
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.”
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
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.
Hillary Hassen
Hilary Hassen is a second year sociology student at Mount Royal University. She is passionate about social justice and environmental protection and has worked continuously in these sectors. After her degree, she is hoping to continue her work in the non profit sector helping social structures to better support the people they were made for. This will be her first experience being on a Board of Directors, and her first opportunity to write grants for a non profit, two opportunities that have already taught her immeasurable amounts. Being on the Board of Directors for Alberta Association for Better Communities dba Centre for Wholeness & Well Being, has opened numerous doors for her as a blossoming professional, and has allowed her to help others wherever, and however she can.
Liana Gilmour
As a fierce advocate for social and environmental change, Liana Gilmour is an experienced professional whose personal and professional passions cross paths where social reform begins. Liana is a promoter for advancing policy to better serve marginalized groups within her community. She hopes to blend her personal passion for serving the vulnerable, with her breadth of professional expertise. She brings an extensive resume in macro- level strategic planning, needs analysis, and resource allocation. She is an adept public speaker, a community advocate, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to participate on a board that will influence the social and political space for persons suffering from mental health and addiction.
Wanda Rowe
Executive Director at Lionsheart Wholeness Centre. Bio coming.