Leadership Team
Tamara
Strijack
Tamara Strijack is the Academic Dean of the Neufeld Institute, where she develops and delivers courses and workshops on child development for parents, teachers and helping professionals around the world. She is the co-author of Reclaiming Our Students: Why Children Are More Anxious, Aggressive, and Shut-Down than Ever—and What We Can Do About It. Tamara has worked with children and adolescents in various roles over the last twenty-five years. Currently, she works as a clinical counsellor and parent consultant. Tamara also facilitates workshops and teaches university courses for teachers and counsellors. Connection, relationship, nature and play continue to be central themes in all her roles, both personally and professionally. Tamara has two daughters and lives on Vancouver Island.
Eva
de Gosztonyi
Eva de Gosztonyi, MA, is a psychologist who has worked for over 45 years in schools across Canada. She is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and is one of its founding members. She works with the ten English School Boards of Quebec as the provincial consultant in the area of behaviour challenges. Since 2002 she has been helping schools and school districts to successfully apply the principles of the Neufeld paradigm to classrooms, special classes and schools. She and her team at the Centre of Excellence for Behaviour Management have put together a number of documents describing interventions that are attachment-friendly, developmentally sensitive and trauma informed. Eva has given keynote addresses at conferences and presentations to schools and school districts, inspiring and training those working with children to shift the way in which they respond to challenging behaviours. She is married and the mother of two adult children.
Deborah
MacNamara
Deborah MacNamara, Ph.D., is a Vancouver-based clinical counsellor and educator with more than 25 years’ experience working with children, youth, and adults. She is on faculty at the Neufeld Institute, operates a counselling practice, and speaks regularly about child and adolescent development to parents, child care providers, educators, and mental health professionals. She is also the author of Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (or Anyone Who Acts Like One) which has been translated into ten languages and provides a 360-degree developmental walk around the young child. Her first children’s picture book, The Sorry Plane emphasizes the importance of preserving and protecting a child’s caring spirit by not forcing caring performances like saying sorry. Deborah resides in Vancouver, Canada with her husband and two children.
Hannah
Beach
Hannah Beach is an award-winning educator, author, and keynote speaker. She is the co-author of Reclaiming Our Students: Why Children Are More Anxious, Aggressive, and Shut-Down than Ever—and What We Can Do About It. She has written seven books on movement, drama, and expression which have been adopted by school boards across Canada and are used to support the emotional health of children in classrooms. In 2017, Hannah was formally recognized by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for her work in developing innovative programming that builds social and emotional health for children through experiential education and the arts. She is a Neufeld course facilitator, delivers professional development services across the country, provides emotional health consulting to schools, and speaks at national and international conferences. Hannah is married and has three children.
Advisory Team
Laina Clugston
Early Childhood
Educator
Laina Clugston, MA, is a U.S.- based Early Childhood Educator who works directly with children ages birth to three, parents, grandparents, and educators. She is on the faculty at the Neufeld Institute. Laina delivers courses and workshops on child development as well as home and classroom practices that support children’s emotional health and development. Currently, she helps child care centres apply the principles of the Neufeld paradigm through curriculum development, mentoring, case studies, physical environment, music, toy selection, and daily rhythms, focusing on practices that enhance relationship building and play. Laina was a lead teacher at Bowdoin College Children’s Center in the Infant and Toddler program and mentor for program and staff development using the Neufeld paradigm. She has over 30 years’ experience working with young children, parents, and teachers. Laina currently resides in Maine and is the mother of three adult children.
David McFall
Principal – Elementary
Former VP – Secondary
David McFall, MEd, is an elementary school principal with the Western Quebec School Board. With 20 years of education experience, he has distilled the major constructs of the Neufeld paradigm and implemented them in the organization of his school which has allowed him to successfully transform an entire community. David is continually refining his model of a ‘Neufeld School’ and is pleased to share his experience and expertise with any interested educator.
Martine Demers
Behaviour
Specialist
Martine Demers, MEd, has over 25 years of experience supporting school teams with their most challenging students, helping staff to keep these students in the regular classroom or in a regular school environment. She is very creative in finding developmentally friendly and trauma-informed solutions for these students and schools. She is actively involved in professional development, consultation, class intervention, and helping to build the capacity of school teams and has used the Neufeld paradigm to guide and inform her interventions. Martine is part of the Centre of Excellence for Behaviour Management team advising the English School Boards of Quebec in the area of supporting children with behavioural challenges using the Neufeld paradigm. Martine is Faculty at the Neufeld Institute, a presenter of the Neufeld paradigm and Course Facilitator.
