Staff & Board of Directors
Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Susan Somogyi Wells (she/her)
Susan Somogyi Wells has both front line and leadership experience in adult mental health, children’s mental health, couple and family therapy, gender-based violence, and justice services. She has extensive experience working within Employee Assistance Programs, both as a therapist and workplace consultant. In the past 20 years, Susan worked in various roles at a large multi-service not-for-profit agency, most recently as Director of Clinical Services.
In 2013, she authored “A Business Case for an Enhanced Strategy to End Domestic Violence”. This resulted in a provincial pilot project, led by Family Service Ontario, for conjoint counselling to address lower risk intimate partner violence.
Susan assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Family Service Ontario in 2020. In this role, she supports member agencies in strengthening their organizations through opportunities for collaboration, sharing timely information, support, and education. In addition, Susan is the voice of our network, to ensure the provincial government understands the needs of our agencies in supporting our communities.
Completing master’s degrees in both Social Work and Business Administration, Susan is committed to the application of standard business practices and strategies that align with social work values to optimize the public funds that support the well-being of families in Ontario. She has been a passionate advocate for a comprehensive approach to mental health that serves the needs of men, women and children and recognizes the significance of relationships in mental health and wellbeing.
Project Manager
Jake Bradshaw (he/him)
Jake took a semester off of university in 2017 as a result of his struggle with depression and anxiety. Jake has worked in the mental health space since then as an advocate, community organizer, speaker and advisor. Highlights include organizing a two-day mental health conference that had 80 attendees, speaking on a panel in front of 1,300 students about mental well-being and being part of a youth advisory board for the Canadian Government. Jake previously worked at Greenspace Health where he helped organizations and post-secondary institutions implement evidence-based care and improve access to mental health services. He’s excited to bring his experience in the sector and passion for mental health to FSO to help elevate the voices of member agencies and the individuals that they serve.
Board of Directors 2022-2023
Chondrena Vieira-Martin
Chair
Chondrena Vieira-Martin is the Executive Director of Thrive Counselling (Halton). Chondrena earned a M.A. in Criminology at the University of Toronto, B.A. in Sociology and Economics from the University of Western Ontario and is a registered social worker. She has been dedicated to the social service, mental health and addiction sectors throughout her career.
She is committed to supporting individuals and families and to strengthening the services that provide these important supports.
Kirsten Armbrust
Vice Chair
Kirsten Armbrust is the Executive Director of Community Counselling and Resource Centre (CCRC). Kirsten began at CCRC in 2003 as a clinical counsellor, then moved on to manage the counselling program, until 2019 when she assumed the role of Executive Director. Her previous professional experiences include work in child welfare, intimate partner violence and children’s mental health. Kirsten holds undergraduate degrees in sociology and social work from McMaster University and an MSW from McGill University. Kirsten sees the value of FSO firsthand. She has been a regular attendee at the annual conference for many years and has sat on the member services committee for years.
Joyce Zuk
Secretary
For almost 30 years, Joyce has been an Executive Director, working in various sectors, with the past 15 years at Family Services Windsor-Essex. Joyce has been dedicated to the family service sector, serving as a Director for Family Service Canada and a member of the National Management Committee of FSEAP. In addition to her work as an Executive Director, Joyce is also a sessional instructor at both St. Clair College, and the University of Windsor. Joyce is highly engaged in her community with involvement on numerous community planning tables, including housing, homelessness, mental health, and addictions. Joyce has also held an elected position on Windsor’s City Council. She holds a Master of Arts degree in political science with a focus on public administration.
John Matos
John Matos has been involved with family and youth services and counselling organizations for the almost 20 years. served on the Board of Catholic Family Services Peel-Dufferin, including the 3 years as Chair. John also served on the boards of Rapport Youth & Family Services, the Canadian Information Processing Society of Ontario, Symbol Technologies Customer Advisory Board, IBM POS User Advisory Board, and IBM Mid-Market Advisory Network. In his professional career, John is a Management Consultant, Chief Information Officer, and Board Advisor to various leading organizations. John has an honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba, completed graduate studies in Computer Science at the University of Toronto, and Business Management at Ryerson University. He holds internationally recognized I.S.P. and ITCP IT professional designations, a Certified Project Director designation and is a Fellow of the Life Assurance Management Institute (FLMI).
Rebecca Webb
Rebecca Webb is the Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health. She has 15 years of experience in strategic leadership in healthcare, most recently as Manager, Performance Quality and Design at the Waterloo-Wellington LHIN. Rebecca has also served with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Waterloo Wellington CCAC. This work has allowed her to contribute to designing better experiences with the health system at the programmatic, community, and provincial levels.
Rebecca holds a degree in Anthropology, Mathematics and Statistics from McMaster University. She lives in Guelph with her three children.
Stafford Murphy
For the last 20 years, Stafford has held senior/executive leadership positions in a variety of community-based settings. Currently, Stafford is the Executive Director of Resolve Counselling Services. Prior to that, he was employed with Kerry’s Place Autism Services (East Region Executive Director), Kingston Community Health Centres (Director of Operations) and Lennox and Addington Addiction Services (Executive Director). Throughout his career Stafford has held numerous board positions, including his current position as Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Kingston Community Legal Clinic. Stafford is also a peer reviewer for the Canadian Centre for Accreditation and Building Healthy Organizations accreditation bodies. He has a Bachelor of Psychology, a Diploma in Behaviour Science Technology, a Master Certificate in Healthcare Management and has completed the Advanced System Leadership Program with the Rotman School of Management.
Anna Victoria Wong
Anna Victoria Wong is a journalist and speech-language pathologist by training, and health executive and community advocate by profession. Anna spent years in journalism and communications in the corporate, public, academic, and social service sectors. Her doctoral research focused on access equity to health services for the population affected by the invisible communicative disability. She is the Executive Director of Community Family Services of Ontario, which has served East Asian Ontarians with their mental health, newcomer settlement, and disabilities and special needs. Anna and CFSO are known for their service to socio-politically oppressed Hongkongers through the IRCC Hongkong Pathway.
Brenda Spitzer
Brenda Spitzer is the Executive Director of Catholic Family Services of Toronto, a position she has held since 2019. Prior to her current role, Brenda was the Executive Director of the Canadian Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a sessional instructor in the Graduate Program in Couple & Family Therapy at the University of Guelph. Brenda worked for over fifteen years providing family therapy services at Catholic Community Services of York Region, where she was the Clinical Manager of the Therapy Team. She also served as the President of the Ontario Association for Marriage and Family Therapy until 2013. Brenda lives in Toronto with her husband, three children and dog, Bernie.
Vicki Hartman
Vicki is the Manager of Counselling Services of Willowbridge Community Services. Previously she worked at Carizon Family and Community Services as a Community Resource Worker and a Support Coordinator of Extend-a-Family, Waterloo Region. Vicki has been a member of the Family Service Ontario Member Services Committee, as well as an organizer and presenter for the Trauma Training Series. She has previous experience as a conference committee chair, with Bereaved Families of Ontario, Mid-Western Region and is also part of their Professional Advisory Committee. Throughout her career, Vicki has been a dedicated advocate for people with a developmental disability, behaviour disorder or autism who also struggle with their mental health.