Appointee Biographies

BETTY-LOU KRISTY

Betty-Lou Kristy is a bereaved mother, in recovery for close to 25 years from alcohol/multi-drug addiction, substance use disorder, trauma and mental health issues. She lost Pete, her 25-year-old son with concurrent disorders, to an accidental opioid overdose in 2001. She has additional caregiver experience in supporting close family members with cancer, cardio, lung/COPD, diabetes and asthma. Humanizing the health care system, improving quality of life and reduction of harm are among Betty-Lou’s top priorities. She has spent almost 20 years working within the Ontario health care system as a lived experience and family advisor, educator and advocate. In this capacity she has helped to frame policy, governance and programming. Before this journey, her background was in corporate marketing. Betty-Lou has over 15 years of extensive board governance training and experience. She is the Director of Support House’s Centre for Innovation in Peer Support and has also received several awards such as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Transforming Lives Award, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Achievement, Commitment and Excellence Award – Partner Relations for her work with the Expert Working Group on Narcotic Addiction and the Support House Employee of the Year Award. The Centre has been awarded the Ontario Peer Development Initiative Innovators Award, AMHO President Shield Award and the Association of General Hospital Psychiatric Services Celebrating Innovation Award.

KAREN SAMUELS

Karen Samuels is a Child Protection Worker with 23 years’ experience. She obtained a Bachelor of Social Work Degree from Ryerson University, currently known as Toronto Metropolitan University. Karen works with children, youth, and families of various cultural, social, and complex needs who have experienced trauma throughout their lives. She is well-versed in the areas of Addictions, Mental Health, Homelessness, Emotional Intelligence, Human Trafficking, Immigration, and Kinship services. Her current role is working on the Flex Team where she engages and collaborates with various departments within the Agency to support with service gaps. Additionally, Karen collaborates with various sectors consisting of children’s mental health, school boards, adult mental health and addictions, families in transition, court and medical. During her career, she has had a range of opportunities and experiences; first of which is mentoring interns and new workers while having a focus on Diversity Equity and Inclusion. She is also a member of the Peer Support team offering her support to fellow colleagues. Karen has collaborated with community partners both independently and in her extensive role as Supervisor of the Adolescents’ team, The Associated Youth Services of Peel and Everymind Mental Health Services formerly known as The Peel Children Centre.

TERRENCE HO

Meet Terrence, a strategist, facilitator, and community builder with experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. His biggest motivation comes from his younger brother, who lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and he's been his care advocate for over 30 years. Terrence's personal experiences caring for his brother and losing his mother to lung cancer have given him a unique perspective on the needs of patients and caregivers. Terrence is the Head of Global Sales Education & Operations at Braze Mobility, which developed the world's first patented blind spot sensors for wheelchairs. He's co-authored the book "Bold Spirit Caring for the Dying" and trained as an End of Life Care Doula. These experiences have made him a strong advocate for accessibility, end-of-life care, and mental well-being.

WENDY DE SOUZA

Wendy De Souza is a cis Latinx woman, first-generation Canadian with Indigenous ancestry in Brazil. With over nine years as an experienced public educator, prolific public speaker and community mobilizer, she is driven by her passion for community development and facilitating transformative spaces through decolonizing pedagogies. With a background in real estate, project management and popular education, her work is rooted in decolonizing institutional spaces and practices by working from an intersectional feminist lens and an anti-colonial/anti-oppression framework. In her intergenerational and cross-sectoral collaborations, she has been recognized for her extraordinary commitment to using arts-based practices to foster individual transformation and systems change. Wendy has served as a community educator, project manager and program developer. She has almost 10 years of direct community engagement experience designing and delivering high-impact community projects, trainings, consultations and educational initiatives. She has also worked at the intersections of gender-based violence and violence against women. Wendy has spearheaded projects that engage vulnerable and marginalized African/Caribbean/Black, 2SLGBTQIA+, Muslim, racialized and newcomer communities in violence prevention and community economic development initiatives advancing the social determinants of health. She has supported the development of accessible youth legal resources on cyber violence and human trafficking, community-based research and action initiatives for Two Spirit, nonbinary and trans communities, and training resources for senior leaders in organizational equity. Wendy has lived and family experience navigating complex birth issues, mental health, ADHD, PTSD and chronic pain. She has also supported others through health care issues like abortion and birth control, gender reassignment/affirmation surgery, addictions and health equity.

