Director/Founder: Steve Critchley, C.Med, CD (Warrant Officer, Retired)
Steve Critchley is a practicing mediator with international experience. He taught mediation programs overseas in the United Kingdom, Italy, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Dubai.
Steve spent 28 years as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a Basic Training Instructor, as well as an Advanced Leadership Instructor. He was deployed to Egypt, Cyrus and Bosnia.
During the Bosnian war, Steve witnessed human conflict at its worst.
His experiences included negotiating with armed belligerents and establishing small local areas of trust and cooperation. Steve developed the belief that people can work together to achieve realistic and positive results. Steve was also included in a select group from the Canadian military to undergo Mediation training as part of a pilot program co-coordinated by the Executive Director for Conflict Management responsible to the Department of National Defence and the Federal Government.
After completing the assignment of authoring a paper on Mediation, Steve achieved the third phase of the Mediator Qualification Program in July 2000.
Steve has led mediations set in Alberta Civil Court for clients, from private mediations between landowners and multi-national energy companies to a $500 lawsuit, workplace harassment cases, and abuse of authority at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal government levels.
Steve co-founded Can Praxis in 2013 and continues to work with Veterans and First Responders along with their families overcoming PTSD and other OSI.
After working with more than 750 families dealing with PTSD, Steve has in-depth experience working with the crisis and conflict the injury brings to their everyday life.
Steve lives in rural Alberta with his wife Patti. They spend their time caring for their dogs and horses and spending time with family, including their daughter Bonnie (a Veteran), and her partner.
When he is not planning and running programs, Steve is focused on collaborating with other Veterans’ programs and providing peer support for the injured.
