Alberta Association For Better Communities dba  Centre for Wholeness & Well Being

Board of Directors

Centre For Wholeness & Well Being is operated by the Alberta Association For Better Communities, which in turn is governed by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors focuses on long term strategic and governance issues only, at arm’s length from the leadership, management and daily operations of the Centre. It is comprised of alumni and community members.

Sue Snow, Co-Founder, Board Chair, CEO

Sue has worked in addictions and recovery for 14 years. She is a highly regarded educator with a B.A/B.Ed, a Certified Chemical Dependency Counsellor, Brain Story Certification, Compassionate Inquiry Counsellor and is a registered member of the Association of Counselling Therapy Alberta. She has incorporated her love of curiosity, teaching, counselling and neuro-rehabilitative studies along with her empathetic passion for self-growth and personal development to co-found and serve as Chair of the Centre for Wholeness & Well Being.

Research supports Sue's belief that wholeness and well being is a natural byproduct of a healing climate in which innovation, creativity and originality of the individual is supported and cherished.

Sue was driven to start the Centre for Wholeness & Well Bein when she saw the need for an alternative trauma and mental healing model that prioritizes health and wellness and that empowers members to “be the change” that they want to see in the world.

Ryan Snow, Co - Founder, Program Advisor to the Board

Ryan's mission is to empower clients to know themselves and to act in alignment with their values, principles, and truths; in essence, to find compassion for their situation and develop a sense of self love. His vision is to shift the context of recovery from coping with and managing addictions or mental health issues, to uncovering and healing the deepest source of addictions or mental health distress, resulting in the client  becoming more self-realized. Read more about Ryan here:

Adele Marie Emelson

Adele was born and raised on a farm in Southern Alberta Canada and still holds tight her small  town values of trust, hard work and community. She enjoys gardening, botany, yoga, creating art,  hiking and simply being in nature. Adele has a deep connection with animals, especially birds of  prey after finding a golden eagle with her Father at a young age. Before she began her calling to  work with Iboga medicine she walked the path of trauma and addiction. Having struggled with  and overcoming substance abuse herself had been called to do detox as well as psycho-spiritual  ceremony . Her knowledge and first-hand experience is the key to successfully supporting and  guiding others who are struggling with addiction. Her healing journey has taken her all over the  world to find a solution to end her pain and suffering. After trying all other modalities and  medicines it was finally Iboga medicine that healed her physically and spiritually and gave Adele  her life back. 

Adele has a professional background of 20 years working in healthcare services including  Emergency department, ICU and within the community. She is certified as a Emergency Medical  Responder from Alberta Health and Safety institute (AHASTI), Laboratory Assistant from  Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), Yoga Alliance 200 Yoga Teacher Training  from Loka yoga. Adele was pre-initiated in 2014 in the Bwiti tradition by her Teacher  Moughenda Mikala and is a full initiate to Missoko Tradition. She has been supporting souls with  the medicine for over 7 years. Her support in ceremony and integration is informed by her  ongoing study of psychology, neuroscience and addiction studies at the University of Lethbridge.  She is in private practice, seeing clients for retreat preparation, integration and ongoing  counselling.  

Adele has a deep knowing of the struggles that the people she guides with the medicine are facing. She is intuitively guided to create a supportive  environment for guests to do their own transformational work . Adele’s dedication to her guests is  shown with humility, compassion, a no nonsense approach with love while she holds a safe  container for healing to take place. She understands that her guests are not just working through trauma and addiction but have a soul wound that needs to be healed. She is simply a bridge for the medicine  and the people who need it.  

“ When I see someone with addiction I am not just treating the addiction, I am treating the person  and their soul. I see a beautiful soul who has been forgotten. Iboga shows you a deeper  understanding of what we really are as divine beings. Be patient you are becoming someone you  have never been before.”

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Brandie Sunley

As an award-winning boutique photographer focused on artistic portraiture and special event photography, Brandie Sunley loves being behind the camera.

Born in a small town in Southern Alberta, she grew up travelling North America in the back of a wood-paneled station wagon. Her unique experiences and daring personality sparked her passion for the arts early on, starting with creating outrageous paper dolls and later experimenting with mediums like oil painting, fabric sculpture, and more. Brandie often relied on photographs as inspiration for her artwork, so she began creating her own photographs to use as source material. 
As life brings unexpected twists and turns, Brandie has come to awareness of well-being through tragic loss. The loss of loved ones and the desire to help others avoid similar losses has motivated Brandie to participate in groups such as Mom’s Stop the Harm and the Center for Wholeness and Wellbeing.

Brandie balances her time between her photography, substitute teaching, family and spending solitary time in the wilderness.

Sam Allison is a student at the University of Calgary studying Civil Engineering. She plays Ringette for the Dino’s and serves as a coach for the Bowview Ringette Association. Sam is passionate about serving those in her community and is continuously looking for opportunities to make a lasting positive impact; building and supporting programs that build resiliency and capacity within at-risk communities.

Dr. Faraz Sachedina

Dr. Faraz Sachedina is the national director of Medical Operations at Harvest Medicine. Having done his medical training in Europe, the States and Canada, it has been a great experience being able to add a different perspective to the benefits of medical CBD cannabis to mental health and addictions. After being involved in research with the US fencing team, sports nutrition and traumatic brain injury, Faraz has switched gears to actively working on publications and key partnerships across Canada to increase the power of the data being released in an effort to increase information to further analyze how the response to these cannabinoids can be utilized. His passion for sports and rehab medicine along with mental health awareness has led him to research in the medical cannabis sector. Research that indicates there are major benefits in the addiction and mental health recovery side of medical cannabis CBD therapy.