Partial funding: for the first phases of conception, research and environmental scan (design conversations & lit. review), we acknowledge generous support from the Silver Gummy Foundation and the Vancouver Foundation.

Academic partnership: In addition to WITS staff and volunteers, the program development team now includes Kathleen Manion (Program Head, School of Humanitarian Studies, Royal Roads University (RRU)) and Elizabeth Childs (Program Head, Master of Arts in Learning and Technology, RRU), whose time is fully supported by RRU.

Design conversations & research: In 2025 our team held focus groups with ~50 educators – in person in Calgary, Prince George, Vancouver, Toronto and online (with educators from across Canada) – in order to determine the existing educational offerings and the current need. We also initiated other research and a literature review.

Findings demonstrate a clear need for inclusion education that is easy to implement in schools. In 2026 the project was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grant.

• Continue with research, environmental scan & expanded literature review
• Additional fundraising
• Program development involving lived-experience Subject Matter Experts, diverse group of educators, Indigenous perspectives and age-appropriate reviews by children and youth
• Small scale pilot program testing in diverse school settings
• Program revisions & professional design
• Larger scale testing and evaluations

Dr. Elizabeth Childs is a professor in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University, Canada and the program head of the MA in Learning and Technology program. She is interested in the design, creation and implementation of flexible learning environments that incorporate the affordances of technologies and provide learners with increased choice, flexibility, and opportunities. Dr. Childs’ research interests include online and blended learning; openness and open pedagogy; online learning communities and digital habitats; professional learning; and design thinking and participatory design approaches.

Kathleen Manion, BA, MA, LLM, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Humanitarian Studies. With a particular focus on social justice and children’s rights, Kathleen has had a diverse career working in academia, government, the not-for-profit sector and as a consultant. As such she is particularly interested in helping bridge the gap between practitioner experiential knowledge, academic theory and policy objectives in teaching, research and policy development. Kathleen’s academic, research and practice interests focus on systems that support children to thrive. Using various research methodologies and community engagement processes, Kathleen has worked on projects related to child protection, child rights, homelessness, climate justice, early childhood development, environmental justice, service innovation, trafficking, violence against children and within families, inclusion, youth justice, and child migration in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

Mabelle Moon, MA, RCC, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. She is the founder of Brain Genesis Consulting, where she provides evidence-based therapy services. She earned her Master’s degree at Harvard University, where she conducted clinical research on PTSD and sleep at Massachusetts General Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Her current doctoral work examines bullying as a predictor of mental health challenges among vulnerable populations, integrating clinical research with social justice and public policy initiatives.

Amrita is the Inclusion and program coordinator at WITS. As an experienced Training Specialist and Coach, Amrita has designed and delivered training programs in virtual and in-person settings. Amrita is skilled in creating and implementing learning modules that are engaging and effective and has a deep understanding of how to assess and meet the needs of different learners. Amrita is very familiar with utilizing the design thinking methodology with various teams, helping people to process their ideas via healthy, solution-focused processes. Since 2023, Amrita has coordinated the Inclusion Strategies project, using design thinking to support youth-led solutions and community engagement.

Andy has been Executive Director at WITS since 2017. Andy worked for over 30 years in the charitable sector in Canada and is a former Co-Chair of Canada’s Volunteer Awards. He’s a three-time Executive Director, has initiated 14 programs in diverse settings, and has analyzed the operations of hundreds of nonprofit initiatives. He has also taught children and youth in classrooms and in situ in sport. Andy has started four social enterprises, five nonprofit societies, sat on over a dozen Boards and has volunteered in many ways, all leading to his wide range of expertise and knowledge of nonprofit operations, programming & financials. In March 2025, Andy received the King’s Coronation Medal for “a significant contribution to Canada.”