DON MAHLEKA

Don Mahleka was born and raised in Zimbabwe and fled to Canada as a refugee in Grade 9. He has living experience of chronic pain, trauma, depression and anxiety. He has used his experiences of facing barriers to accessing health and community services to seek insights from other people with diverse lived experiences on ways to address health care inequities. Don is experienced in health equity consulting, anti-racism and anti-oppression training and implementation. He also has experience collaborating with equity deserving groups in program development, change management, community-based participatory research and policy development to spark innovations in health equity. Don has experience co-hosting international, national and local mental health conferences. He co-founded Revolutionary Lives, a local youth mental health radio show that engaged and empowered youth voices from high schools and post-secondary institutions. The radio show team hosted city-wide youth mental health conferences and advocated for a city-wide youth mental health strategy. This strategy aimed to address barriers in accessing health/social services faced by racialized youth. Don has served as Strategic Advisor to the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and has served on several non-profit boards. Don has also served as an advisor for the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s development of two national standards: a national mental health standard for post-secondary institutions and a national standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace. He's currently supporting the development of the Commission's Structural Stigma online training module. For the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Don has provided advisory support for the development of an online Harm Reduction Resource and Recovery College. Don has several years of experience in frontline peer support, mental health crisis intervention and counselling. He believes in collective impact and collective care that centres on restorative justice, cultural humility, mutual respect and accountability.

DEAN VALENTINE

Dean is a veteran of The Royal Canadian Navy. His experiences and professional competencies have been built through 25 years of service to the Canadian Forces Logistics Branch and over 14 years of volunteer community service work. His employment has been in a wide range of working environments both in Canada and internationally. It’s important to Dean to self-identify as a member of Toronto’s queer community who is HIV positive, with complex medical and mental health challenges, navigating a mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Due to challenges with his diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, Dean was medically released from the Canadian Forces, finding himself challenged navigating a health care system unfamiliar to him. Successes and challenges in his personal journey have inspired his passion to become an advocate for collaborative, people-centred, holistic community healthcare. Dean has been a board member of Casey House Hospital, AIDS Committee of Toronto. He is an active Peer Educator for OHTN Health HIVe - HIV psychiatry ECHO. In addition, Dean is on Addictions & Mental Health Ontario Person with Lived and Living Experience Advisory Panel, the OH OHT Community of Practice, and was the inaugural Chair of the Downtown East Toronto Ontario Health Team Community Advisory Council and co-led Community/PFC Engagement Strategies. Dean is actively involved in community research projects with HQ Toronto (Innovative Approach to Treating Methamphetamine Use), Sinai Health (Co-Author, Culturally Appropriate Care for Diverse Older Adults Living with HIV) and has participated in various peer support programming with Mental Health and Addictions and Skills for Safer Living. “I want to acknowledge that I come from a place of privilege and my story is unique to me. I recognize I may have similar challenges to others but our access to services may vary significantly. I want to commit to learning and assisting with breaking down barriers and oppressions that impede the provision of equitable access to healthcare. I firmly believe mental and physical health care spans over a lifetime and community healthcare should be equitable and easy to navigate, with seamless access to services, when they are needed, without delay” - Dean Valentine

