Distress Centres Ontario
Meet our Board Members
Distress Centre Ontario is governed by a board of directors, each elected to a three year term. Board members may be selected for an at-large position or represent one of the four regions: Western Ontario, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario and the GTA.
Meet some of our Board Members and hear what they have to say below!
Debbie Bonselaar - DCO Board Member
Debbie Bonselaar was very pleased to accept the position of Eastern Region Representative to Distress Centres Ontario in 2003. She has been involved in the Distress Centre movement for the past twelve years. As Administrative Assistant for Distress Centre Lanark, Leeds & Grenville, she is responsible for the organization and management of the program for Lanark County. Debbie is a graduate of the Management of Volunteers Program at Algonquin College and is a Master Trainer for Living Works, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. She is currently Chairperson of the Lanark County Mental Health Support Project and Chairperson of the Mental Health Support Project of Lanark, Leeds & Grenville, as well.
Debbie talks about the value of active listening:
"The most important gift we can give another person is to actively listen to them because people need to be heard. Volunteers trained in the art of active listening report improvements in their home and work relationships. Our callers often express their gratitude that someone is out there, and someone is listening to them. Distress Centres are an integral and important role in our society because they improve the lives of others."
Gilles Brideau - DCO Board Member
Gilles Brideau was very pleased to accept his appointment to the board of directors in the fall of 2009. While working as an addictions counselor at the local hospital in Sarnia, Gilles’ first initiation to DCO was as a member of a local community advisory committee for Suicide Prevention. Gilles has also been involved in a DCO training event where he delivered sessions topics such as Addictions, Stigma and Motivational Interviewing. Gilles now maintains a position with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as a Bilingual Program Consultant and as such is very excited about collaborative opportunities that lie ahead for DCO and CAMH as they continuously strive to improve the lives of their clients.
"Improving the lives of those affected by addiction and mental health problems and promoting the health of people in Ontario and beyond.” CAMH Strategic Plan 2009
Gilles talks about the importance of empathy in helping others:
"Empathy is the ability to truly see the world through the client’s eyes, thinking as they think, feeling as they feel. In doing so, the person is much more likely to open up and express what they need in terms of support as well as what potential pitfalls may come into play. It is about truly understanding where the client is at."
Rahel Eynan
Rahel Eynan is a suicide researcher and advocate with the Suicide Studies Unit at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, and has been actively involved in the study of suicide and its prevention and palliative care since the early 1990s. Rahel completed a B.A. in Sociology at York University in 1992 and received a Certificate in Life Threatening Illness, Dying and Bereavement from Humber College that same year. She completed an M.A. in Sociology at Concordia University in 1997, and is currently completing her Ph.D. through the Institute of Medical Science, in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, specializing in the study of mental health and suicide.
Sheena Carpenter - Secretary / Treasurer
Sheena Carpenter was excited to join the board of Distress Centre’s Ontario this year. Sheena is a graduate of the Honours Business Administration Program at Wilfrid Laurier University and has completed her Chartered Accountant designation. Sheena has worked for Ernst & Young LLP in the audit field serving several government-regulated not-for-profit organizations. Currently she works in financial reporting of ATS Automation Tooling Systems in Cambridge.
Sheena speaks about the DCO movement:
"In today’s society, more and more members of our community suffer from emotional stress. DCO organization provides tools, fosters education programs and shares information/knowledge to empower and encourage the dedicated volunteers and staff of the member agencies to make a difference in our community. DCO’s success in their mission has been amazing. But this is just the beginning. DCO is actively pursuing growth on all fronts with many important projects underway. I am proud to be a part of the DCO movement."
Victoria Kehoe – Board of Directors
Since 1994 Victoria has served the Durham community as a member of Distress Centre Durham. Joining the centre as a telephone helpline volunteer, she has served as Executive Director for the last two years. A graduate of the Volunteer Management program at Humber College and the Human Services Counseling program at Durham College, Victoria is also an Adult Education Specialist. She supports the DCO membership as an ASIST suicide intervention trainer and has served on the DCO Board since 2007.
Staff supporting volunteers is a model Victoria champions
"One of the most unique attributes of Distress Centres is that our staff teams support the specially trained volunteers in delivering our frontline helpline service, rather than the volunteers supporting staff to provide the program. Having a networking provincial body like Distress Centres Ontario enables the centres to share information, resources, develop best practices, and to enhance the ability of the individual Centres across Ontario to provide emotional support, crisis / suicide management and links to community resources for hundreds of thousands of callers each year."
Charles Laframboise - Chair of the Board
Celebrating 20 years working with not-for-profit organizations, Charles has particularly enjoyed the last 9 years at the senior management level. Graduating with a Master’s Degree from the University of Ottawa, Charles began his career working for national governing bodies before migrating to the local scene as Executive Director for the Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region. He joined Distress Centre Ontario’s Board of Directors in 2005.
Here's what Charles has to say about Distress Centres Ontario:
“A provincial body which rallies like-minded agencies across Ontario offers an excellent networking tool that is so beneficial to each individual agency and to the distress centre movement as a whole. Distress Centres Ontario offers a forum though which local centres can exchange ideas for the purpose of better serving the clients who need us.
Donna Martin - Past Chair of the Board
Donna stepped into the realm of distress line and board of directors’ work from a background in Administration and many years donating her time to the betterment of her community. She has a rare set of work experiences ranging from work as a civilian instructor with the Department of National Defence to a earning a certificate in Emergency Preparedness through the federal government while working at a municipal office. She has been a volunteer for 25 years and the Volunteer Manager at the Family Counselling and Distress Centre in Sarnia for 14 of those years. Donna has served as the Chair of the DCO Board from 2003 – 2009.
What Donna has to say about her six-year Chair of the Board term:
"It hasn’t been just one person doing the work, but the hiring of Liz Fisk as our Executive Director, and having board and committee members willing to come together from different communities to work collaboratively toward a common goal. Now more than ever, DCO will be the go-to organization for ministries and other agencies to learn about current trends. I’m amazed at the progress we’ve made – it warms my heart!"
How can you be involved?
Distress Centre Ontario is currently seeking leaders to join its Board of Directors. Who are we looking for? If you have a strong commitment to helping in issues of mental health and suicide, and have proven leadership or organizational experience, you can apply for a position on the board. All board members are volunteers, and the time commitment is approximately four hours a month.
Your application and current resume should be received by October 10th for consideration by the Nominations Committee prior to the Annual General Meeting held in late October of each year. However, please submit your application at any time during the year and it will be considered for the next nomination round.
For a copy of the Call for Board Members, click here.
For an application form, click here.