TOOGOOD CONSULTING - Key Persons
Alex Gardiner never planned to coach. His career started in a Winnipeg middle school hallway when a group of students approached him and said, "Mr. Gardiner, can you coach our track and field team?" Alex's response was, "What do I need to do?" He was told that they (the athletes) had it under control and that he just needed to be present as the required adult supervisor. So, Alex attended practice and, because he was an English teacher, he sat on the floor and read a book. That is until he started watching what the athletes were doing. It was at this point that he became fascinated by the sport and made his foray into coaching, his life forever changed.
It has been 45 years since the simple meeting in the hallway and, in his words he's "just getting started, he's just learning things." A lifelong learner, Alex's career took him from humble beginnings in a middle school hallway to being the leadership behind Olympic gold medals. In addition to several leadership roles at Athletics Canada and work with the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alex was also the first General Manager of the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba.
Always working from a position of caring and support, Alex's collaborative leadership style was well ahead of his time. He believes that within organizations it is imperative that a culture exists where genuine and candid conversations can occur. He also trusts coaches and athletes implicitly, noting that no one knows better about the work to be done than the athlete and the coach. His advice to everyone is to see the good side of yourself and of other people. Be patient. Talk to people that need help having their voice heard. Take the extra step.
Job Titles:
- Canadian Certified Counsellor
Andrea Olmstead McPhail was born and raised on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, MB and is proud of her Irish, Metis, Ojibwe, Cree, and European descent. Drawing from her background as a high-performance athlete, recreational and provincial coach, teacher and counsellor, Andrea's leadership experience is paramount in her practice; with the goal to inspire her clients to exceed their own expectations. She believes that everyone is unique and deserves to be heard, valued, and accepted as they are. From her experience working with individuals, athletes, and teams, Andrea uses a collaborative, multimodal approach to meet the client where they're at, not where they think they should be. She, along with her clients, create a plan that feels comfortable and empowering to take the next steps needed to design the life they desire.
Andrea is a Canadian Certified Counsellor with a passion for helping others, specifically those involved in sport. She has previously worked with both athletes and coaches through the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, the University of Manitoba Bisons, Coaching Manitoba, as well as various sport associations in Manitoba. She is excited to continue this journey of helping others here at Attollo.
Chantal Van Landeghem is a dedicated clinician and Olympic athlete with a deep passion for helping others maximize their potential. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her integrated and individualized approach draws from her clinical training and diverse experience, including working with professional and amateur athletes from various sports, as well as other high-performing individuals, including active and retired RCMP members. With a strong background in evidence-based treatments, she specializes in addressing a wide range of mental health concerns to empower clients to overcome obstacles and achieve peak performance in their personal and professional pursuits. In addition, she empowers her clients to feel and learn from their uncomfortable emotions, and to choose valued action. She takes a stance of warmth, curiosity, and non-judgement when she works with her clients, and cultivates an environment where her clients feel seen and accepted.
Cheryl Coulter comes from a background in teaching and coaching, recently having made a shift into counselling and mental performance in sport. Cheryl's passion is in helping people who are feeling scared, stuck, anxious, unsure in any part of their lives to feel better, confident and in control. She works in supporting them to develop their personal blueprint for what is important, and create new patterns in life. Her goal is to support clients to develop a sense of who they are, identify and augment their strengths and support them in improving challenging areas to become the best version of themselves. Whether working with athletes, coaches or officials, Cheryl believes in a holistic approach - it's tough to perform at one's best if one isn't at one's best in other areas of life. The connection between mind and body is essential and she is particularly interested in guiding athletes to develop strategies for overcoming challenges related to performance anxiety that also promote life-long mental health. Her approach is client focused and she adjusts to meet their goals in empowering them to come to their own conclusions in their journey towards transformation and seeking balance in life.
Chris helps people and organizations with big goals get unstuck. As a high performance athlete turned business operator across several industries, Chris has always seen people as the pathway to better business and sporting outcomes. Chris has chased his passion for people into the world of high performance therapy, where he helps athletes and executives create space to unpack what is holding them back from their full potential. His clients are often capable "doers" and "thinkers" who find themselves stuck, perhaps moving fast but not in directions that fill them up or facing challenges that feel out of their control. Whether you're a cognitive solver or an emotional feeler facing problems from above, below, or across your team, Chris is known for having a variety of models and resources that can help you find a pathway forward and ensure you never feel alone in your journey.
Dallas Ludwick has 25 years' experience building positive and productive team cultures and helping others to be their most awesome self. As a high-performance coach in diving - a sport requiring tremendous amounts of courage - Dallas has helped athletes "go for it" from beginner to international medals at Pan Am Games, Commonwealth Games and World University Games. In 2020, Diving Canada named Dallas' club "Team Awesome" for her team's immediate and unabating creativity, collaboration and commitment in facing the pandemic. With a strong passion for team dynamics and meeting challenges head-on, Dallas is known to never shy away from important, challenging, or awkward conversations. In sport, business, life, Dallas loves searching for the balance between structure and possibility; exploring… What Must be Done? alongside What Could Be Done?
David Coodin is a School Psychologist who practices in the public school system in Winnipeg. There, he has worked with students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and their families, to help support a healthy and positive educational experience in school and beyond.
Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood has spent the last three decades competing and consulting at the highest levels of performance, specializing in creating ‘human first' brave spaces. Adrienne is a licensed psychologist, adjunct faculty at the University of Manitoba and co-founder of Heroes In Our Midst and Mental Health for Performance. Dr. Toogood's clients have ranged from individual Olympic medalists, teams and coaches, to PGA Tour winners, Grey Cup Champions, and World Champions. She is currently the owner of Toogood Consulting Inc. and the Director of Sport Psychology at the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, working at the individual and system/team level. She has extensive experience with other performers including air traffic controllers, RCMP emergency response team members, corporate executives, firefighters, and emergency medical doctors. She believes in empowering people to ‘embrace their humanity' so they are able to ‘elevate their performance'. Her personal mission statement is "passion, commitment and intensity unleash a new freedom of an energetic, balanced and holistic person who is healthy for life".
Dr. Lindsay Wishnowski believes that with preparation, all things are possible! Investing in one's preparation is essential to performance in all forums, from sport to academics to work life. She has over 10 years of experience teaching athletes and teams to hone their mental skills as they approach the technical side of sport.
Lindsay is a Registered Psychologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). She is passionate about helping individuals understand who they are and develop themselves in a comprehensive way that builds skills both for sport and life. She utilizes a client-centered approach that focuses on the individual, recognizing that everyone's process is unique. Her behaviour therapeutic approach draws on various techniques to provide a toolset of skills to help individuals better understand their behaviour, so they can push through barriers and achieve their goals- whether in competition or in everyday life.
Justine Fredette comes from a background of elite athletics. From her experience and understanding of what it takes to be in high performing spaces, she dedicates her career to finding the human behind the performance. Whether it's working with individuals in high pressure careers, elite athletes, or teams, Justine takes a holistic approach to elevating one's performance and humanity. By drawing from multiple modalities, Justine helps create and design a road map for change for each client, ditching the one size fits all mentality. She also makes it a priority to make the daunting task of change into a realistic and sustainable reality. With her education in psychology and counselling, Justine strives to help you reach your goals in both your humanity and performance. Through her passion for this industry, Justine brings her all to any project, no matter how big or small. She applies her work ethic, leadership, and focus to help bring any collaboration to life.
Kevin is committed to helping people improve their psychological well-being and supporting them as they strive to become their best selves.
Kevin recently completed his pre-doctoral Residency in Clinical Psychology with the Fraser Health Authority in New Westminster, BC. His clinical experiences included utilizing behavioural medicine for treatment of chronic health conditions; providing mental health support for medical in-patients; and assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of severe and complex mental health concerns like psychosis, major mood and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, disordered eating, and personality disorders.
Kevin completed his master's degree at the University of Manitoba studying the effects of stress on student-athletes and will soon defend his dissertation researching the impacts of self-compassion on the process of sport injury recovery. He has training in multiple therapeutic orientations including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, psychodynamic therapy, mindfulness-based approaches, motivational interviewing, emotion-focused therapy, psychological assessment, and clinical supervision.
Kevin also works with the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba and has previously worked with the University of Manitoba Bisons, Sport Manitoba, and Valour FC.
Lindsay Berard believes that with personal insight and passion, we are all capable of truly designing a life we love. As a C. Psych Candidate and Mental Performance Consultant, Lindsay has worked to raise individuals, teams, and organizations in all areas of business, sport, performance, and life. Lindsay loves to break boundaries and draws techniques and strategies from a variety of areas to demand more in the mental health and performance arenas. She brings creative problem solving and high attention to detail and focus into her interactions with others while designing spaces and teams that people genuinely want to be a part of. She is adaptable, engaging, and passionate about supporting women as they break barriers and blend the many aspects of their lives.
Madi Clarke's core values of empathy, growth, and health are fundamental to her professional and personal life. Madi fosters human connection and the importance of building trusting and collaborative relationships with people. She works alongside clients in an insightful and holistic manner. Madi has gained a wide range of experience in the field of mental health and performance. She has merged her education in communications (BA) and mental performance (MHK) to support organizations with the knowledge translation of key mental health and performance related concepts. Madi also recognizes the significance of rest and recovery and has gained experience in sleep research as it relates to the performance and well-being of athletes. Madi is a professional member with the Canadian Sport Psychology Association as a Mental Performance Consultant and is trained in Mental Health First Aid and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.
Madi has experience competing at the national and international level as a middle-distance track and field athlete. She has represented the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and Ottawa Lions Track and Field club. Madi blends her passion for exercise and nature by engaging in outdoor activities such as, running, skiing, cycling, golfing, hiking, and swimming.
Michelle grew up in the small city of Steinbach, Manitoba. As a volleyball player, she gathered all kinds of accolades: provincial champion, multiple-time national champion, Pan Am Games bronze medalist, and 1996 Olympian- things you shouldn't be able to do when you're only 5' 6" and from rural Manitoba! Through doubt and setbacks, Michelle learned that it truly matters what is on the inside and that to be successful in this life, you need others; how you make others feel will determine the kind of team you can be a part of.
An accomplished musician and teacher, volleyball coach, motivational speaker, and 25-year veteran as a morning radio host, Michelle has shared her story and has made it her mission to share the true stories of others. You will hear her passion for finding the "human behind the performance" in each podcast episode. She allows all guests to speak openly, sharing lessons to help us perform to the best of our ability and help us be well, inside and out.
Job Titles:
- Canadian Certified Counsellor in Private Practice With Atollo
- Program Coordinator for the Manitoba
A four-time Paralympian with multiple podium finishes, Tim McIsaac holds two masters degrees from the University of Manitoba.
Tim currently works as a program coordinator for the Manitoba government Providing young entrepreneurs with financial assistance to start their own business.
Tim is a Canadian Certified Counsellor in private practice with Atollo where he specializes in assisting clients experiencing marginalization to maximize the meaning and purpose in their lives so that they might lead by example to promote and propagate social change.