Faculty Transitions at SSC
St. Stephen’s is excited to welcome Danielle Charron and Kathy Marshall-Spate to the College’s faculty, beginning May 1, 2024 and April 1, 2024 respectively. Danielle steps into the Clinical Director position, taking over from Olga Perju who will conclude her time at St. Stephen’s at the end of June 2024. Kathy takes over the position of AC-SPE Program Coordinator, which was previously held by Dr. Darlene Pranke.
Danielle Charron appointed new Clinical Director
We are delighted to welcome Danielle Charron into the role of Clinical Director. Danielle is a Registered Psychologist with a rich and diverse background. Throughout her professional journey she has provided quality clinical services across various settings and levels of care. In the public sector, Danielle has managed groups, led a multidisciplinary team, and fostered community partnerships to enhance client outcomes. In private practice, she has spent several years offering compassionate care to children, teens, and adults. Danielle’s approach to adult education is grounded in openness, collaboration, curiosity, reflection, and humility. In the role of Clinical Director and Faculty Lecturer, she is excited by the opportunity to support the growth of the next generation of psychotherapists. Danielle’s dedication to wellness extends beyond her profession, as she finds joy in adventure, creativity, and fostering personal well-being through activities like reading, yoga, and her artistic pursuits.
The Clinical Director oversees all matters related to practicum and clinical supervision within the Department of Psychotherapy and Spirituality. Chiefly, this includes student advising regarding practicum placements, leadership of the annual practicum course, and maintaining and establishing good relations between St. Stephen’s College and its many practicum sites.
The College extends much gratitude and appreciation to Olga Perju. Olga began with the College as an Associate Faculty member in 2019, and then joined the Core Faculty in 2020. Since that time, she has served in many roles, including Co-Chair (both of Counselling and Art Therapy streams) and as Clinical Director. Olga has been an incredible member of our faculty team. She has been involved from the ground up with revisioning the MPS program, providing academic and professional guidance to students, and she has done much to create a welcoming, equitable, and creative learning context for our students. Since 2021, Olga established and has helped to foster community partnerships between the College and the Art Gallery of Alberta, and she has also pursued and secured grant funding to support Art Hive initiatives around the city of Edmonton. Olga will very much be missed within our learning community. She will conclude her time at St. Stephen’s at the end of June 2024, and we wish her and her family well as they embark on new adventures.
Kathy Marshall-Spate appointed new AC-SPE Program Coordinator
The College is excited to welcome Kathy Marshall-Spate into the role of AC-SPE Provincial Coordinator. Kathy is a Certified Supervisor-Educator, a Doctor of Ministry candidate, and is also currently employed as a Senior Practice Consultant, Spiritual Care with Allied Health Professional Practice and Education. Kathy has worked in the field of spiritual care in several community settings, Long Term Care, and Acute Care for the past 18 years. Kathy is currently working on a Doctor of Ministry, Specialized Ministry, with a focus on the felt experience of the practice of student competency assessment during clinical psychospiritual education. When not available in the classroom/hospital, Kathy enjoys mountain hiking and lake kayaking.
The AC-SPE Program Coordinator gives provincial leadership to Clinical Psychospiritual Education (CPE) in Alberta. Working with multiple healthcare organizations and post-secondary institutions, this position provides oversight and coordination to all CPE offerings in the Province of Alberta.
Kathy succeeds Dr. Darlene Pranke, who served the College over the past five years as the AC-SPE Program Coordinator. Darlene was the first individual to hold the AC-SPE Program Coordinator position, and she did an exceptional job navigating this new (and at times undefined) space. Over the past five years, Darlene led the AC-SPE program through a period of immense change and transition, the details of Darlene wrote up into an article in the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counselling 74.4: 241–249 (co-authored with Margaret Clark). Under Darlene’s leadership, the AC-SPE program received CASC/ACSS accreditation in 2021. Darlene will be sorely missed as a faculty member within the SSC learning community.