About

Sera is a settler of European descent in Mi'kma'ki, working to support deep shifts around social and environmental issues. As a social innovator and master facilitator her work is focused on building capacity for participatory leadership and creating movement around stuck challenges. Her work creatively engages a diversity of players and stakeholders in finding shared clarity and timely actions. She began her career in the complex field of Environmental Consulting, juggling the needs of diverse stakeholders balancing economic, ecological and social sustainability. Since that time she has successfully led change with dozens of organizations on four continents in the Public Sector, Academia, Nonprofit and Corporate sectors.

MSW, MSc, Qualified Mediator, Certified Professional Jungian Life Coach, and Certified Somatic Sex Educator, is a coach, process facilitator, and mediator whose work focuses on the intersections of trauma healing, Transformative Justice, and social change. A noted theorist and practitioner in the field of conflict resolution, Kai Cheng has made significant contributions towards the integration and application of conflict transformation, crisis intervention, and body-based trauma healing methods in an activist context through her writing and teaching. Kai Cheng maintains a private practice as a one-on-one somatic coach, consultant, and group facilitator, drawing from extensive professional trainings in a wide variety of healing and wellness disciplines, including politicized somatics through the Strozzi and Generative Somatics lineages, depth psychology, Processwork, somatic sex education, clinical hypnotherapy, yoga nidra, and Thai massage. She has also trained hundred of embodiment and wellness professionals as Adjunct Faculty with the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and a Senior Teacher at The Embody Lab.

Navida (she/her) is a certified coach, creative facilitator, and conflict engagement teacher focused on creating enabling environments where people feel nourished and able to be in better relationship with themselves and each other. Before leading her own practice, she worked in start-ups, served as Executive Director of ArtStarts in Schools, and held a director role at the City of Vancouver's Arts & Culture department. She holds an MBA from the University of British Columbia with a focus on Organizational Development. Rooted in her identity as an Ismaili Muslim with Gujarati ancestry, her work carries a stewardship of devotion to learning for collective flourishing and a deep ethic of service to community. When Aftab Erfan brought Lewis Deep Democracy to the City of Vancouver, Navida fell in love instantly. She's always been a depth enthusiast that cares about relational health, so this method felt like home. She is continuously working to build her equanimity and one of her favourite micro-practices is putting her legs up the wall to metabolize the day and re-ground herself.

Camille (she/they) came to the work of process-oriented conflict transformation trying to make meaning of events in their family's life. Pulling the thread of healing, she discovered it was connected to power, and that in turn to systems change. Studying process-work with Arnold Mindell gave Camille a flexible frame and embodied skill-set for showing up usefully at the intersection of healing and social change as a facilitator and coach. Lewis Deep Democracy and Social Presencing Theatre provided powerful practices to support leaders and teams. A founding member and former director at Waterline, a Registered Clinical Counsellor, and a Qualified Mediator, Camille has spent over 20 years helping groups face difficulty with integrity. A practice they return to often is the equanimity dance - a way to engage stuckness and be surprised by the answers hidden in plain sight.

Tasha (she, her) is a settler, of Punjabi descent, living in Vancouver on the unceded territory of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples. She spends her much of her time thinking about our collective liberation and how to convince her toddler to wear a jacket when it is cold outside. Tasha has worked with non-profits, grassroots community groups, government, schools, and post-secondary institutions learning from and with those trying to create a more just world. Tasha is experienced in dialogue and designing social justice/anti-oppressive curriculum.  She has worked to support groups navigating conflict engagement and collaborative decision-making processes. Tasha is trained in mediation and often draws on Lewis Deep Democracy in her approach to navigating and addressing conflict. She was first introduced to Deep Democracy by Aftab Erfan in 2018 and has continued to study and grow her practice in the methodology ever since.  Tasha is particularly interested in how we can become stuck in “roles” and how these roles can shape the way we see ourselves, others, and the situations we find ourselves in. She is also a birth doula and feels inspired and honoured by the opportunity to spend time with new parents and babies. She often draws on Lewis Deep Democracy practices in her own parenting and when supporting new parents in hearing the wisdom of "No" that children often have to share with us.

Aslam (he/him) is a South African-born facilitator and consultant based in Vancouver, with roots in Johannesburg and time spent living in Sharjah and Toronto. He carries a lifelong curiosity about how communities organize, govern, and repair themselves. He has been shaped by his early studies in Political Science and Philosophy, and later by work spanning arts organizing, civic dialogue, and Islamic thought.

Aslam currently serves as the Workplace Restoration Consultant at the City of Vancouver, a role focused on helping teams move through conflict toward repair. Alongside this, he runs Shura Consulting and Engagement, his own practice in facilitation and conflict transformation, and is pursuing graduate studies in Urban Studies at SFU. He holds the IAF Certified Professional Facilitator designation and draws on training in Lewis Deep Democracy, Art of Hosting, and restorative justice frameworks.

LDD was first mentioned to him when he was asking questions about how power shows up in rooms during his SFU Dialogue and Engagement Certificate program. He could not have guessed that the 2-day introduction course would lead to years of study and practice using this methodology and applying it to himself, personal relationships, work teams, and even to make sense of broader social systems.

He often finds himself coaching leaders to empathetically ask their teams, "What do you need to come along?" after difficult decisions have been made. This simple question can prevent group fragmentation and people moving up the resistance line.

Brook (she/they) thinks of themself as a coastal creature, of English, Scottish and Austrian Jewish descent, grateful to live in Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia), with their dogs and partner. In certain company, they are inclined to describe the moments of their day in song.

Brook co-owns a company called Big Waves and has over 15 years of experience in organizational change, conflict transformation, adult education, somatic coaching, and relational leadership. They support leaders and teams dealing with questions like: Why are we struggling to get along, and what is the embodied experience of that friction? How can we make this a place where people truly want to, and do, belong? What are the patterns (personal or systemic) that are getting in the way of our most meaningful change? 

Brook originally found their way to Deep Democracy through a love of Process Work and a desire to find more accessible ways to integrate it in daily practice. They became a teacher to build their own capacity to support groups to move out of polarization and entrenchment, and it has become a core philosophy and conflict intervention practice. Brook talks about role theory as a way to support people to see systemic patterns rather than falling into the easy pattern of blaming individuals. 

Emily (she, they) is a mixed-race (Hong Konger/White) consultant, facilitator, and

educator based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. They are passionate about co-creating interactive processes that build more authentic, courageous, and grounded workplaces and organizing spaces, with a strong commitment to working with, by, and for community. 

Emily brings over 10 years of experience specializing in team dynamics, anti-oppressive change management, conflict engagement, and curriculum design. She holds a Master’s in Human Systems Intervention and serves as a faculty member in Concordia University’s Department of Applied

Human Sciences, where her focus is supporting social justice and equity-related change across organizations.

Emily has trained extensively in Lewis Deep Democracy over the last 5 years and is now a certified teacher of the methodology. LDD has

profoundly shaped how she facilitates group processes, navigates conflict, and helps teams access the wisdom hiding beneath the surface

of hard conversations. Emily loves using Polarity Exercises across all parts of their personal and professional life to explore tension, surface hidden voices, and have a little fun!