Come Meet Our CJI Staff
Jessica Zandbergen
Administrative Assistant
As CJI’s Administrative Assistant, Jessica is often the first contact for people looking for CJI services. Not only is she a great resource for information, Jessica is friendly and efficient, and staff value her support with the programs we operate. Jessica comes to CJI with a Legal Secretary background, and is an integral part of the CJI team. In her spare time Jessica enjoys running, reading, and spending time at the many west coast beaches.
Nathan Larsen
VOMP Facilitator
Nathan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work (BSW) and has extensive experience working with a wide variety of individuals with complex mental health, socio-economic and behavioural needs. When working with people, Nathan takes a holistic and strengths-based approach. Before his time at CJI, he was an educational assistant for 12 years in many specialized elementary and high school programs and regularly took on various one-on-one care work contracts. In recent years, Nathan has also worked for Abbotsford’s Interagency Team doing housing retention and outreach work as well as a John Howard Society halfway house with built-in indigenous cultural programs. Nathan now works as a Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP) facilitator at CJI. Nathan prides himself in highlighting the strengths in those around him and taking the time to connect with others by starting from where they are at and honouring their systems. Aside from his work, Nathan enjoys many board sports, playing drums with fellow musicians and helping his family and friends stay positive and healthy.
Marcela Villaça
Restorative Action Coordinator
Marcela is an uninvited immigrant settler on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. At the tail end of her undergraduate degree at Quest University, she had the opportunity to sit in an RJ circle and experience the incredible potential for human connection this format creates. It then became clear to her how much we are missing out on when we leave our hearts outside the classroom. For the past three years, Marcela has been a Restorative Justice facilitator leading classroom circles, civil and school-based mediations, professional development, social justice programming, and more. At the core of this work lies her dream to see our communities shift away from models of conflict and competition so we can build our path towards equity, accessibility, and peace. Marcela is thrilled to become a part of the Restorative Action program and be supported by the incredibly competent team at CJI as she gets to know her way around schools in Langley. Outside work, you will most likely find her gardening, playing soccer, or talking about food.
Kaylie Maughan
Executive Director of Programs
Kaylie is a neurodivergent settler, of Irish and Slovak heritage, who was raised on the unceded stolen lands of the Skwxwú7mesh Uxwumixw (Squamish), Səlílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations in Coastal British Columbia. Kaylie has been a continuously active complex case restorative practitioner since 2006, and has been a Supervisor and Coordinator of a number of Restorative Justice Programs in British Columbia. She has also led and co-created a number of award-winning school-based restorative initiatives in a number of British Columbia and Alberta and Ontario School Districts. Kaylie has Bachelor’s degrees in Criminology and Psychology and from 2001-2010 worked extensively with families, youths and adults in the forensic mental health field and with young adults in residential complex care and psychiatric outpatient settings. Additionally, Kaylie has certificates in a number of areas including Community Violence Threat and Risk Assessment, Non-violent communication, Appreciative Inquiry, Family Mediation and Conferencing, Workplace Conflict Intervention, and Circle Based Group Work. Kaylie’s passion is to work in service towards decolonization, equity and liberation for others and herself, and is focused on communal relearning, collaborative education, and training.
Jennifer Siemens
Executive Director of Operations
Jennifer is directly involved in the ongoing operations of Community Justice Initiatives. She works closely with staff and board to ensure they feel supported in their roles and programs. With a background in business management, finance and marketing, she has been assisting CJI’s restorative justice programs since 2009. As a descendent of a multi-generational Mennonite family, Jennifer integrates her innate peacemaking heritage both at work and in her personal life. When not at the office, Jennifer enjoys music, reading, kayaking, travelling and tending to her gardens.
David L. Gustafson
Senior Advisor, VOMP Facilitator, Trainer
David is not only a Senior Advisor at CJI, he is also one of our founders. He developed and directed the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Langley, BC, that helped to establish CJI as the society which administered other community justice and therapeutic programs, such as the Victim Offender Mediation Program (VOMP) now in use in Canada’s prisons, coast to coast. A therapist in private practice, and a registered clinical counsellor, he holds a PhD in Criminology from the Faculty of Law at KU Leuven, Belgium, a master’s degree with a focus on Counselling and Peace and Conflict Studies, and is also an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology. David also led in the design and implementation of highly regarded programs for sexual offenders, and adult survivors of incest and sexual assault, at Stave Lake Correctional Centre. He assists and consults with correctional services and other organisations, nationally and internationally, interested in developing programs similar to those run by CJI.
Zofia Switkowski
Restorative Action Facilitator, Consultant & Trainer
Zofia brings a passionate, youth-centered approach to the role of Restorative Action Facilitator and Trainer at CJI. After a personal experience with restorative justice in adolescence, she grew into restorative work through coordinating and facilitating roles with the North Shore Restorative Justice Society’s RJ in Education Program, the Alternatives to Violence Project, and Shaking the Movers Youth Conferences on children’s rights. Zofia conceptualizes restorative justice as an ever-expanding approach to (re)building just and equitable relationships on individual, interpersonal and systemic levels. She is committed to (re)learning restorative justice as a decolonized, anti-oppressive, liberatory practice beyond co-opted Eurocentric models. Her facilitation and training background includes professional development for educators, youth and staff dialogue circles, conferencing, peer mediation programming, and community-building circles with folks all ages. Zofia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Psychology from Simon Fraser University, and is currently pursuing her Master’s of Counselling. She lives with her partner and extended family on unceded, ancestral territories of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Tayler Slovicsak
Restorative Action Facilitator
Tayler is thrilled to be a part of Community Justice Initiatives working in the Restorative Action Program. Her passion for working with children and youth, to understand themselves and the world around them, is greatly fulfilled as a Restorative Action Facilitator. She is a student of Thompson Rivers University in the midst of completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. With an anatomical yoga background, much of her experience working with kids is through movement and breath. Outside of the office, you can typically find Tayler moving and breathing in various ways, with friends, family and her dog!
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Board and Advisors
RUSSELL NELSON
Chair
PETER FRASER
Board Member
FAE CHATO-MANCHUK
Vice-Chair
VIC DERKSEN SIEMENS
Board Member
ALISON MCVEIGH
Secretary
FR. MAKOTO WATANABE
Board Member
SCOTT NICHOLS
Treasurer