Come Meet Our CJI Staff
Jessica Zandbergen
Administrative Assistant
As CJI’s Administrative Assistant, Jessica is often the first contact for people reaching out to CJI. Not only is she a great resource for information, Jessica is also friendly and compassionate, and staff and clients value her support and knowledge with the various 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.
Travis Woolf
Collaborative Sentencing Facilitator
Travis holds a Master of Science in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies, as well as a Higher Education Teaching Certificate from Harvard University and Certificates in Mediation and Conflict Coaching from the Justice Institute of British Columbia. In addition to his background in restorative justice and conflict-management, Travis’ professional and volunteer work has spanned across organizational training, public education, program management, crisis intervention, suicide prevention, literacy development, disability and mental health support, and academic coaching. As a practitioner, Travis aims to engage with humour and humility – exploring the innumerable ways that emotional intelligence and transparency can foster connection and support in our communities.
Kaylie Maughan
Executive Director of Programs, Training & Certification Coordinator
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
As a descendant of a multi-generational Mennonite family, Jennifer draws on her community’s deep-rooted values of peace and reconciliation, while also recognizing the complex settler history it carries. She continues to learn what it means to live out restorative values at work and in her personal life. Since 2009, she has played a key role in supporting Community Justice Initiatives, contributing her expertise in business management and finance to strengthen its restorative justice programs. Actively engaged in day-to-day operations, Jennifer works closely with the Staff and Board to foster a supportive and effective organizational environment. Outside of work, she finds joy in music, kayaking and swimming at various BC lakes, and nurturing life in her gardens. Jennifer currently lives on the unceded ancestral territories of the q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), Máthxwi (Matsqui), se’mya’me (Semiahmoo), and q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) First Nations.
David L. Gustafson
Senior Advisor, Restorative Opportunities Facilitator
David is not only a Senior Advisor at CJI, he is also one of its 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 Restorative Opportunities Program (formerly 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, and a Master’s Degree with a focus on Counselling and Peace and Conflict Studies. 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.
Danny Ferguson
Restorative Opportunities Coordinator
As CJI’s Restorative Opportunities Coordinator, Danny brings a wealth of experience from his 19 years as a frontline youth worker and director of a non-profit youth agency, where he dedicated himself to creating safe, supportive spaces for young people and staff alike. His journey has since evolved into community development, outreach, engagement, and fostering connections across diverse groups, including 2SLGBSTQI+ communities, faith leaders, government officials, and business executives. Danny holds a graduate certificate in executive leadership and is a Certified International Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), with a focus on trauma recovery through somatic practices. He also maintains a private practice, where he continues to support individuals on their healing and wellness journeys. As an immigrant to Canada, Danny values deeply the opportunity to (un)learn about and engage with the lands, peoples and cultures of the q̓ʷɑ̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), Máthxwi (Matsqui), and se’mya’me (Semiahmoo) First Nations, integrating these learnings into his work to foster peace and restorative opportunities. Outside of his professional endeavors, Danny is a visual artist, sports enthusiast, motorcyclist, and pilot. He cherishes his roles as a husband and father, and is committed to continuing his journey of learning and growth both personally and within the communities he serves.
Emily Seggie
Restorative Action Facilitator
Emily joins CJI with a background in Human Resource consulting and a Master’s in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University. She focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), helping organizations foster inclusive, accessible work environments through benchmark reporting, training, and forming specialized committees to further organizational commitments. Emily brings experience facilitating dialogues that seek to support individuals in addressing interpersonal and systemic challenges in the workplace. In addition to her professional background, Emily brings volunteer experience with youth-centered mentorship programs at John Howard Society Victoria and Big Brothers Big Sisters Langley. Emily is dedicated to deconstructing colonial ideologies and structures that impede the full participation, appreciation, and inclusion of all, and she is committed to relearning through critical reflection. She currently lives on the unceded ancestral territories of the q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), Máthxwi (Matsqui), se’mya’me (Semiahmoo), and q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) First Nations.
Ellie Sand
Collaborative Sentencing Facilitator
Ellie is just beginning her work as a restorative justice facilitator and brings with her an interdisciplinary outlook informed, both by prior academic experience, as well as lived experience as a participant in a restorative process. Ellie completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington and studied Counselling at the graduate level at Texas Woman’s University, with a focus on relationship issues and conflict resolution. Existential and Adlerian theories have since continued to inform her outlook on helping professions. She completed the PeerConnect BC provincial peer support worker certification in April of 2024 before beginning her training with CJI shortly thereafter. She aims to bring a trauma-informed outlook to her role as a facilitator and is very interested in the ways in which shame impacts communication and restorative processes.
Melissa Thorne
Restorative Action Facilitator
Melissa brings over 15 years of experience in restorative justice and probation, beginning her career in the United Kingdom where she specialized in addressing sexual offending and supporting rehabilitation through case management, treatment programs, and Circles of Support and Accountability. During this time, she worked closely with individuals and communities to foster safety, accountability, and meaningful reintegration, developing a deep appreciation for the transformative potential of restorative approaches in justice and community settings. Her work was guided by a commitment to evidence-based practice and a belief in the capacity for change when people are supported with dignity and respect. Since moving to Canada, Melissa has held a range of leadership positions where she has built and supported high-performing teams rooted in the values of transparency, trust, accountability, and inclusion. She is passionate about cultivating environments where people feel empowered to contribute their perspectives and strengths, and where learning and collaboration drive meaningful outcomes. Returning to the field of restorative practice feels like a natural homecoming for Melissa — an opportunity to reconnect with the principles that first inspired her career and to continue advancing community-based, relationship-centered approaches to justice and healing.
