program. Under the leadership, stewardship and direction of Sat Dharam, the Founding Facilitators collaborated in the development and delivery of the Compassionate Inquiry course. With Sat Dharam and Gabor, the Founding Facilitators launched the program and trained the next generation of facilitators and practitioners who now use Compassionate Inquiry as a therapeutic modality. We are grateful for their dedication and meaningful contributions.

      Click here to see the Founding Facilitators for the Compassionate Inquiry Professional Online Training.

      All Compassionate Inquiry® Facilitators:

      Click here to see all online facilitators for the Compassionate Inquiry Professional Online Training.

      Private Mentors:

      Click here to see all private mentors for those working on developing their skills in the Compassionate Inquiry Professional Online Training or Mentorship Program.

      Certified Practitioners:

      Click here to see a list of certified practitioners available to work with you one-on-one using Compassionate Inquiry.