Our Team
Faye Hamilton
Community Engagement Lead
Faye has been a social worker for over 30 years and has spent much of that time working with children, youth and families involved with child welfare services. Her experiences watching youth in care and her own children find their way in the world have brought her to this project as she knows that learning to be an 'adult' is hard, takes time, and requires support from the people around you. She is very excited to be part of co-creating this resource.
Rebecca Stiller
Research Lead
Becca is a professor and researcher who loves working with young people and community members to build cool, useful stuff. She’s all about learning together, sharing power, and making sure youth voices actually shape what gets created. She loves playing soccer, asks a lot of questions, and believes research shouldn’t be boring.
Isabelle Sperano
Co-Design & Digital Experience Lead
Isabelle is an associate professor of Digital Experience Design at MacEwan University. With over 25 years of experience in creating digital products and services, she specializes in applying and developing methods to understand how people interact with technologies like websites, apps, videos, etc. She involves users in her design process to create products that are both useful and easy to use.
Jenn Danko
Design Lead
Jennifer Danko’s teaching and research explore the relationship between design, health care, communication and emerging technologies. An award-winning designer and researcher, her work focuses on how visual communication and participatory design can help people navigate complex systems, better understand difficult information and engage more meaningfully with the world around them. Since beginning her teaching career in 2013, she has developed courses and learning experiences that connect design research, critical inquiry and applied practice.
Jean Galandy
Researcher/ Indigenous Ways of Knowing Facilitator
Jean is a researcher, post-secondary instructor, and Master’s student who’s passionate about learning with and from community. She cares deeply about creating spaces where young people feel seen, heard, and respected. Her work is grounded in lived experience, cultural connection, and a commitment to doing things differently. Jean loves good questions, real conversations, and making research matter.
Alysha LeBlanc
Researcher
Alysha is a researcher and emerging social worker who is passionate about learning and growing alongside young people and community members. She’s especially passionate about creating safe spaces for youth to be their authentic selves, where they are able to feel heard, valued, and empowered. She enjoys being outside, listening to music, and bringing in a creative lens to research.
Jimmy Lo
Video Production Lead
Jimmy Lo is an award-winning filmmaker, educator from Hong Kong, now based in Canada. Stories of Pang Jai (2024) won Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography for Feature Film at Vancouver Asian Film Festival and was nominated for the Human Rights Award at South Taiwan Film Festival. His second feature doc Give and Take (2025), which explores the post-2019 Hong Kong immigrants in Canada. His films have screened internationally. Jimmy is an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University, where he teaches film and video production and holds an MFA in Film Production from UBC.
Co-Design Support
Thank you to all the great people, past and present, who have been able to help at many stages throughout this project. Next Steps would not be where it is with you!
Project Leads
Faye Hamilton Associate Professor in Social Work ⎸ Rebecca Stiller Assistant Professor in Child and Youth Care ⎸ Dr. Isabelle Sperano Associate Professor in Design
Research
Faye Hamilton Associate Professor in Social Work ⎸ Rebecca Stiller Assistant Professor in Child and Youth Care ⎸ Dr. Isabelle Sperano Associate Professor in Design ⎸ Jenn Danko Assistant Professor in Design ⎸ Jimmy Lo Assistant Professor in Design ⎸ Dr. Aaron Turpin Assistant Professor in Health and Human Services ⎸ Rachel Nhan Student in Design
Kelsey Kendrick Student in Design ⎸ Amanda Stashko Student in Design
Video Production
Jimmy Lo Assistant Professor in Design ⎸ James Pincock Student in Design
Hayden Carkner Student in Design
Branding
Bretten Wiebe Student in Design
Website Design & Updates
Bretten Wiebe Student in Design ⎸ Amanda Stashko Student in Design
Funding
MacEwan ⎸ Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Our Partners.
A big thank you to all of our amazing partners who help make Next Steps possible. Your support, insight, and commitment to youth make this work stronger, more creative, and more connected. We’re so grateful to collaborate with organizations that believe in walking alongside young people as they build their futures.
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who have contributed to Building Next Steps.
Meghan Regier
Boyle Street Community Services
Peter Smyth
Organization for the Prevention of Violence
Cody Murrell
Office of the Child and Youth Advocate
We’re looking for volunteers because Next Steps is all about working with youth and community—not just for them. Whether you’re a young person with ideas, lived experience, or creative skills, or a community agency that wants to support youth in new ways, we’d love to team up. Help us create real, useful content—or help spread the word so it reaches the people who need it most. Your voice, your story, and your support can make a real difference.