Who We Are

With a lifetime of lived experience with addiction, mental health, and trauma and 3 years as a Peer Support Worker entrenched at a Consumption and Treatment facility supporting the vulnerable and marginalized community of Ottawa, Alex initially connected with Soul Space as a participant in the winter of 2019. A 3 day retreat for front line workers turned into a life’s worth of changes, all of which included his newly acquired love and passion for photography. Since his initial connection with Soul Space, Alex has felt a calling to help continue their work somehow. Thus, he has since partnered up with the Soul Space team capturing the delicate and intimate moments allotted to the front line workers in desperate need of support pre and post pandemic. Through his lens he strives to show every emotion one can and will experience through Soul Space’s work. He hopes to shine a light on how important it is for organizations to protect and nurture their front line workers. He hopes his imagery inspires others to make space for themselves. Above all else, his motivation behind it all is that each person he photographs can take one step away from burnout and two steps towards healing.

Kayla Spagnoli was born and raised on Unseeded Algonquin Territory also known as Ottawa, and lives with her partner and their two cats. She is an ex-funeral director and embalmer and former co-founder of the award-winning grassroots organization 'Feminist Twins' (2014-2020). She has spent the last several years working in frontline anti-human trafficking efforts, with a focus in supporting, and learning from the Indigenous community. Kayla is passionate about event planning, ethical storytelling, trauma informed care, and community building. Her colleagues and peers describe her as a central pillar of support within the Ottawa community. Kayla is currently focusing on short-term projects, consulting, and art.

Kim is a frontline worker working in a variety of programs, including a drop-in program for people who are street involved, a street outreach team, a consumption and treatment service centre, and addictions treatment centre. Kim has a Social Service Worker diploma, Addictions and Mental Health Graduate Certificate, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Environmental Sciences. Kim has volunteered at the Shepherds of Good Hope’s soup kitchen, Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa, AIDS Committee of Ottawa, and currently enjoys volunteering with Veterans’ House. Kim enjoys combining her knowledge of biology and the physical aspects within the body with their direct link to the mental health aspects of the body.

Megan worked in mental health, trauma, addictions, harm reduction, and shelter services for a decade before compassion fatigue and burnout set it. Soul Space Cafés became a safe landing for the healing journey to begin. Megan joined the FLAG team to provide support and preventative resources to frontline workers experiencing workplace stress. Although she has taken a step back from direct client care, Megan continues to nurture others as a foster parent to cats and small pets.

Patricia is an Addictions and Community Service Worker and Peer Worker. Patricia has 36 years of lived experience. Over the course of the last 3 years, she has helped clients meet a range of specialized needs while working with homeless shelters, assisted living programs, safe injection sites, hospice care and residential care addictions treatment centers. Relationships are the foundation of Patricia's work: clients often personally seek her out and she has developed strong networks within the street health and harm reduction workers community. Patricia serves, supports and strongly advocates for the clients as well as for front line workers themselves.​

Bobby is a residential school and long-term street survivor and drug user who has reversed over 20 overdoses and trained numerous people in Naloxone.. Today he is living in recovery and is a practicing Buddhist. He is a founding member of Overdose Prevention Ottawa, which opened Ottawa’s first overdose prevention site in 2017, and was featured in the documentary Blue Roses that examines palliative care in rooming houses. Bobby J received the Raffi Balian award in 2017 recognizing his many years of volunteer work with the NESI program at Somerset West Community Health Centre, and the Transformative Change Award (on behalf of Overdose Prevention Ottawa) by the Alliance for Healthier Communities in 2018.

Teri-Lynn is a 38 year old mother and wife, who loves music, food, family, and being creative. Teri-Lynn spends as much time as she can paddle boarding and learning about plants. Teri-Lynn works in harm reduction while also attending school part-time.

Stephanie officially started with SoulSpace in the summer of 2022, but has kind of been in the background since her husband, Alex Brownlee, started with SoulSpace in 2021. Stephanie is currently a mental health counsellor and peer specialist with The Carlington Community Health Centre's ACT Team. Before that, Stephanie worked as a harm reduction worker and case manager with Ottawa Inner City Health, as well as Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Stephanie has a fierce passion for harm reduction, and her community. Stephanie shares that, "I can confidently say that I am standing here today because of harm reduction and I am very grateful for that. SoulSpace allows me to share my lived experiences and work experiences with like-minded individuals, and also lets me help my fellow front line workers."

Brian Cornelius has been the minister of First United Church since September of 2005. He embraces a progressive approach to spirituality, emphasizing the spiritual and social healing that was core to the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet indigenous to his own people and land. While Brian is informed and inspired by his own faith, he appreciates the wisdom of other religions and all spiritual expressions. While his parents were both born in Canada as descendants of Scottish and Irish immigrants, his own entry into this world was through the land of Kenya.​

Glenys Huws is a retired ministry leader, having worked in educational and outreach ministries of the United Church for more than 40 years. A long time advocate for social justice, particularly as it relates to the well being of women, she appreciates the opportunity to help support the Soul Space Collective and its focus on spiritual care for street health workers through her participation on the Steering Committee.

Harley, a retired United Church minister, started the Centre for Spiritual & Ethical Development in Vancouver, B.C. twenty years ago as the Workplace Ministry Society. It was designed to be an “oasis” in the downtown business community, where people could discuss ethics or spirituality in the workplace. The Centre offered seminars, retreats and counselling. Harley has been a key advisor in creating the foundation for Soul Space, guiding its growth, and creating the name, Soul Space.

Lynn is a Mindfulness teacher (and retired family physician) with a passion for Mindful Self Compassion in her personal meditation practice and her life. Lynn feels privileged to be a program provider for Soul Space where she offers the teaching of Mindful Self Compassion practices for frontline workers to use in their own lives and in their challenging day to day work with those living homeless. Being part of the Soul Space Steering Committee provides Lynn the opportunity to help with fundraising and strategic planning so that this passion project will continue far into the future.

Mary-Martha is passionate about creating a just society for all and is an advocate for those who often have no voice. She is a social worker (retired) and past director of Centre 454. Outside of Centre 454, Mary-Martha aligned herself with several initiatives, including the Day Programs Coalition, the Sandy Hill Northwest Neighbourhood Improvement Group and the City of Ottawa Task Force on the Safe Streets Act and the Homeless. Mary-Martha served as chair of the Alliance to End Homelessness in 2006/2007. In that time, she and members of the Alliance were instrumental in putting forward a successful public appeal for the continuation of federal funding for homelessness. Mary-Martha retired as Executive Director of Centre 454 in June 2014, and more recently was appointed to the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Refugee Ministry Panel, supporting refugee sponsorship in the Ottawa region.

For many years, Paul has had an interest in issues important to social equity in Ottawa, including affordable housing and support from government for those in need. Paul is a past member of “Better Ottawa”, and the Board of Directors of Centre 507 where he continues to volunteer. Paul has been active in refugee resettlement since 2005. As a practitioner of Healing Pathway, Paul has a special interest in healing and health, and has offered healing sessions at Centre 507. He engages in distance healing and giving support to those in need. Paul’s connection to First United started in 2002, when he was involved in the Citizen’s Panel on Policing and the Community, and subsequently helped found the Witness Group, to monitor the civility of policing of demonstrations.

Sharon Moon is a retired United Church clergy, a mom and grandma, She served First United for 17 years while it was downtown, and very engaged with social justice community issues such as poverty, housing, addiction, AIDS, sexual orientation and identity. Sharon has written three books on guided imagery meditation, and is an instructor and practitioner of Healing Pathway, an Energy Based Healing modality offered free of charge in over 100 United Church congregations across Canada.