Harnoor Sidhu
Restorative Action Facilitator
Harnoor joins CJI with the belief that healing begins with listening. With roots in clinical research, teaching and community based support, she has dedicated her work to understanding how people recover in body, mind, and relationship. Her experience with wellness has deepened her appreciation for the body’s resilience, while her fascination with the human brain continually inspires her to explore how thought, emotion, and healing intertwine. Currently still pursuing her studies, she carries a lifelong joy for learning that shapes her approach to every space she enters. Whether in a studio, a lecture hall, or a restorative circle, Harnoor strives to create connection through empathy, curiosity, and evidence-informed care. Beyond her professional path, she finds expression in visual arts and movement, both creative outlets that remind her of balance, presence, and the many ways we make sense of the world. To her, restoration is not only something we facilitate in others, but a practice we nurture within ourselves.
Consultants
Zofia Switkowski
Consultant, Trainer
Zofia brings a passionate and youth-centered approach to her role of Consultant and Contract 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 of all ages. Zofia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Psychology from Simon Fraser University, and has recently completed her Master’s of Counselling. She lives with her partner and extended family on unceded, ancestral territories of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Warren Hooley
Trainer, Consultant
Warren Hooley is originally from Penticton, British Columbia. Having mixed roots of Okanagan/Syilx, English and Ukrainian heritage, Warren has passionately facilitated over 2500 workshops over the past 13 years on topics like Compassionate Communication (NVC), A Values Approach to Decolonization and Healthy Masculinity. Today, living in Vancouver B.C, Warren’s overall vision is to help create communities where every single person can thrive and live a sustainable fulfilling life. Warren likes to weave in engaging activities, fascinating diagrams and practice time for skills that can create genuine change in people’s lives. More of Warren’s bio and story can be found on his professional website here
Francesca Tan
Facilitator / Trainer
Francesca Tan (she/her) approaches conflict and learning as communal practices shaped by tender care, radical curiosity, and deep belonging. Grounded in her lived experiences and relationships across diverse communities, Francesca integrates teachings from Transformative Justice, neurodiversity, movement, and the arts to support spaces of growth and repair. Francesca’s learning has woven together formal studies and community-rooted experiences. She pursued specialized mediation training through the Justice Institute of BC and Harvard Law School, alongside academic grounding in Organizational Leadership. She also holds an ARTC in Piano Pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory of Music, where she explored the relational and cognitive dimensions of sound. During her time as a piano teacher, Francesca worked closely with Residential School Warriors, co-creating musical spaces that honoured their stories and supported emotional expression and cultural resilience. Through collaborative soundwork, she witnessed how music is a welcoming for remembering, reclamation, and deep healing. As a dancer, she developed her practice through rhythm, embodiment, and improvisation—treating movement as a language of connection and understanding. She welcomes conflict as choreography: shaped by movement, silence, and the precious music created together by the participants. In her role as sessional faculty in an undergrad program, Francesca co-journeys with learners in exploring conflict transformation in their leadership context. Grounded in sacred relationality, she nurtures dialogical spaces where healing, accountability, and collective care are centered—spaces that honour lived experience, reciprocity, and the wisdom of community. Francesca continues to nurture her practice in response to the land, stories, and people she is in relationship with—learning always, listening deeply, moving gently.
Jodi Rai
Human Resources Consultant, heyHUMANTIS
Jodi Rai is a dynamic and accomplished professional with a passion for fostering positive workplace cultures and driving organizational transformation. With a career spanning over two decades in human resources, leadership development, and strategic consulting, Jodi has established herself as a versatile and impactful consultant, coach and trainer in both public and private sectors. Her career is characterized by a unique blend of critical thinking, empathetic stewardship, and a commitment to fostering inclusive and high-performing teams where humanity at work takes precedence. Her diverse experiences across multiple sectors position her as a valuable asset in navigating complex organizational challenges and driving meaningful change. Her “superpowers” include: thoughtful communication, idea synthesis, strategic Problem-solving, adaptability, and holistic perspective. Connect with Jodi here.
Marcela Villaça
Facilitator / Trainer
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. Marcela is 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. Outside work, you will most likely find her gardening, playing soccer, or talking about food.
Shawn Kangro
Facilitator / Youth Worker
Shawn’s approach combines both a land-based and canoe experience with Restorative Justice. A multi-day canoe journey can help bring people to a calm and regulated state of mind. Shawn works to combine the connection to self and community gained from land-based programming with accountability and other restorative justice principles. Since 2010, he has worked in therapeutic and youth justice land-based programming both in coastal Alaska and around Vancouver Island. His clientele is primarily youth, including many youth from First Nations communities along the West Coast. Shawn knows first-hand the importance of healing-centred approaches and dealing with conflict in a restorative manner, informed by camping and travelling by canoe for many weeks with participants, and overcoming the natural and social challenges that arose. Shawn is a Restorative Justice Facilitator, leading conflict circles within the justice system and within schools. He has also worked as a Victim Services Case Worker, gaining a greater understanding of the criminal justice system. Shawn has co-developed Youth Leadership Paddle Programs for multiple communities, helping youth to believe in themselves and reconnect with land. Shawn is a proud father of two children who enjoy spending time outdoors as a family. He and his family are grateful to call home the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh. Shawn is second generation Canadian, his heritage being from Greece and Estonia.
More programs offered by Shawn can be found here.
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Board and Advisors
RUSSELL NELSON
Chair
TRACEY CARSON
Board Member
PETER FRASER
Board Advisor
FAE CHATO-MANCHUK
Vice-Chair
VIC DERKSEN SIEMENS
Board Member
ALISON MCVEIGH
Secretary
FR. MAKOTO WATANABE
Board Member
SCOTT NICHOLS
Treasurer
KARI HALL
Board Member
