JENNIFER SUZOR
Jennifer Suzor is an experienced and Accredited Family, Child Protection and Elder Mediator and Trainer based in Windsor, Ontario. She is also a recognized Mediator on the Saskatchewan Early Resolution roster. Having practiced family law at all levels of the Court, she now focuses on neutral consultation and mediation. She is committed to training family mediators and is a frequent speaker at conferences. As the co-developer of Family Mediation Training Canada she has trained throughout Canada and now, via the online platform made available due to the pandemic, for many individuals across the country. Previously, Jennifer also developed and taught the Advanced Mediation Course at York University and is a frequent lecturer at Windsor Law School.
People who have taken this training consistently rate Jennifer’s training ability at 100% effective in what she does. Many have commented that the experience of training was “life changing”.
Jennifer practiced family law since 1988 and was Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Family Law in 2004. She served as the President of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation from 2013 to 2018.
Jennifer is also on the Board of Directors for Windsor Life Centre, a Woman’s Addiction Treatment Centre and the Past-President of the Autism Society of Ontario (Windsor) and the Summit Centre for Preschoolers with Autism.
in 2016, Jennifer received the President’s Award from the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts, Ontario Chapter, in recognition of her volunteer work as Co-Chair of the Walsh Family Negotiation Competition and her vision of creating a series of events in Windsor called “Changing the Culture of Conflict Resolution in Family Breakdown Roundtable Dinner Series” for the Judiciary, Counsel, Psychologists, Social Workers and others who work with family breakdown in Windsor. She is the President of Bridging Family Conflict, the service provider in Windsor for the Ministry of Attorney General subsidized mediation and information services.
Jennifer can be reached at jsuzor@familylawspecialist.ca or at 519-252-2772. Please see www.familylawspecialist.ca for more information about Jennifer’s Mediation practice.
VICKY VISCA
Vicky Visca has been a Family Mediator for over 35 years. She received her Accreditation with the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM) in 1997 and she has been a Child Protection Mediator since 2006. Vicky has designation as an Open Adoption Specialist. Vicky is currently the Vice-President of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation and she is the Chair of the Child Protection Committee for OAFM.
Vicky is a provincially approved instructor for Child Protection Mediation training and she is also an instructor for Family Mediation. She provides consultative and training services to other Family and Child Protection Mediators as well as in-service training to a multitude of child welfare and mental health agencies throughout the province in relation to Child Protection and Family Mediation.
Vicky has contracts with the Ministry of the Attorney General for the provision of On-Site and Off-Site Mediation, Information and Referral Coordination and Mandatory Information Programs for Kingston and the Quinte Region.
ELIZABETH STERRITT
DAN ASHBOURNE
DAN ASHBOURNE, Executive Director, Centre for Children and Families in the Justice system. Dan Ashbourne leads the renowned Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System based on London, Ontario, and through the LFCC and ADR-Link, has been on the forefront of bringing family mediation services to the most vulnerable in our society. Dan will share his extensive knowledge about the use of social science to inform parenting mediation, including research on the developmental stages of children, younger children and shared parenting, and the “voice” of children in family mediation.
DR. LYNDA ASHBOURNE
Dr. Lynda McTavish Ashbourne, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Family Relations & Applied Nutrition (Couple & Family Therapy) at the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She teaches theory, research, and practicum courses in the Couple & Family Therapy Masters of Science program. She conducts research in the area of family relationships and couple & family therapy training practices.
Dr. Ashbourne’s research has included investigating, together with non-immigrant and immigrant populations, the challenges of parent-adolescent relationships – more specifically negotiating time and space together and apart, as well as intergenerational storytelling.
DR. DENISE WHITEHEAD
Denise Whitehead is an Assistant Professor in Sexuality, Marriage and Family Studies (SMF) at St. Jerome’s University. Dr. Whitehead completed an undergraduate degree in Sociology (BA, University of Western Ontario). She attended Osgoode Hall Law School (JD) and is a member of the Bar of Ontario. She pursued graduate studies in Family Relations and Human Development (University of Guelph) earning a M.Sc. and PhD. Dr. Whitehead has had a long research association with the Centre for Families, Work and Well-being at the University of Guelph where she also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship.
