Shaping Our World

Our first-ever roundtable discussion features veteran educators from the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (Brian Marenchin, Greg Peck and Paul Picard) and Muskoka Woods' Director of Schools & Groups, Lucas Durocher, chatting about youth development, the importance of camp and extracurriculars, parenting tips and more!

Ray Johnston is the founder of Bayside Church, Thrive Communications and Thriving Churches International (TCI), which hosts the largest pastors and church staff conferences in the western United States. A master communicator, Ray is well known for his books, The Hope Quotient, and Jesus Called. He has spoken face to face to more than two million people over the past 45 years. Ray stopped by the podcast to talk about challenges and successes in modern parenting while sharing many insights, helpful tips and personal stories. Not to be missed!

We're starting off Season 3 of the Shaping Our World podcast by bringing back one of our earliest and most insightful guests — Tim Elmore. Tim is founder and CEO of Growing Leaders, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization created to develop emerging leaders. He has written over 35 books and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, Psychology Today along with appearing on CNN and Fox & Friends. Tim is back with us again to unpack some new insights on generational differences, leadership development and how to best nurture the young leaders in your life.  

Carrie Patterson, Managing Director of MindUP™ | The Goldie Hawn Foundation, has a long, extensive and proven career specializing in non-profit and youth development organizations. She recently stopped by the podcast to discuss how we can help our children develop the knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions, and face the challenges of the 21st century.

Chloe Maxwell first travelled to Africa with her family when she was eight years old and spent the following six summers helping lead Heart for Africa service trips with her family to Eswatini, Malawi and Kenya. Today, Chloe is the Marketing & Communication Specialist at Heart for Africa (Canada), where she shares her love for Heart for Africa with fellow Canadians. Chloe stopped by the podcast to talk about her personal service journey along with tips for parents on how they can help their children find purpose and passion while engaging more with the world around them.

One of the country's leading parenting experts, Jennifer Kolari is a highly sought after international speaker and childhood family therapist. Kolari is also the founder of Connected Parenting, an author, and host of her own weekly podcast. She recently brought her wisdom, quick wit and down-to-earth style to the Shaping Our World podcast, offering real life examples as well as practical and effective tools and strategies to enhance the parent-child bond.

As an ordained pastor with eight years of post-secondary education, Mike Gordon has found a unique way to combine theology and comedy, which has made him one of the most in-demand communicators around! To date, he has spoken to thousands of young people at nearly 3,000 events across the globe, including churches, conferences, camps, music festivals, bible colleges and corporate training sessions. Mike recently stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to talk about all-things faith and how it can benefit youth, children and families.

Dr. Erin Watson is an educator, speaker, author and co-founder of The Expert Talk, a Guelph, Ont.-based provider of mental health first-aid training. Dr. Erin specializes in young women's and girls empowerment with an emphasis on sexuality, identity development, body image, relationships and digital culture. She stopped by the podcast to discuss digital culture and its impacts — both good and bad —  on youth development and the greater family unit.

Dr. Lawrence Jackson is a licensed psychotherapist and sports performance coach in the NBA and NFL. He's also a speaker, author, and licensed marriage and family therapist in the states of Nevada and Florida. He stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to share a piece of the P.I.E.: Promoting mental health awareness, Inspiring youth and Empowering others.

After graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2005, a series of random events led Allie Kearns into a career she had never considered: professional nanny. For the past 16 years, Allie has worked for high-profile families in the sports and entertainment world. She has travelled the globe with her nanny families, supporting them in helping raise their young kids on the road. Allie stopped by the podcast to chat about healthy ways families can adapt to change, the benefits of breaking routines, and other parenting tips she’s garnered from her years as a nanny.

Charmaine Hammond is a highly sought-after keynote and workshop speaker, best-selling author and educator. She was a family mediator for many years, a former registered social worker, and has developed multiple programs for schools, families and organizations that work with families. Charmaine stopped by the podcast to discuss the importance of developing trust and healthy relationships with our children, and how both can assist with conflict resolution at home.

Dan Noble grew up around sports. His journey through minor sports landed him a spot on the University of Guelph football team and even took him across the pond to play semi-professional American football in Europe. Today, Dan uses his experience, education and passion to train young athletes. His work as a performance consultant and coordinator has taken him beyond his own company, Noble Sport and Performance, into current roles as the Director of Hockey for Upper Canada College and the Director of Performance for the Oshawa General and Halifax Thunderbirds. Dan recently stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to talk about coaching, encouragement and the ways we can help our young athletes grow — not just physically, but in all aspects of their live

You've just picked up your kids from Summer Camp at Muskoka Woods. All your questions about how the week was just illicits one-word answers. "Fine," "good," "okay." This episode features staff who run activities and programs and gives you the inside scoop so you can ask the questions that will give you full, rich answers and lead to great discussion.

Charles Roberts is the CEO of LiveDifferent, a Canadian charity that is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives. In their work, LiveDifferent has spoken to 1.6 million youth, built over 500 homes and schools around the world and mentored more than 4,500 students, interns and volunteers.

Charles stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to chat about LiveDifferent and its humanitarian and community efforts, as well as ways that we can influence children and youth to care for others, be generous at all times, lead by example, and to always maintain a learning mindset.

Richard Culatta is an internationally recognized leader in technology and learning. He is the CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which is a non-profit that supports education leaders in 127 countries. Before his time at ISTE, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to lead the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology.

Richard stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to chat about his book Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World, along with advice on how parents can prepare young people to become contributing digital citizens in a fair and safe way.

An educator for over 20 years, Amanda Yuill made a decision to become a full-time supply teacher. The career move gave her the opportunity to research gaps she saw in the education system and publish three books in the process. She currently works in the Toronto District School Board.

Amanda stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to chat about the state of education, its impact on our kids and tips for parents who are wanting to help their kids engage more in both the classroom and the world around them.

Ellen Duffield was the Director of the Leadership Studio at Muskoka Woods and is currently the Coordinator of the Paul E Magnus Centre for Leadership Studies and an Associate with the Leader’s Village. 

As part of her work empowering young women and helping organizations create environments in which both men and women can thrive, she has travelled to many parts of the world, participated in research projects and consults, and spoken in a variety of settings including in NGO workshops at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

She stopped by the Shaping Our World podcast to discuss ways that parents can raise up the young women in their lives, bolster their self-confidence and help to develop the leadership qualities they may — or may not — know they possess.