Joel Yanofsky
Joel Yanofsky is the author of four books, including Homo Erectus, a collection of comic essays, Jacob’s Ladder, a novel, and Mordecai & Me: An Appreciation of a Kind, which won the 2003 Mavis Gallant QWF Non-fiction Prize and The Canadian Jewish Book Award. He’s a regular book reviewer for The Montreal Gazette and has written for a variety of publications, including The Toronto Star, Canadian Geographic, The National Post, Walrus, and The Village Voice. He’s won two National Magazine Awards as well as The Malahat Review’s 2008 Creative Non-fiction prize for his personal essay “Bad Day”. He’s also co-written, with Peter Curtis, the musical Love U: The Grad School Musical, which was performed in California in April 2008. His latest book is Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education in Autism, published by Penguin Canada. He lives in Montreal with his wife and son.
Erin Barker
Erin Barker is a member of the Centre for Research in Human Development and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University. She completed her graduate training in Lifespan Developmental Psychology at the Universities of Victoria (MA) and Alberta (PhD) and then completed two postdoctoral fellowships before joining the faculty at Concordia. Her first postdoctoral fellowship was with the Child and Family Research Section at the U.S. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The second postdoctoral fellowship was a SSHRC funded fellowship with the Lifespan Family Research Laboratory at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Barker’s program of research follows the family life course perspective and consists of two interrelated streams. Her first line of research aims to identify contextual factors that facilitate or hinder individual adjustment to and well-being during the transition to adulthood. The second line of research aims to describe how caregiving demands associated with parenting a vulnerable adolescent into adulthood impact parental well-being during midlife and old age. Additional details about her ongoing research can be found on the Department of Psychology website.
Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli
Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli was born on July 28, 1984 in Montreal, Quebec. He was born with Arthrogryposis a birth defect affecting the bone structure, joint movement, and muscle growth in his legs. As a result, Luca has been walking with crutches from a very young age. He has been dancing (B-boying) since he was 15-years-old and has made a major impact in the Worldwide Breakdance (B-boy) Community. Luca is the founder and creator of the ILL-Abilities™ Crew, the first and only international B-boy crew comprised of the worlds best “ILL-Abled” dancers. The purpose of ILL-Abilities™ is to show the world that if we are creative and adapt ourselves to any situation than anything is possible, with the idea, No Excuses, No Limits!
Luca has competed in some of the world’s biggest events and has been featured on many international media sources, including Americas Got Talent, Much Music, MBC Korea, CBC, TF1, NBC Today Show and much more. Luca also performs around the world as a Motivational Speaker, teaching his audience that life is all about positive attitude. In 2010, Luca was honoured with his biggest career accomplishment, so far, by headlining and co-directing the “One Inspires All” dance segment at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Opening Ceremonies. Recently, Luca was featured on hit TV Show “So You Think You Can Dance Canada” where he made it through to the 3rd round of Finals week making history as first dancer with a disability making it that far on any of the SYTYCD series. Luca has also had some cameo appearances in some feature films including: “Kickin it Old School” (2007), “Sur Le Rythme” (2011), “Cochon de Gaza” (2011).
For more information on Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli check out his website www.lazylegz.com or check out his crazy videos on Youtube.
Jean-Philippe Gouin
His research interests are divided in three inter-related domains: 1) the psychosocial and physiological mechanisms through which chronic stress leads to overproduction of inflammatory mediators; 2) the inter-relationships among social behavior, oxytocin production, and physiological stress responses; and 3) the interpersonal processes promoting or hindering adjustment to chronic stress.
Nathan Leibowitz
Nathan Leibowitz has been consulting with individuals and small business owners for their wealth planning needs. After completing a bachelors and Masters in Business Administration at the Schulich School of Business at York University, Nathan embarked on a career that encompassed tax planning for small business. He worked for a boutique accounting firm in Toronto prior to moving to Montreal. He started building his practice and is now looked at as a resource for his clients in many of their financial transactions.
Special Needs Planning
Many families have complex planning needs due to a special needs child or adult. In today's environment, there are a myriad or programs and regulations to be aware of when formulating a plan of this nature. He has been consulting with families in this regard, and has developed a specialized team of lawyers, accountants, notaries, insurance specialists and more that are well versed in these areas.
Click here to view his website
Robin Bernstein, Youth Success Coach
Robin Bernstein holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Ottawa. She is also a Certified ADHD Coach for teenagers and college students. She has over 10 years of teaching and coaching experience and specializes in working with at-risk youth, youth with learning disabilities, and youth with special needs. Robin is also a columnist for Inspirations Newspaper, a snapshot of Montreal’s special needs community, sponsored by the English Montreal School Board, and is the Education Blogger for The Suburban, Montreal’s largest weekly English newspaper. Throughout her career thus far, Robin has had an extremely high success rate when working with youth, as she provides them with the necessary support of goal-setting and accountability checks, which in turn empowers them and leads them towards success.
For more information, visit www.brightsidelearning.com