SANDRA HOLDSWORTH

Sandra Holdsworth is retired from a 30-year career in the banking industry. She received a liver transplant 28 years ago, after going undiagnosed with a rare liver disease, Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Crohn's. After years of treatment for her Crohn's, she required a permanent Ileostomy in 2012. Sandra is currently on home hemo dialysis after losing kidney function in March 2024 due to sepsis. She now has Cirrhosis due to long term immunosuppressants. Sandra is on the transplant list for both a kidney and liver transplant. Using her lived experience as a transplant patient and a benefactor of organ donation, she is an advocate/mentor for organ and tissue donation and is also very involved in organ donation and transplantation research. Sandra is very interested in the health care system as a whole and how we can improve it with co-design, including patient, caregiver partners in system transformation, patient safety, research, and more. Sandra is in favour of including patients and their caregivers as active partners in their health care and treatment plan. For over a decade, Sandra has collaborated with the Canadian Donation Transplant Research Program as a patient partner co-lead on the Quality-of-Life Theme. She helps to determine and design research projects, and recruit and assist with knowledge translation. She is involved in several research projects including exercise, nutrition and mental health, Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) & Patient Experience Measures (PREMs), AI & machine learning, patient engagement Evaluation, and so many more. Sandra joined the Muskoka and Area Ontario Health Team in July 2019, serving on the Steering Committee and Alliance Council as well as several working groups and task forces. Along with her co-chair, she participated in the application submission and co-led the development and leadership of the Muskoka and Area OHT Patient Family Caregiver Partner Advisory Committee. Sandra stepped down from this role in December 2023 to focus on provincial engagement. Sandra is on the Board of Patient Advisors Network (PAN). Locally, she is the lead of the volunteers for the Gravenhurst Blood Clinic. Sandra is also a co-founder of Spark Muskoka.

JOAN DUKE

Joan lived in rural Ontario for many years before moving back to Thunder Bay and brings both rural and northern urban perspectives to her patient and family advisory lens. She became involved in-patient engagement with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and moved on to develop experience on Ontario Health committees, the organization and implementation of the Noojmawing Sookatagaing Ontario Health Team, and other provincial and national health organizations. She believes that it is important to look at the individual needs of both rural and urban clients and communities. Along with these responsibilities she brings a commitment to keep educated and up to date on health matters and patient stories and opinions. Sharing ideas in a positive and proactive way is important to the improvement of the health system.

SANDI BELL

Sandi Bell is the President of EMPOWWORD Inc., a mediation and training & development firm. She has an extensive background dealing with interpersonal and organizational conflict, strategic planning, change management, human rights, social justice, anti-racism and anti-oppression, child welfare, education, youth matters, accessibility, disability issues and equity/diversity/access/inclusion. Ms. Bell is currently a part-time Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). Throughout her terms as a Canadian Human Rights Commissioner (CHRC), Sandi has been proud to engage in various levels of the National Aboriginal Initiative. This is a multi-faceted set of strategies to help members of the Aboriginal community to use their rights under the CHRC. Sandi has advocated for and provided extensive consultation services and training around Ontario’s disability legislation and standards, as well as the Ontario Human Rights Code. She has been a coach with the Windsor Law School Mediation Program and a guest lecturer with many educational facilities, including Osgoode Hall Law School. Sandi taught a business program at Mohawk College and taught Community Development at Ryerson University’s Disability Studies Faculty. She proudly self-identifies as a Black Indigenous woman with a disability. Her passion to rid society of — and prevent — racism, discrimination and oppression is not a topic or research project — it is a way of life.

PAUL CARR

Paul was born in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario while his mother was on a visit home, but soon returned to Thunder Bay where he was raised and currently resides. His early years were unremarkable, filled with the usual activities of school, sports, and friendships. Following his formal education, he feels privileged to have served his community as an educator for 37 years. During this time, he taught students from junior grades through university programs. Following his tenure as a classroom teacher, he served as a Principal of Junior, Intermediate, and Secondary schools. One of the highlights of his career was serving as President of the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario which provided him with the opportunity to have input into education in Ontario at the highest level. During these years, he was also blessed with a busy family life. Together with his wife Helen, he raised five children who are currently busy leading happy lives everywhere from Ottawa, Ontario, to Townsville, Australia. Paul’s health journey began in earnest in 2011 when he contracted cancer. The treatment he received was life changing! In 2012 however, he suffered a heart attack. He once again received what he considers to be world class care and caring, giving him a second chance at life! He soon became a Patient Family Advisor at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, engaged in numerous councils and committees including Cardiovascular, Stroke, Seniors, Ethics, Education and Violence in the Workplace. He currently serves as Co-chair of the Patient and Family Advisor Council, and sits on the Senior Leadership Council, with an equal vote on all hospital initiatives. He feels it is a privilege to bring the patient perspective to each of these roles. Paul does not have a clinical background! He has no formal medical training, but he concludes his ongoing medical issues have taught him much about being a patient in the Ontario health care system! He feels somewhat qualified to bring the patient’s perspective, but emphasizes he is still learning.

