Hello!

My name is Katie (she/her). I was raised in the beautiful island city of Richmond, British Columbia where I started working with children as a gymnastics instructor. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, I trained and worked as a behaviour interventionist in the lower mainland. Later, when I moved to the Okanagan, I was employed as an education assistant at a therapeutic learning center for students with diverse needs. I worked at the learning center while I pursued acceptance into the Bachelor of Education program at Thompson Rivers University.

Choir

I sang in the Vancouver Bach Children’s choirs for about 15 years, starting around the age 7. The tiered structure of the children’s choirs created a family of choirs. This resulted in a community of professional singers that had been learning and performing together since we were very young. Being involved with the choir showed me the importance of story and place in creating impactful learning experiences. Our conductor, Bruce Pullan, would explain the meaning and story behind every song we sang so that we could connect and add the appropriate emotional tone to the song. I experienced so many different environments and places that held story through our performances. As an educator, I look forward to sharing rich, meaningful experiences with future students.

My favourite annual performance was Christmas with the Bach Choir at the Orpheum in downtown Vancouver. The accompaniment of members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra always felt like an honour to experience. In this video the entire family of choirs is squished on stage to perform the final songs. The song being performed is O Holy Night as arranged by Bruce Pullan, and it is by far my favourite Christmas song perform.

Gymnastics, Behaviour Intervention, and More!

Throughout my childhood I was also involved in artistic gymnastics. As a tall gymnast I was not exactly a candidate for the summer Olympics, but I just loved the sport so much. I think that because most skills did not come easily to me it made me a better coach because I really understood how to break down a movement pattern into parts that could be practiced. When I was a young competitive gymnast, I was always joining in and helping teach the little ones by leading stretches and games.  

This is the gymnastics gym in Steveston, BC where I first started coaching gymnastics. I also used to train here as an athlete before the gym was sold and turned into a recreational gym (no competitive programs).

As a gymnastics coach I earned a reputation in the community for leading some pretty awesome gymnastics birthday parties. Over the years, I built relationships with many families in the community. There was a collection of parents who were part of the Richmond Autism Parent Support (RAPS) group, and they frequently would request me for their child’s birthday party. It was through this connection that I built a relationship with the RAPS community that would later lead me to becoming a behaviour interventionist.