My research has historically situated itself around creating meaningful relationships with students to enhance deep engagement in learning. The specific focus has been on narrative and Jungian archetypes.

Today, I have expanded my research to include interspecies communication as a means of increasing empathy and awareness. I find myself asking the question “what knowledge best enables us to take care of ourselves, one another and the creatures that inhabit our planet?”

I have purchased land and built a farm dedicated to animal assisted learning where PDP, undergraduate and graduate students from SFU come to develop concentration and reduce anxiety before examinations. To that end, I have creaeted a website with related research and my own research and writing: Magichorsegarden.com

My professional development has moved from studying Jungian archetypes and being certified to use such instruments as MBTI and OTCI to being certified as an EAGALIAN horse therapist.

My teaching is imbedded in the research I am presently engaged in and presently I have creating a course entitled “Nature, Nurture and Narrative combining engagement with nature, equine therapy and the writing of narrative to increasesensitivity and ability to relate to others and engage in meaningful dialogue.

As a result, both my teaching and my research welcome a divergent, multi-faceted stance, welcoming ambiguity and a willingness to overturn assumptions.  There is a tension in my research which mistrusts linear cause and effect and which promotes questions resulting from inquiry as much as answers.  Imbedded in all of my teaching and research is a strong emotional connection and trust that emotions accompany engagement of all kinds.