MSPEI Coaching Profiles

Dr. Amanda Brisebois offers coaching through concerns and conflict, helping physicians transform challenges dealing with a physician concern or interpersonal conflict into opportunities for collaboration and clarity.

Dr. Brisebois is a PCC ICF-certified Wellness and Executive Coach with a specialization in facilitation, mediation, conflict resolution, healthcare, and team coaching. She is also a specialist in General Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine, a certified mediator, and a systems-level leader with extensive training in negotiation, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Her academic credentials include a Master’s in International Health Leadership from McGill University, and advanced training from the Mayo Clinic, Berkeley, Oxford, UBC, and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.

Dr. Brisebois has held senior leadership roles across complex systems, including Medical Director of a 360-bed hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, Medical Director of the Covenant Palliative Care Institute, and Associate Chief Medical Officer of Covenant Health. Her leadership focus lies in optimizing healthcare workplaces by transforming personal and team conflict into opportunities for growth, effectiveness, and renewed connection.

She is the creator of the Team Optimization for Physicians (TOP) Program, a practical and scalable approach that helps physicians and interdisciplinary teams address conflict in real time, repair relational strain, and build more effective, psychologically safe work environments. She also has published the B BETTER and B FREE strategies to work through conflict situations with a process. Across Canada, her work has led to measurable improvements in team dynamics, trust, performance, and patient-centred outcomes. Dr. Brisebois also serves as a trusted physician advisor, supporting individuals and teams in transforming distress into clarity and productivity, anchored in evidence-based strategies and measurable success.

Donna Clark is Owner and Leadership Partner with Courage Group International. She is based in PEI with an office in Charlottetown. Donna brings over 30 years of experience as a senior leader, consultant, and couch, including approximately 25 years coaching leaders. Donna held senior level positions in the federal government before initiating a full-time consulting practice with a focus on leadership and organizational development. Donna currently serves as a contract faculty member teaching leadership to faculty and staff at the Nova Scotia Community College. Donna has a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and is a Newfield Certified Coach (NCC).

She completed her PhD in organizational development and change in 2019 with research focused on inclusive leadership, women, relational leadership, and power. Donna is committed to developing the capacity of people to lead with courage and compassion and create life nurturing, high performing organizations.

Her recent coaching engagements include coaching chiefs of staff for two Ontario hospitals. In addition, she has served as a mentor/coach on qualitative research for a physician working on a pediatric oncology fellowship at the IWK.

Farah Jamil provides executive and ADHD life coaching, supporting physicians in enhancing focus, productivity, and leadership presence.

Farah Jamil is an Ivy League-educated Executive with a Masters in Health Administration (MHA) & 20 years of leadership experience. She is an Executive Coach, an Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Coach, a Consultant, & a Global Speaker.   

She has briefed senior leaders (e.g. Canadian Ministers, US Senators, & Ambassadors); led high-performing teams; served as President, VP, & Director on various non-profit boards in Canada / US; served as a guest lecturer / facilitator / speaker for various universities / colleges, webinars, and podcasts; &, provided 1:1 & group coaching as an Internal Coach & privately for early- to mid-careerists & ADHDers around the world.  

Farah is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a Professional Fellow at the Institute of Coaching (IOC) McLean – Harvard Medical School Affiliate, & a Top 10 presenter at the 2023 World Business & Executive Coach Summit (WBECS) by Coaching.com Pre-Summit on “Neurodiversity – Navigating ADHD in the Workplace.”

Gail Boone as a professional certified coach, Gail is a champion of courageous conversations. She is also a Mentor Coach (PCC), ICF member and Trauma-Sensitive HeartMath® certified practitioner. Integrity, insight, courage and forthrightness with HEART are the words others used to describe her. Clients have said that Gail, “has that gift of asking the most insightful (sometimes difficult) questions to encourage you to dig deep in exploring previous experiences and personal values to create your own solutions.”

She has coached hundreds of healthcare professionals through LEADS 360 and facilitated multiple, five-day LEADS LEARNING Series in four provinces. With over 30+ years of experience in the health and insurance sectors, Gail started an independent coaching and facilitation practice in 2010 and has facilitated over 70 Health Professionals Roundtable for Strategy sessions through the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Gail believes…”When you are ready, you will.”

Julian Young is Partner/Owner, Fire Inside Leadership. For over 25 years, Julian Young has supported the transformation of people, organizations, and systems. In his 20-year public service career, he worked in leadership positions in Emergency Health, Public Health, and Trauma Care. Julian works extensively with physician leaders and residents, and physician and healthcare leadership teams. His impactful coaching supports physicians to transform their inner operating systems, enabling them to thrive in highly complex, volatile, and uncertain environments.

Through a thought-provoking creative process, Julian inspires and supports his clients to strengthen resilience and gain greater fulfillment in their careers and lives. In his coaching, he brings to physicians the latest from the fields of adult development, neuroscience, personal transformation, and high-performance team and relationship coaching.

Dr Katrina Hurley
Dr Katrina Hurley is an Emergency Physician at IWK Health and Assistant Dean in the Faculty
Wellness in Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine. She also holds a master’s degree in
health informatics. Katrina cares deeply about addressing burnout and understands its impact
on satisfaction, innovation, and growth. To that end, she has undertaken formal learning in
compassion fatigue, self-compassion, and mindful practice. She is a certified Co-Active Coach
and has obtained the Associate Certified Coach credential through the International Coaching
Federation.

