Shirley trained as a secondary science teacher and started her teaching career in BC’s Cariboo-Chilcotin region where she taught for 13 years. She spent three years as an elementary school principal before deciding to move back to Valemount, BC for her current position of K-12 school counsellor, which was too good to pass up. She is also currently teaching pre-service teachers a variety of relationship-focused courses in the UNBC School of Education. Shirley is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a particular interest in resilience, attachment, and infant mental health (especially with regards to caregiver support). In 2019, she completed a PhD in Health Sciences wherein she combined her various interests to look at sources of resilience of self-identified female teachers who managed multiple caregiving demands in their daily work. This work won her two national awards. She continues to do independent research and is an EdCan expert contributor for their “Well at Work” series. Shirley is currently training to be a Compassionate Systems Master Practitioner where she is completing a project on how connection and resilience can be fostered for people living and working in rural and remote settings where there are typically fewer local resources. She also supports this work through her newest venture: CompassioNorth Consulting.