Kelly Bernardin-Dvorak, MA, MFT, CCC

Individual, Couple, Family Therapy

Kelly Bernardin-Dvorak is a therapist, supervisor, and contract administrator at Jonah. She is a Relationship & Family Therapist & an Individual Counsellor (registered with CAMFT, CCPA, and the MB College of Social Workers *.)

Kelly works with individuals, couples, families, youth, & children, and also offers professional consultation/ supervision to other therapists and community helpers. For folks interested in the Enneagram, Kelly offers individual and group services built around this way of understanding ourselves. She also consults with community organizations about wellbeing initiatives and staff development.

Kelly holds a Masters Degree in Marriage & Family Therapy from Briercrest Seminary. Prior to establishing Jonah, she worked at the Addictions Foundation of MB as well as several other community based social service organizations. She has worked in community development and helping work for over 20 years, including providing therapy services and supporting mental health/wellbeing promotion in Northern MB Cree communities.

Kelly believes that spirituality plays an important role in counselling work, particularly because its often overlooked or diminished in dominant narratives about wellbeing. She counts it a privilege to help folks connect with their internal wisdom and expertise – their own local knowledge – which has been developing throughout their lives. She hopes that therapy supports people to author life stories that are not only congruent with their values and hopes, but stories that support pathways to wellbeing for individuals, families, and communities.

Groups and agencies invite Kelly to consult about planning and research, or to offer facilitation and training.  

Her counselling training is rooted in Family Therapy and Family Systems training, as well as Narrative Practice.  Kelly’s education included training in Post-Structural and non-oppressive approaches, as well as 150+ hours of supervised counselling.

Kelly also offers Reiki treatments and Cedar Bath ceremony for people interested in those supports.

Her roots are in her home community of St. Eustache, one of the oldest Métis communities in Manitoba. Her early life experiences there, as well as 20+ years of living in North End Winnipeg, have shaped her identity and her professional pursuits, including the decolonizing approaches and reconciliation values that we hope to embody at Jonah.

* While Kelly is registered with the MB College of Social Work due to current provincial regulatory requirements, she is not a social worker.  Her registration with MCSW is limited to providing counselling.

Dawn Chaput, BFA, DWheat

Expressive Arts Therapist - Adults & Children

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Dawn Chaput is Jonah’s Lead Expressive Arts Therapist. She sub-contracts therapy services at Jonah, and is a community based artist who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the University of Manitoba.  She completed graduate level Art Therapy training at the WHEAT Institute, and her helping work brings together her artistic passions and her dedication to community service. She has worked in support of families and young children for over a decade, and enjoys bringing these skills to Jonah’s diverse clientele. She has worked with individuals, families, and groups at Victor Mager Family Centre, South Winnipeg Family Information Centre, Winnipeg schools, and the City of Winnipeg. Dawn was awarded the Bookmates Family Award in recognition of outstanding dedication and commitment to families.

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Dawn has always been a lover of children’s books, especially because the illustrations and art can transport you to another world. She and her family (and sometimes her clients!) love the work of Shel Silverstein, because he is funny, wise, and simple all at once.

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Dawn uses an artwork journal to support her own mental health, because she’s found that this is one of the best ways to be grow in genuine self awareness. Dawn sees a strong self-relationship as an important resource during times of struggle. She has found many ways to incorporate art and creativity in the wellness journey for herself and others.

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Dawn is registered with CATA and helps coordinate learning gatherings for other Expressive Arts practitioners. She supports all Jonah therapists to develop their work in creative ways that are trauma informed, attentive to somatic experiences, and incorporate mindfulness, play, and art.  

Scott Turner, BSW, MSW-IK, RSW

Youth & Adult Therapist

Scott Turner is a youth and adult therapist and a Jonah sub-contractor. He holds an MSW-IK from the University of MB and is a registered social worker (RSW).  Scott appreciates all opportunities to support individuals and families, and has been active as a community helper and therapist for many years.

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Scott identifies as a settler Canadian and is an associate member of the Indigenous Helpers Society (IHS).  He is on a decolonizing journey that acknowledges the role of Canadian history and how ongoing colonial realities continue to shape our shared world and individual and collective stories.

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Scott practices with intention and care from all four aspects of human health & wellbeing: emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual. Scott has spent many years walking alongside youth and families in various roles. He approaches therapy from a strength-based, solution focused, and narrative methodologies.

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Scott is an active helper in many community initiatives -  if you spot his dented Nissan Frontier bouncing around on a Saturday morning, full of beds being delivered to families, please wave hello!

 

For self-care, Scott enjoys exploring the natural world with friends and family, as he tries to better understand where we come from and where we are going. He enjoys playing guitar but is reportedly "...not very good at it!"

Jamie Small, MA (cand)

Jonah student intern 

Jamie Small is an intern therapist at Jonah. He is completing the final steps of an MA Counselling through Briercrest Seminary, and is a student member of the Canadian Counselling & Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). He participates in a variety of supervision and learning opportunities at Jonah and is trained in trauma informed care and suicide intervention. 

 

Jamie works with youth, adults and families. His background is in working with children and youth in various settings including camps, schools and group-homes. Jamie is especially passionate about seeing the hope in every person's story.