Adrienne Wood
Educator & Parent Consultant:
focus on adolescents
Adrienne Wood is a presenter, educator and parent consultant. She has a particular interest in teens with complex or challenging behaviour. Drawing on her training with the Neufeld Institute, she seeks to help parents and professionals better understand young people from a relational developmental perspective. Adrienne is a former high school teacher and lecturer in human development and is mother to two adolescents of her own. Adrienne is on Faculty and the Neufeld Institute's Regional Director in New Zealand. She is an authorized Neufeld Parent Consultant, a Course Facilitator and presenter of the Neufeld paradigm.
Catherine Korah
Counsellor and
Behaviour Specialist
Catherine Korah, MEd, is a certified Counsellor and Behaviour Specialist who has worked for over 15 years in a number of educational settings with students with challenging behaviours. She has been actively involved in providing professional development, consultation to schools and school districts and in liaising with health and social service agencies. Catherine is adept at finding attachment friendly and developmentally sensitive solutions for students and schools at both Elementary and Secondary levels. Catherine is part of the Centre of Excellence for Behaviour Management team advising the English School Boards of Quebec in the area of supporting children with behavioural challenges using the Neufeld paradigm. Catherine is an authorized Neufeld Course Facilitator, Presenter and Parent Consultant.
Marla Kolomaya
School Counsellor and
Parent Educator
Marla Kolomaya is a counsellor and parent consultant. As a counsellor, she became passionate about sharing this approach with those in schools who were yearning to make sense of the children and adolescents in their care. She is particularly drawn to the warmth and intuitive care of Dr. Neufeld’s developmental-relational approach as well as how right it feels to walk alongside parents as they face the many daunting challenges of raising children in today’s culture. She has found her life’s work in supporting families, educators, and professionals with an enthusiastic and unwavering belief that relationship is the answer for what ails us.
Joy Neufeld
Teacher
(retired)
Joy Neufeld is a retired teacher, whose educational career has ranged from teaching preschoolers to adolescents, with kindergarten being one of her favourite assignments. Her areas of interest and training included special needs and high-risk students, both of which were plentiful during her years of teaching in inner city schools in Vancouver. In addition, Joy homeschooled her two boys from time and time and is now the actively involved mother of a high-school teacher. Joy is now fully engaged in helping steer the Neufeld Institute, taking care of family, which includes five children and six grandchildren, and supporting her husband, Gordon.
Lori Abramowitz
School Counsellor/ Clinical Mental Health Counsellor
Lori Abramowitz, MS, has worked with youth of all ages through a variety of programs in school, community and inpatient hospital settings. Earlier in her career Lori spent several years working as a school counsellor, providing services at both elementary and secondary educational levels. Currently Lori is a clinical mental health counsellor, most recently providing outpatient and school-based therapy services to children, adolescents and families. Lori is a Neufeld Institute Faculty Intern, an authorized Neufeld Parent Consultant and a Course Facilitator.
Sandy Hitchens
Counsellor
In her counselling practice, Sandy Hitchens specializes in working with children and their parents in both her private practice and also within several primary schools. Sandy loves working in the busy school environment and seeking to understand and make sense of some of the children with the most difficult behaviours. Sharing her insight with parents, teachers and other professionals is also one of her passions. She does this through one on one consults, seminars and courses. Sandy lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. She is married with four children ( three adult and one teenager).
Kairyn Russell Janecke
Principal K-12/ Teacher/Counsellor
Kairyn retired from her principalship in the summer of 2022. She has worked in urban and rural settings and in both elementary and secondary schools. She has also been a classroom teacher, a non-enrolling teacher in resource, learning assistance, ELL, and library, an outdoor educator, and a school counsellor.
Kairyn is a Neufeld course Facilitator and has facilitated Neufeld courses as part of her community's Early Learning Table initiatives, and as professional development in her school district. She is a strong believer in the power of the arts to grow us as human beings. Kairyn has found innovative ways of bringing the Neufeld paradigm to life in her schools including "Making J.A.M." (Journeys through the Arts and Movement) an initiative that has been appreciated by upper elementary students.
Tracy Azevedo
Counsellor
Tracy Azevedo, MA, is a clinical counsellor and educator with more than 20 years experience working with children, youth, and adults. She is a facilitator and parent consultant with the Neufeld Institute, operates a counselling practice, facilitates workshops, and assists with teaching seminary courses for counsellors. Tracy finds fulfillment in supporting others in their various roles with children and youth. Music, play, and nature within the attachment based developmental approach are at the heart of her roles, both professionally and personally.