Frances has worked as a social development facilitator for over two decades in First Nation communities and in urban social service organizations. She mainly has focussed on projects relating to early years and parenting, healing and wellness, and socially-engaged art. The art approach that most interests her at this time is a storytelling process that links oral storytelling to digital editing technology.  Frances is certified as a digital storytelling facilitator through the University of Colorado and the Centre for Digital Storytelling.

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Frances has been a story gatherer all her life: an eavesdropper, a nosy parker, and a searcher for stories that are larger than the atrocity stories her father told her as a child about progroms and the Holocaust. She loves the way that we humans use art to tell authentic, multi-layered stories, in particular the stories that come out of our own life experiences and the experiences of our ancestors. Frances believes that it is these stories that best guide us in our efforts to create a sweeter and more just world. 

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And sometimes she tells her own stories: in the story circle, on the page and through digital story production.

 

Frances has worked as a family therapist and educator.  She has taught college and university courses in psychology, child development, counselling skills and family therapy.  She particularly enjoys facilitating participatory learning workshops in which participants take on the dual role of teacher and learner.

 

Frances has been described as a passionate facilitator who is well informed about her topics and easy to understand.  She also has been described as a respectful teacher who is keenly interested in what students have to contribute to the learning process. Participants leave her workshops feeling nurtured, and motivated to address the critical issues they face as individuals and as members of families and communities.