Dr. Whitehead conducts interdisciplinary socio-legal research and policy analysis on issues related to the shared custody of children, child support, fathering after separation and divorce, and caregiving for individuals with episodic disabilities. She has been at the forefront of research that has sought to understand the child’s perspective of shared custody. She has been invited to speak to judges, family law professionals and family law agency staff about her research. Dr. Whitehead’s teaching focuses on law, policy and family.
Jared completed his Master of Social Work Degree at the University of Toronto with a specialization in Child, Youth, and Families. He holds certificates in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Advanced Family Mediation, and has specialized training in therapeutic interventions and addictions work, including process addictions such as problem gambling and gaming. Jared is a private practice clinician with extensive experience working in the field of high conflict separation and divorce. Beyond his clinical practice he serves on the clinical panel with the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, and provides court connected family mediation with Mediate393. He is also a speaker and trainer on the topics of family and individual mental health, and has taught domestically and internationally on the topics of mediation and parenting coordination.
Jared is a former associate at Riverdale Mediation, and has practiced at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Frontenac Youth Services, and the Distress Centre of Toronto. He has conducted Section 34 YCJA assessments for youth in conflict with the law, and has also conducted assessment for The Arson Prevention Program for Children (TAPP-C).
MATTHEW KROFKCHIK
Matthew Krofchick is a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV) and a Valuations Manager at Krofchick Valuations in Toronto. Matthew specializes in forensic accounting including income determination and business valuations for matrimonial purposes. His work includes complex tracing analysis, income determination for child and spousal support calculations, pension valuations, and business valuations. He has led a team of valuation and forensic specialists in numerous valuation and investigative assignments in many diverse industries.
In addition to holding the designation of CBV, Matthew is also a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Chartered Professional Account (CPA), Certified Management Consultant (CMC), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), and is collaboratively trained. Matthew also sits on the board of the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO).
Kelley McKeatingKelley is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and has been a fully-qualified actuary since 1995. She is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and of the Society of Actuaries. From 2011 to 2015, she was Chair of the Committee on Actuarial Evidence of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. She currently chairs the Designated Group that is responsible for reviewing and recommending changes to the Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ Standards of Practice for Actuarial Evidence. In 2020 and 2021, Kelley served on FSRA’s Technical Advisory Committee for Family Law Pension Matters.
Kelley spent most of her early career specializing in pensions and employee benefits. In 2005, she began to work in the field of expert actuarial evidence. She has prepared more than 3,900 reports to date and has testified as an expert in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland & Labrador.
In the context of family law, she assists clients by providing marriage breakdown pension valuations, lump-sum support determinations, “Boston” calculations, and by helping to draft the pension-related sections of separation agreements.
LENE MADSEN
We acknowledge with gratitude the Honourable Justice Lene Madsen. She was a founding partner in Family Mediation Training and co-creator of our training modules. Lene was an experienced mediation and trainer based in London, Ontario, where her practice, Bluewater Mediation, was devoted to family mediation, arbitration, teaching and training in alternative dispute resolution, and academic writing on issues related to family law and dispute resolution.
Lene was an Accredited Member of the Ontario Association of Family Mediators, a Certified Family Arbitrator (ADRIO), and a Child Protection Mediator (OAFM). She holds a Masters of Laws in Alternate Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School, in addition to her LLB. Lene is past Adjunct Faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she taught an advanced seminar in Family Law.
Lene had diverse professional experience, both in Canada and internationally, which enriched and informed all aspects of her teaching and practice. She has worked in post-war Bosnia, facilitating collaborative processes between agencies and communities, and in the international development context, in South Asia and the Caribbean.
Lene published on a range of issues, including on issues related to family law, family mediation standards and programs, and screening for power imbalances and domestic violence. Lene spoke and presented extensively on topics related to family law and mediation.
At the time of her appointment, Lene was the Vice Chair of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation (OAFM), where she was also Chair of the Accreditation Committee. She was also a Board Member of the Ontario Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC-O).
Lene’s appointment to the Bench was a great asset to the Province of Ontario as she is a knowledgeable, dynamic, and passionate trainer who offered students a rich learning experience, which merges the practical with the theoretical, ensuring participants have the required foundation to excel in their mediation and dispute resolution practices. Lene will remain a Guest Presenter at the training courses. Her contribution to the excellence in training that we have is immeasurable.
