Speakers Bureau
CAOT is pleased to offer a national speaker’s bureau of occupational therapists who represent various practice areas and the provinces of Canada. Speakers can provide more personal contact than a news release and are available to respond to specific questions. To set up an interview with a member of the CAOT speaker’s bureau, please contact the Communications Department.
Alberta - Jutta Hinrichs
Jutta Hinrichs is currently the Alberta Board of Director representative for the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT). Since graduating from Queen’s University her career in occupational therapy has been based in Calgary, Alberta. Early clinical experience included mental health, pediatrics and geriatrics, before specializing in multiple sclerosis for the past eighteen years. She has also had administrative experience as an occupational therapist supervisor in a long-term care centre and assisted with program development/evaluation in geriatrics/mental health as a Rehabilitation Program Facilitator. Currently her position is split between coordinating an interdisciplinary, outpatient MS rehabilitation program and as OT Professional Practice Leader (Adults) within the Calgary Zone of Alberta Health Services. She has been active over the years on various committees (education, discipline, and Council) for the provincial association and on local and provincial MS Society boards.
Saskatchewan - Coralie Lennea
Coralie graduated from the University of Alberta in 1995 with a B.Sc.O.T. After 10 years employed as an occupational therapist with the Saskatoon Health Region she began working as the Executive Directorthe with the Saskatchewan Society of Occupational Therapists. This position has allowed her to work with occupational therapists in Saskatchewan and across Canada. Coralie enjoys meeting with occupational therapists to find out what the challenges and successes are in their practice of occupational therapy and finds solutions to make occupational therapy services even more high quality and effective.
Manitoba - Natalie-Macleod Schroder
Ontario- Terry Krupa
Terry Krupa is an Associate Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University. She holds cross-appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Nursing. Dr. Krupa has been involved in the development and evaluation of a range of initiatives focused on addressing the occupational needs of people with mental illness. Her research interests include: work and mental illness: the activity and time use patterns of people with serious mental illness and their relationship to mental health and well-being; approaches to early intervention for mental illness that facilitate social and economic prosperity and models of mental health service delivery that promote recovery and full community inclusion for people with mental illness.
Quebec - Huguette Picard
New Brunswick - Christel K. A. Seeberger
Christel K. A. Seeberger, BSc.O.T., OTReg(NB), OTR graduated in 1993 from McGill University with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. She has since practiced in Quebec, Maine, Florida and New Brunswick with clients of all ages in all settings: home, school, work, hospital, daycare, summer camp, special care home and nursing home. Christel is a member of the New Brunswick Association of Occupational Therapists, the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists and is registered to practice in New Brunswick and certified to practice in the United States. Christel is the owner of tOTal ability, the Christel K. A. Seeberger Professional Corporation Inc., a private occupational therapy practice she launched in 2002 to share her passion for occupational therapy with New Brunswickers. tOTal ability employs eight occupational therapists along with three support staff. Christel was the recipient of NBAOT's Evalyn Fleiger award in 2007 and is a children’s columnist for KV Style Magazine.
Prince Edward Island - Mari Basiletti
Mari Basiletti is currently the Supervisor of Rehabilitation Services at Hillsborough Hospital, the provincial psychiatric hospital in Prince Edward Island. Her first degree was a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She received her diploma in occupational therapy in 1972, from Wayne State, and her post-professional Master of Science degree from the Dalhousie University School of Occupational Therapy in 2006. She is registered to practice with the PEI Occupational Therapist’s Registration Board, and has been working for the last 35 years in the field of mental health, with experience in community, in-patient and private practice. Her master’s thesis research focused on an exploration of decision- making power as experienced by members of an intersectoral provincial working group as they engaged in the occupation of enabling policy and systems change for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Mari continues to be active in promoting community participation of individuals with mental illness through her involvement as a member of the Provincial Acute Care Mental Health Quality Team.
Nova Scotia– Liz Townsend
Dr. Elizabeth Townsend (Liz) is a Full Professor, and the 2nd Director of Atlantic Canada's only School of Occupational Therapy at Dalhousie University. She is one of four founding faculty who moved to Nova Scotia to start the School in 1982. On completion of her Directorship, she will become Professor Emerita on July 1, 2010.
Dr. Townsend came to academic life following 15 years of broad experience as an occupational therapist in clinical, management, and program development work with children, adults, and seniors in rehabilitation, home care, and community mental health settings. Her work took her to Uganda, East Africa, and the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland, Alberta, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Her professional background was extended through completion of masters and PhD degrees in adult education.
Dr. Townsend’s research is guided by the theory and method of institutional ethnography in examining ruling relations that govern knowledge translation to advance social inclusion through professional ‘texts’ and everyday ‘enablement’ practices . She is best known for her institutional ethnographic research of occupational therapy mental health practice, her leadership in writing eight national occupational therapy practice guidelines, her international contributions to the development of occupational science, and the introduction, with Anne Wilcock, of the concept of occupational justice. She has authored or co-authored over 70 peer reviewed publications, including 11 books and 2 workbooks, plus over 190 invited or peer reviewed presentations around the world.
Newfoundland - Jane Simmons
Jane graduated from Dalhousie University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. Since 1990, she specialized in vocational rehabilitation in hospital-based multidisciplinary and single discipline programs until the establishment of Integrated Occupational Health Services (IOHS) in March 1994. As president/owner, Jane is committed to quality assurance in all services provided by IOHS.
At IOHS, Jane specializes in functional assessments, pre-employment screenings, return to work services (physical and mental health conditions), job site analyses, injury prevention and education programs, ergonomic consulting, train the trainer programs, home demands analysis, case management, medical-legal evaluations, and expert witness testimony.
Well respected in her field, Jane serves as a leading industry professional. In 1996, she received the Times Mirror Book Prize from fellow Dalhousie alumni for her contribution to the profession of occupational therapy in the area of vocational rehabilitation in the Atlantic region. In 2006, Jane was honoured with a “True Rotarian Award” for her contribution to Rotary International in the area of Youth Exchange. She was awarded a “Paul Harris Fellow” through Rotary International in 2009, also related to her commitment and participation in the Youth Exchange Program.
Yukon/North West Terrotories - Wade Scoffin
Wade is a past member of the board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) including being appointed Vice President of CAOT for a one year term. He has also served multiple years as the president of the Association of Yukon Occupational Therapists (AYOT). Wade was also instrumental in having the 2007 CAOT national conference take place in Whitehorse. He has been a practicing Occupational Therapist in the Yukon since 1995, and has worked in both Ontario and Saskatchewan. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1989. Presently, Wade owns and operates Wade Scoffin Occupational Therapy Services which provides a wide variety of services including disability management, medical legal services, ergonomic assessments and community based Occupational Therapy Services. He has worked as an OT practitioner in both private and public environments in the Yukon, and has served on a variety of boards and committees.