ABBEY HUNTER

Abbey was born and raised in beautiful Thunder Bay, Ontario and is currently a Master of Public Health student at Lakehead University. At 16 years old, she experienced the negative parts of our healthcare system, specifically the shortcomings in Northern Ontario, to which she has become an advocate for better access and support in the North. Following her diagnosis of Lupus and the struggles throughout the system in Northwestern Ontario, she became a Patient Family Advisor at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, advocating from a younger patient perspective. From there, she began doing talks with nursing students and health care professionals, sharing her story, and pushing for thorough and quality care for young people in the health care system. From there, she sat on the Women and Children’s Program and the Telemedicine Program, pushing for both younger advocacy and the importance of telemedicine in the North. She also sits on the Noojmawing Sookatagaing (Healing Working Together) Ontario Health Team for Thunder Bay and surrounding regions. In 2023, she was a coordinator for the first-ever Walk for Lupus in Thunder Bay, along with Lupus Ontario. Leveraging the connections she made through her role as a patient and family advisor, she curated a Northern cause after meeting with various professionals. Most recently, within her academic journey, while completing an MPH (Master of Public Health), Abbey works with individuals living with dementia and their families (Northwest Dementia Working Group), through research and community-based engagement at Lakehead University. Throughout Abbey’s journey, she has been able to share her struggles but also her silver linings as a young woman living with a chronic illness. Although it has brought much adversity, she has found healing through advocacy.

DAVID BELL

David Bell and his wife Andrea are proud parents of three boys: Etienne, who died in a tragic accident in 2011 at 16 months, Emanuel (age 14), who was diagnosed as a baby with a rare genetic condition, and Florian (age 11). His family’s experiences with child health services and close ties with other families with medically fragile children prompted him to volunteer as a family advisory committee member with several Ottawa-area organizations, including Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. David co-chairs a multi-stakeholder working group under the Kid’s Come First Health Team aimed at improving access to and the quality of community and homecare services in Eastern Ontario. David is a self-described Francophile — he learned French as an adult and lives in a bilingual household. Originally from Burk’s Falls, David has worked for twenty-eight years in the federal public service.

SHANNON MCGAVIN

Shannon McGavin (she/her) is a system change leader dedicated to creating people-centred teams and facilitating community partnerships. Driven by a commitment to integrated care, diversity, inclusion, psychological safety, and the importance of including lived and living expertise, Shannon focuses on co-creating transformative change to improve youth and community wellness in rural communities across Canada. Having worked for more than 25 years to enhance outcomes in education for children, youth and their families, Shannon believes that working together with local, national and international contexts is instrumental in creating shared purpose and evidence-based integrated care. As a parent of young adults who have struggled with anxiety, depression and eating disorders, Shannon has experienced first-hand frustration with the lack of sustainable and supportive systems for youth struggling with mental wellness. As the CEO and Founder of The Well Community Collective, she is transforming youth wellness pathways to support youth in rural Huron, Perth, Grey and Bruce Counties with Integrated Youth Service Networks. Most recently, Shannon has used her lived expertise as a cancer survivor to continue advocating for transparent patient navigation, integrated care systems, and safe, welcoming care spaces and providers. Currently, Shannon is a member of the Family Advisory Council at the Knowledge Institute of Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions, and she supports several Knowledge Institute CIHR projects and Co-Chairs the Quality Standards Advisory Council. She is a member of her local Huron Perth and Area Ontario Health Team, sitting at the Patient Family Caregiver, Mental Health and Addictions Network and Planning and Priority setting tables. Shannon is a life-long learner who is finishing her Master of Youth Mental Health degree at Orygen in Australia.