GRIT LEADERS
Alix Dunham
Alix is the leader of North Vancouver’s Pink Petal Ballet where she has taught 300+ girls (and boys) a week for the last 20 years. She saw a need for Grit after witnessing her own kids’ generation struggle with anxiety-related issues and recognizing that these youth need some tools to help make it through the fire.
Since launching Grit Vancouver for kids in 1995, Alix now offers Grit workshops for adults. Grit workshops focus on brain-health + soul-resilience as a way to ride the wave of life. Meditation is the corner-stone of our heart-led and science-based workshops.
Alix is a certifier Meditation Teacher and her background in teaching, meditation, and parenting give her a unique skill-set to connect with people on an authentic, human level.
ASHA DIAZ
Asha Diaz has been working with youth for over 10 years and is excited to expand her knowledge on exactly what it means to be an authentic human in the 21st century.
After completing her yoga teacher certification in 2015 and Meditation Teacher Training in 2019, she’s been a big inspiration for the Grit curriculum, and leads it with passion, understanding, and empathy. She understands going through the fire with mental illness and will stop at nothing until young people are heard and taken seriously.
Asha currently runs the Grit youth and adult programs in Toronto, ONT and believes in the movement and the positive ways in which youth can effect the world.
PATRICIA MIRTH
Patricia is a first-gen Filipina storyteller, poet, facilitator, community-shaker, weirdo aunty. Her values of equity, justice and decolonization are the cornerstones leading her career in the helping field. In addition to her many years working in social services with youth and adults, she’s completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Counselling. She hopes to use all of this with her love of writing and community to empower others with the tools, resources and language to navigate this non-stop world. You’ll likely find Patricia in the chocolate aisle at Walmart or bingeing baking shows on Netflix.
VINEETA PRASAD
Vineeta has been working with children, youth and families for the past 9 years. She has her masters in counselling psychology; yoga, meditation and breathwork training and is passionate about sharing accessible and impactful healing resources in the community. Vineeta has her own experiences with anxiety from childhood into early Adulthood and uses this lived experience as a source of empathy for the individuals she works with. Her mission is to support others to be kinder to themselves and to self regulate so that they can have room for the things that bring them joy. Vineeta also loves food, and art.
SAMMY FOGEL
Sammy (she/her) is a creative, curious, and community-driven educator and facilitator passionate about mental health and social justice. Through her own experiences living with mental illness and her fascination about social-emotional learning, Sammy has become well versed in self-care, resiliency, and mindfulness practices. She recently completed her Masters in Social Justice and Community Engagement and is excited to bring what she's learned to her community, as a Grit Leader, as well as in her administrative role at the BC Crisis Center.
In her spare time, you can find Sammy swimming in the ocean, reading her book in the sunshine, or enjoying a london fog at her local cafe.
