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 and adjunct faculty at the University of Manitoba. 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 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”.
Michelle grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba where she attended the Steinbach Regional Secondary School and graduated in 1988. She led her volleyball team to the 1987 “AA”Provincial Championship. The starting setter on the 1989 Canada Summer Games Bronze Medalist Team, she was recruited to play with the University of Manitoba Lady Bisons from 1988 to 1993. At the University of Manitoba she was the starting setter as they won the National Championship in 1990, ’91 and ’92. Throughout her University career she garnered many personal awards—she was named CIAU Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. In 1993, she was named the University of Manitoba Female Athlete of the year.
Internationally, Michelle was a member of the Junior National team in 1990 and also of two World Student Games teams in 1991 and 1992. May of 1993 marked the start of Michelle’s career as a member of the Senior National Team. In 1995, she was part of the bronze medal finish at the Pan American Games in Argentina. March of 1996 the team qualified for the Olympic Games and in July of that same year, the team finished 9th at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Volleyball is not the only facet of Michelle’s life. Music is certainly the other side of things. Michelle began to study music at the age of 4 and studied piano and voice for many year. She graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Music in 1993 with a Bachelor of Music Piano Performance. In 1992 and 1993, she participated in the National Music Competition and also in 1993, completed a 12-concert solo piano tour of Western Canada. As a member of the National Youth Choir in 1992 and 1993, she performed throughout Canada and at the World Symposium of Choirs.
Since the Olympics, Michelle has been a motivational speaker and has shared her story across Canada. Hers is a story of overcoming obstacles and persevering “no matter what” to reach her dream. Michelle relate’s her inspiring story of growing up in Canada and against the odds achieving her dream of making it to the Olympics on the Canadian National Team. She was constantly being underestimated by coaches and team members because her relatively short stature as a volleyball player. But her love of the game and her determination to practice, train, and work hard toward her dream allowed her to navigate the obstacles and opportunities she faced. Michelle’s accomplishments speak of the heart of a true champion.
Lindsay Berard is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Manitoba. Her training combines the experience and training in providing assessments and using evidence-based treatments for general mental health concerns, with a focus on supporting athletes and performers to meet their goals and achieve greatness. Lindsay provides performance and sport psychology services for individual athletes (young children to professional level), teams, and sports organizations. During individual sessions and team workshops, Lindsay incorporates techniques to help athletes develop a sense of who they are, identifying and amplifying their strengths and directing focus onto the areas they struggle with. Through feedback and support, athletes are provided with the opportunity to apply and practice skills to develop into the individual they want to be. While sessions are designed to support and maximize training and competition experiences, Lindsay provides her athletes with the tools needed to encourage a strong performance in all aspects of life. She is a professional member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association and is involved with other psychological associations, including the Canadian Psychological Association.
In therapy, Lindsay uses a holistic, integrative, strength-based approach and works with her clients to determine the most appropriate treatment type based on their needs and personal goals. This includes working in a variety of treatment modalities such as client-centered, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based approaches. Lindsay sees clients experiencing difficulties with anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions (including grief and adjustment to workplace injury and health diagnoses). She provides treatment under the supervision of Dr. Leslie-Toogood, which offers the ability to use extended health care plans to cover services.
Lindsay also has extensive experience in developing and evaluating treatment programs, and in providing engaging, reflective, and fun workshops on mental health, mental disorder treatment, and well-being. Passionate about developing leaders within the community, Lindsay pulls on her history of being a leader and ‘do-er’ involved with sport, non-profits, and community organizations to engage and ignite the leadership potential within young females.
Dr. Lindsay Arnal Wishnowski is a Registered Psychologist with the Psychological Association of Manitoba and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) who obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology. She has taught children, adolescents and adults to implement behavioural strategies, with significant experience supporting youth populations. Lindsay has a passion for working in the field of sport and has taught young athletes in a variety of sports to utilize behavioural strategies to target performance enhancement and self-management.
Justine is a Certified Counsellor (CCC) working in the field of athletics. After playing 4 years of Division 1 ice hockey at the University of Connecticut, she has pursued her passion to work in the mental health field with student-athletes. In 2020 she graduated with her Master’s of Science (Ms. Ed.) in Counselling from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She has experience working with amateur, college, and professional athletes and uses her prior experiences as an elite athlete and mental health practitioner to make sessions a safe and healing place for her clients. She has experience working with NCAA teams as well as individual athletes to better individual and group performance. She currently working towards her Mental Performance Coach (MPC) designation.
While using a person-centered approach, her focus is on the strengths of each athlete. Using a variety of modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy, narrative therapy, psychodynamic, and mindfulness-based approaches, Justine works to create a safe and supported atmosphere that encourages healing and change. Her intention working with individuals and groups is to understand the human behind the athlete. By using her combined experience, she looks to provides the tools and education for athletes of all ages to achieve their performance goals.