Photo of Christine Ateah.

Christine Ateah | A nurse by profession, I hold an Interdisciplinary PhD and work in the field of child and family health promotion. I have taught at the university level for more than 25 years. Much of my research focuses on how parents think about discipline, and on the needs of expectant and new parents. As a PDEP Master Trainer, I’ve had wonderful experiences training facilitators and Country Trainers in very diverse countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Indonesia, Kosovo, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea. As the mother of two grown daughters, I am a strong advocate for children’s rights and I am dedicated to helping parents promote the healthy development of their children.

Photo of Leslie Barker

Leslie Barker, RN, MEd | As a Registered Nurse, I have dedicated much of my 35-year career in public health to promoting healthy child development.  I also hold a Master’s degree in Workplace and Adult Learning, with a focus on parents as learners and the professional development of parenting educators. I’ve worked extensively with national and provincial health agencies in Canada on prevention-focused parent support.  As a PDEP Master Trainer, I have trained facilitators and Country Trainers in Albania, Canada, Panama, and Sweden. I’m the mother of three grown children who have shown me the importance of helping all parents and children get off to a good start

Photo of Joan Durrant.

Joan Durrant | I am a Child-Clinical Psychologist who has worked with many children experiencing learning and behavioural challenges. I realized that parents and children often view these challenges very differently. What parents see as non-compliance, children often see as a need for support. I became interested in understanding why children are so often punished and began a program of research on how parents’ emotions and beliefs lead them to strike their children. This work led to a collaboration with Save the Children that resulted in the creation and ongoing development of PDEP.  That remarkable journey has taken me to many places, including Cambodia, Fiji, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.  As a Professor at the University of Manitoba, my research focuses on physical punishment and on the evaluation of PDEP around the world.  I am the mother of a grown son who will always be my greatest teacher.

Jean Tinling

Ashley Stewart-Tufescu | I am a Registered Social Worker and I hold a PhD in Applied Health Sciences. For many years, my work has focused on child developmental health, children’s rights and parenting.  Currently, I am a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a faculty member in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Red River College.  Through my work with Save the Children, I have had the privilege of training PDEP facilitators and Country Trainers in Canada, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Palestine, and Panama.  I am the mother of two growing children who have strengthened my commitment to upholding children’s rights around the world.

Jean Tinling

Jean Tinling | I enjoyed 30 years as an early years teacher and parent educator in Winnipeg. I changed careers to pursue my passion for supporting newcomers to Canada.  Today, as Director of Family Programs at Mosaic Newcomer Family Resource Network in Winnipeg, I lead a team that offers 25 PDEP parent programs a year, several of which are offered in the parents’ first language. My team also mentors a group of PDEP facilitators who speak at least one language in addition to English. Together, they can deliver PDEP parent programs in 18 languages.  In projects with Save the Children, I have trained PDEP facilitators in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, and Tanzania. My greatest life-long learning resources are my four children and six grandchildren, who keep me grounded in the realities of everyday parenting.