who we are
Our People
We believe in enjoying life as it happens now and teaching others to do the same.
Director, Mindfulness and recovery Services
Kevin Diakiw
In his mid-teens, two polar events deeply altered the course of his life.
At 15, Kevin began a daily practice of meditation, a rare place of safety in a home immersed in alcoholism, a chronic and progressive disease which eventually led to his father’s death two years later.
Finding a curious cocktail of comfort from years of trauma, he drank heavily while continuing a daily practice of meditation. The alcohol helped numb the emotional pain and the mindfulness continued to give him a feeling of worth, comfort and safety, moment to moment.
The daily practice of mindfulness also helped give him clarity and insight to give up drinking completely in 1991. Shortly after, he began teaching meditation, then mindfulness to those seeking comfort in their stress-filled lives.
He had been helping people with this training since 2010, but in 2017, he gave up a 25-year career as a journalist to launch Still Here and train people full time.
And over the past several years, as a Canadian Certified Recovery Coach and Recovery Coach Professional, he has helped people enter recovery from substance misuse sooner, and stay longer. Addiction is chaos, but recovery is also messy, unpredictable and even frightening. It helps to have a person trained to help navigate the tricky path.
Looking back, it was the tumultuous years as a teen that has helped inform his life as an adult.
Helping others build strengths and remove barriers to a good life is the purpose behind Still Here.
More about Kevin’s story here.
Mindfulness Teacher and Recovery Coach Trainer
Shelley Shadow
Shelley Shadow has been in continuous recovery since 1995. Finding recovery in her mid-twenties allowed her to be a sober mom to her three children who are now young adults and walking their own path of education and life experience.
After years of raising a family, she trained to become a Recovery Coach and Trainer with Still Here, whose primary goal is developing the best recovery coaches in Canada through skills training and mentorship. Now one of the first Canadian Certified Recovery Coaches (CCRC) in the country, Shelley is using her lived experience and training to encourage others to find their own pathway of recovery or to train as a recovery coach themselves.
Shelley is also a qualified mindfulness teacher with Still Here, having completed an MBSR course first with Brown University, and then being mentored and trained under Kevin Diakiw, co-teaching the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course as brought to the west by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Deepening her daily practice, she began leading meditations for an international group of meditators on Zoom that began as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having this training as a mindfulness practitioner has benefited her greatly as a recovery coach as well, allowing her to practice mindful listening and intuition with her clients.
As a second generation residential school survivor, Shelley has been reclaiming her Cree language and culture through community supports, elders and groups.
More about Shelley’s story here.
Director, Curricula development
Casey Hrynkow Shewchuk
Casey owned and ran one of Canada’s most respected design firms for over 35 years. As her work matured and changed over time, she developed a passion for design research and design thinking, and has honed this specialty into a primary skill. Today she runs a strategic firm called WIK*D Design Thinking for Social Change.
She works with community groups and organizations, tapping into the wisdom of those with the closest knowledge around an issue. She helps people to get invested in the outcome a project, making them champions of their ideas. She has taught design thinking and design research at Emily Carr University of Art + Design for 15 years.
Casey designed and executed expansive research in the redesign of the identity for Capilano University. She has worked extensively with First Nations in British Columbia (Nisga’a, Tahltan, Sto:lo, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, Osoyoos Band, Indigenous Tourism BC), as well as cities and universities across Western Canada. She recently presented her work on changing the way society sees homelessness at TEDxEmilyCarr 2020. Casey holds a Masters of Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University and is a Fellow of the Graphic Designers of Canada.
Professional Recovery Coach, Health and Wellness
Rochelle Davidson
Rochelle Davidson is a wife, a dog mom, an obsessed cyclist, a small business owner, a woman in recovery, and a compassionate trauma-informed Recovery Coach.
Rochelle’s mission is to embolden and equip women to live fully and freely. Free from substances, shame, and stuckness. Free to experience health, joy, and meaning in their lives. Rochelle is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
With lived experience as a woman in recovery, Rochelle’s 20-year career as a leadership coach for corporations blossomed into wellness and recovery coaching when she embraced her own recovery path and was reminded of the healing power, strength, and importance of community. She now finds purpose supporting women seeking recovery and wellness – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual – to create freedom and fulfillment for themselves. Rochelle knows that trauma, addiction and life can make you forget who you are, and a coach can help you remember. To learn more about Rochelle, visit www.rochelledavidson.com.