An immigrant to Canada, Brian had lived on three continents before he was four years old. He's travelled across Canada numerous times, by train, bus and car, and has lived in four provinces, on two coasts and in Nunavut. Brian is grateful to live and work on Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
 
Brian is an experiential educator and facilitator who specializes in creating spaces and places for people to live into their whole selves. Specifically  this looks like:

• Meaningful Youth Engagement 
• Circles of Trust®
• Supporting boys and men to disrupt harmful expressions of masculinity to explore a more compassionate self
• Leadership development 
• Facilitation training

Brian has a long history with HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development. In his early role as staff he led wilderness adventures and leadership training for youth. As a Program Associate he deliver vocational and employability skills development projects for youth and young adults. Brian was on the staff team when they researched and created HeartWood’s Framework for Community Youth Development. He delivers trainings in CYD and works with systems and communities to be more inclusive of young people. Brian was HeartWood's Executive Director from 2004-2008.

Brian has been prepared by Parker J. Palmer and  the Center for Courage & Renewal to facilitate Circles of Trust® retreats and events which support individual renewal for life and vocation. Brian combine his expertise in working with young people, with Circles of Trust®, to offer The Courage to Lead for Young Leaders and Activists retreats.

Brian has worked across Canada and has delivered Community Youth Development trainings in Malawi, Africa and Victoria, Australia. He has  facilitated Circles of Trust® in Canada and the United States.

Brian is a writer and singer-songwriter and lives in a straw-bale house he built on an old farm property in the Mi'kmaq district of Kespukwitk, in south-western, Nova Scotia, Canada. Brian has written a manuscript of poetry, Ancestral Heirlooms, which explores liminality and the spaces in-between. He also writes creative non-fiction essays and articles, and has been published in Anchor, Salt Scapes Magazine, and most recently in Existare Literary Journal, among others. He plays music and hosts an Intergenerational Open Mic in Bridgewater.  Brian's follies include restoring a 150-year old barn, growing an arboretum, working on a variety of stone-wall and stone circle projects, and canoeing in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.

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Certifications
Dialogue for Peaceful Change Conflict Mediation, 2016
ASPIRE: Model of Education, Design and Leadership  
                      Level 1 and 2,  2000-2001
Wilderness and Remote First Aid,

Associated Links
Center for Courage & Renewal 
HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development 
Tatamagouche Centre
T.O.N.E.
150 Profiles, The Philanthropist.ca