Roxanne Sawatzky has successfully managed a 3 year 1.3 million dollar research study for the Provincial and Federal Government with 2400 individuals participating. She is experienced in project management, program development, implementing processes, curriculum writing and best practices development. Roxanne holds a certificate in addictions counselling and case management.
While there are many good Motivational Interviewing trainers, membership in the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) is the only status accorded to training professionals. It is acknowledged by the MINT organization and can only be granted through direct train-the-trainer work with the model originators Dr. William R. Miller & Dr. Steve Rollnick. Roxanne went to Spain in June 2009 and as a result of the training she is now a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers.
Roxanne’s passion is working with marginalized individuals. She started her career at the age of 12 when she decided her brother needed to be “fixed”. She has since learnt that she can’t “fix” anyone but she can definitely help people get “unstuck”!
Patti Phillips is a counsellor, life coach, and experiential educator. She has 20 years of experience providing support to people who are facing personal challenges and working co-creatively with the client to explore positive and meaningful life changes. Outcome focused with an emphasis on the development of measurable objectives for clients to meet their own personal goals, Patti is proficient in asking powerful questions to draw from the client the knowledge and motivation within to move towards their desired future.
The population that Patti has found the most fulfilling to work with is youth who have been marginalized by society. For ten years she worked at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM), using Motivational Interviewing techniques and implementing the strategies of the Stages of Change Model to support youth who may or may not have been considering making changes regarding their drug using behaviour. A significant focus of the work was supporting the youths’ caregivers to understand the Stages of Change Model and the appropriate intervention approaches. The adolescents that Patti worked with over the years proved to be challenging, and on a daily basis reinforced the requirement to meet the client where they are at.
Patti is an experienced facilitator who has designed workshops for both service providers and directly to clients. She is most proud of the Balance Your Life Program she developed for youth while working with the AFM. This program supported youth to explore and discover their values, interests, personal needs, skills, and internal motivators for healthy living.
In her time working with agencies that provide service to youth, Patti has brought many ideas forth that come from her therapeutic recreation background. The foundation of her work comes from her fundamental belief which is that in order to support a person, the focus must be on their abilities and not their disabilities.
In addition to being a facilitator with Empowering Change, Patti operates her own business called Explore Life Coaching and is a Certified Life Adventure Coach. Life coaching is very consistent with Motivational Interviewing and focuses on what the client wants by providing a supportive relationship between a coach and a client. It is based on the client’s expressed interests, goals, and objectives. In general, coaching works because of the fundamental belief held by coaches that all people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole and have the capacity to lead the life that they desire.
Trudy-Lyn Wittig has over 20 years of progressively responsible experience in the field of employment counseling in both the private and not for profit sectors. Trudy-Lyn has demonstrated success in program planning, development and implementation. In addition she has a proven record of creativity and innovation in job development, job coaching, workshop facilitation and counselling. Trudy-Lyn has worked with both youth, adults and the older worker. She has found particular self satisfaction in working with youth with learning disabilities and/or behavioural issues as well as with older workers displaced by plant closures. Her dedication to empowering others to reach their full potential has been evident in her work as an employment consultant as well as in her work as a coach on the soccer pitch.
Trudy-Lyn lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband, 3 sons and menagerie of pets! Trudy-Lyn has a passion for the outdoors and actively participants in a variety of outdoor pursuits such as alpine skiing, golf, cycling, swimming, gardening, hiking and camping. When not in the great outdoors you can find Trudy-Lyn working with her pup (Lexi) in obedience training or playing squash at the local fitness club.
Kevin M. Swibaker (Researcher/Evaluator/Industrial-Organizational Consultant)
Mr. Swibaker’s specialization is in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and has worked in research and evaluation for the last five years. His experience includes, but is not limited to, work with the most advanced instrument for assessing addictions, analysis on the world’s largest dataset for addictions comprised of data collected from over 100 facilities across the USA, as well as the design of a three year longitudinal research framework for a million plus dollar research project funded by the Canadian federal government (a framework now used as the template for other agencies) and the analysis of the qualitative & quantitative data collected from this project.
Throughout his career, Mr. Swibaker has worked in the areas of program conceptualization, design and evaluation, data cleaning and analysis, SPSS syntax development, Excel & Access database development, instrument/questionnaire design, moderating focus groups, training program development, best practices, study of organizational culture, and organizational/change consulting. He brings sagity and direction to any project he partners with.
Mr. Swibaker, a native born American Citizen and resident of Canada, is a member of both the American Evaluation Association and the Canadian Evaluation Society.
Kevin has taken pleasure in working for not-for-profit agencies as well as private organizations. He has a keen eye for both the small details as well as big picture concepts. He enjoys collecting hard to find classic Sci-Fi books as well as nature walks with his Winnipeg born wife Meredith.
Roxanne’s vision is to see service providers across Canada use Stages of Change and Motivational Interviewing with all demographics. She and her team bring a wealth of experience, creativity and humor to all they work with.
