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: [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

Director of Operations

Kristen works on the following.

  • Aids in the creation and management of processes and systems to streamline operating procedures.
  • Builds and manages workflows and project management systems for various team.
  • Creates and manages the Compassionate Inquiry Standard Operating Procedures.
  • Aids in the creation of new offerings.
  • Communicates important information between departments

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]




Ognjen Vukotić

Technical Administrator

Contact Ognjen for questions regarding:

  • Overall tech maintenance, managing training flows, troubleshooting issues, and providing backend support for a range of programs including Compassionate Inquiry Circles, Mentorship Program, Mentoring Internship Program, Mentoring Support Program, and Suicide Attention Training.
  • Maintenance and updates of teamwork platforms and translation flows, including staff training and email support related to our online course platform(s).
  • Management and updates of the website, online course platform(s), practitioner listings, and Circles Community platform maintenance.
  • Technical support for live Zoom calls and workshops, video editing, content organization, and scheduling related tasks.
  • Technical administrative tasks for the translations of the CI programs, reporting directly to the Technical Director and CEO, and undertaking other relevant duties as required.

Email: [email protected]


Bogdan Bara

Marketing Coordinator

Contact Bogdan for questions regarding:

  • Marketing materials
  • Public communications
  • Partnerships

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]


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.
  • Focus Groups
  • 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]


Jill Forsyth

Administrative Assistant

General Inquiries about:

  • Offers administrative support to the CEO
  • Responds to general inquiries regarding CI Circles and the CI Facilitated Short Course
  • Receive all Feedback forms for the year-long program and responds/forwards to the CEO when necessary
  • Assists the Billing Manager and processes stripe payments in QB

Email: [email protected]

Internship and Volunteer Coordinator:

Ildiko Acs

Internship and Volunteer Coordinator

Contact Ildiko for questions regarding Internship and Volunteer Coordination:

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

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]

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]

Short Course Coordinator:

Jill Forsyth

Short Course Coordinator

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

  • Responds to inquiries about CI Facilitated Short Course/CI Circles Immersion*
  • Coordinates Facilitated Short Course and CI Circles Immersion for organizations and groups*
  • Organizes Facilitators and Interns in accordance to the organizations and group needs
  • Coordinates conference bookings and travel arrangements for the delivery of these programs when they are offered in person
  • Jill acts as a liaison between the CI and the various organizations receiving the Facilitated Short Course/CI Circles Immersion

Email: [email protected]

Compassionate Inquiry® Circles:

Cristina Bara

Circles Coordinator

Contact Cristina 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:

 

CI Outreach for Indigenous Communities

Trevor Berard

CI Outreach for Indigenous Communities

Contact Trevor for questions regarding:

  • Promoting Compassionate Inquiry in Indigenous communities
  • Liaison between the Indigenous communities and the Compassionate Inquiry Organization

Email: [email protected]

Spanish Program:

To meet and contact our CI Spanish Team, please follow this link.

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 (Siri Dharma)

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.

Email: [email protected]

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.

 

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.