 

Jamie strongly believes that the best counselling work happens when client are deciding the direction therapy takes; he is committed to learning a client centred way of working.  Jamie believes that a lot of good work happens when people further develop their own strengths and celebrate their resilience as part of therapy, acknowledging stories that may have been under-appreciated throughout people's lives.  He counts it a privilege to hear stories and work together on re-writing what our stories mean to us, and where the story is going. 

 

For self-care, Jamie spends time journalling, playing guitar, and being outside, going for walks and bike rides (as long as it's not -40!). 

Mikayla Lalama is an intern Art Therapist at Jonah. Mikayla holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University and is a practicing studio artist and painter. She is currently completing graduate level Art Therapy training at the WHEAT Institute.

As someone who turns to art to make sense of their inner and outer world, Mikayla is a firm believer in the transformative potential of the arts in healing. In addition to her Art Therapy internship, Mikayla works in community services, providing wrap-around supports and advocacy.

Mikayla seeks to help people connect with their inherent potential from a holistic, Person-Centered approach that utilizes expressive arts modalities.  Her community experience and art practice provide a backdrop for the respectful, compassionate way she works with people. 

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Mikayka Lalama, BFA

Art Therapy intern

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Carey Sinclair is Jonah's Traditional Knowledge Keeper and Reiki Master. Carey is from Pukatawagan Cree Nation, and carries many teachings and healing practices including Cedar Bath ceremonies. She has an advanced BA from the University of MB and an Aboriginal Health and Wellness Diploma.

Carey is an independent practitioner at Jonah, and she  supports the entire Jonah team to work in culturally safe and supportive ways, bringing in other teachers, elders, and helpers as needed. She also offers cultural supports to Jonah participants, and cares for various aspects of the Wooden Pipe Lodge.

Carey has many healing gifts, and these are shared with the community through Adego-Giizis Reiki and Healing, located at Jonah. Carey is called upon to offer support and healing at many community events, ceremonies, and programs, including being a knowledge keeper and research assistant for health related projects at the University of MB.

Carey also works at Ndinawe in support of the students in the Child and Youth Care Practitioner training. She is committed to trauma informed practice. 

Carey is a mother, grandmother, and yogi who loves to learn and be outdoors. 

Carey Sinclair, BA

Knowledge Keeper, Reiki Master

Lilian Bonito

Community based Action Therapy & Groups

Lilian Bonito is an independent practitioner at Jonah.  She is currently completing her BSW at University of Manitoba's inner city campus. 

 

 Lilian works with youth in the community delivering wrap-around supports that integrate a holistic approach to wellbeing. Her work varies between providing therapeutic sessions, helping folks access resources, networking with other helpers and supports, and navigating systems.

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Lilian also develops, organizes, and facilitates diverse workshops in group settings and individual sessions. Some workshops offered are around healthy relationships, sexual health, mental health, life skills, harm reduction, safety planning, and goal setting. Also, she has delivered workshops about learning how to reconcile and heal from the impacts of trauma pertaining to colonial oppression, racism, and marginalization.She supports young people who are interested in engaging in cultural ceremonies and reciprocity work within the community, including volunteering with Mama Bear Clan and assisting elders with caring for ceremony spaces.

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Her passion and favorite ways to spend time are land-based education, gaining traditional knowledge by attending ceremonies, and sharing those teachings with the community. Lilian feels this heart work is important to restore a sense of guidance, balance and belonging towards healing for individuals, families, and communities.

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Billy is an independent practitioner sharing space at Jonah. He works with children, youth, adults and families of all ages. He aims to create a safe and supportive space to build a trusting therapeutic relationship where clients can explore their feelings, emotions and issues that are important to them. Using trauma-informed and anti-oppressive approaches, and a wholistic, strengths based, bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework, clients are able to explore the whole of who they are, where they come from and how different struggles impact various parts their life. Billy helps clients to discover strengths they can use to overcome challenges they face.

Billy’s training in Focusing Oriented Therapy* and Trauma Informed Practice (FOT) has given him a skill set to work with clients who have been significantly impacted by trauma, both historical and intergenerational, as well as people who suffer with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

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* FOT is a body-centered and person-centered approach to healing. FOT is particularly effective in the treatment and healing of complex trauma caused by accident, sexual, physical, emotional abuse and neglect. The process allows clients to control the pace and direction of their healing.

Billy Dubery, BSW, RSW, FOT​

Therapist

Brendan Bernardin-Dvorak, BA

Administration

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Brendan Bernardin-Dvorak is Jonah's financial administrator and technical expert; he's in the background of many of our daily operations.  Brendan also coordinates research and support tasks related to our consulting work and facilitation opportunities.

Brendan loves being a support to a helping organization and seeks opportunities to contribute not only at Jonah but in the larger community.  He holds a bachelors degree in History from the University of Winnipeg, where he focused on Canadian studies and decolonizing our collective understanding of history. He looks forward to someday pursing graduate studies in Food History and continuing to learn about the land we live and work on, and his responsibilities as a settler Canadian. Aaannd.... his passion for cooking and preserving is a frequent gift to our team and our clients!