As a member of the Fire Inside Leadership team, Katrina specializes in transformational
coaching for leaders and healthcare professionals who want to enhance their effectiveness
and sense of fulfillment in life and leadership. Working together, Katrina and her clients
navigate complexity with connection and clarity about what really matters, developing skills to
support her clients and their teams to thrive.

Marion Howell is an Ontario based Professional Certified Coach (PCC) who has supported physicians since 2006. Marion coached PEI physicians in MSPEI’s Leadership Development Program between 2018–2020. During this time, Marion discovered many of the unique conditions that physicians face for delivering care in PEI. Marion is kind and direct, she is emotionally intelligent, and she has the ability to quickly notice clients’ self-imposed blocks and barriers that may hold them back from their peak performance.

Marion’s coaching approach integrates the clients’ context and objectives with best models and scholarship in the areas of leadership development and organizational effectiveness. With Marion’s support, clients are able to deepen their insight on how to respond to complex challenges, often by reframing and then develop personalized strategies that align with their natural strengths.

Maureen Mayhew MD MPH, Executive Coach

Professional Experience

Maureen is a Professionally Certified Coach with over 10 years of experience coaching physicians and other leaders in a variety of healthcare and academic institutions in BC, Ontario, Manitoba and PEI. Maureen’s medical career has led her from urban medical centres to remote corners of most provinces and territories in Canada, as well as in Asia and Africa. She was a frontline physician for many years. Later in her career, she held leadership positions that advised Ministers of Health.  In addition to coaching physicians and other leaders, she currently uses her expertise in medicine, leadership, academics and public health to influence health systems and drive physician health forward.

Maureen loves a good puzzle so helping clients navigate a complex system is right up her alley. She finds joy as her clients prioritize, gain clarity, focus, learn from mistakes, and eventually unlock their potential which maximizing their impact with greater ease. Her solid experience in many levels of healthcare in different regions, her skills in communicating across disciplines, her gentle but firm disposition, and her skills as a strategist accelerate client development and performance.  Her coaching style nourishes the leader within, the individual, and the professional.

Maureen grew up in Montreal and she has travelled much of the globe. She is known to be highly adaptable, direct in approach, a great listener, and exceptional at exploring and understanding points of view. Her clients describe her as safe, someone who listens, probes with thoughtful questions and empowers her clients to act while learning with each step of the way. She believes that self-awareness, compassion, courage and creativity are powerful cornerstones of leadership success.

Maureen is a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia where she has designed and taught courses on public health and global health. She has designed and facilitated a variety of workshops aimed at giving and receiving feedback, burnout, moral distress, compassion, self-compassion, communication, navigating conflict, managing emotions in stressful environments, peer support, leadership in public health, as some examples. She is also an engaging speaker.

Partial Client List

Provincial Health Authority of BC, Interior Health Authority of BC, Northern Health Authority of BC, Fraser Health Authority of BC, Providence Healthcare, Medical Society of PEI, Doctors of BC, Canadian Medical Association.

Dr. Mayhew is available for evening appointments.

Michelle Cooper is Owner and Leadership Partner with Courage Group International and based in Dundas, Ontario. She brings over 30 years’ experience as a leader, consultant, and coach, including 18 years of experience coaching leaders. She held progressively more senior leadership positions in healthcare prior to starting her consulting business. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University. Michelle has a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and is a Newfield Certified Coach (NCC).

Michelle helps leaders to discover and leverage their strengths, to be conscious of their assumptions and values, their impact on others and the organization and to create breakthroughs in the way they see the world. She supports leaders to develop their creative competencies to lead effectively and authentically and to create the conditions for teamwork that enable their organization and the individuals within to succeed and thrive.

She has extensive experience with both individual and team coaching in health care as well as other sectors. She has worked on several contracts with The Capital District Health Authority in Nova Scotia. She is currently providing coaching for senior executives at two Ontario hospitals.

Dr Nicole Boutilier

BSc, MD, CCFP, FCFP, CCPE, CEC

Nicole is a family physician with clinical experience in family medicine, emergency medicine and collaborative care. She has held progressive leadership roles over the past twenty years through different levels of health care organizations including department, facility, regional and provincial. She has been in an executive level position since 2008, and is currently the Executive Vice President of Medicine and Clinical Operations at Nova Scotia Health.

Nicole was attracted to becoming a coach by her wish to empower others towards their own solutions and reaching their full potential in their own roles. Coaching allows others to unlock their creativity and innovation and simultaneously provides reciprocal benefits for the coach as they learn and grow in the partnership. As an executive coach for physicians, Nicole is focused on the transformation of herself, others and systems. She is motivated by the power of coaching to drive change, resiliency and new learning.

Her coaching style allows for a safe exploration of areas for growth as well as a deep acknowledgment and leveraging of strengths. She has experience and knowledge in leadership to challenge and explore in a partnership that allows people to shine into their own brilliance.

Nicole’s areas of expertise include executive coaching, physician coaching, health care coaching, leadership development, career transitions, career development, workflow, practice support, personal development, work/life integration, building resilience, prevention of burn out and revitalization of career. She is flexible with scheduling and is available on weeknights and weekends.

Throughout my career in medicine, I have always been excited by helping people grow and develop. My approach is to foster personal and professional growth by focusing on strengths and interests as opposed to deficits.

Using a model developed by the NeuroLeadership Institute I utilize the current understanding on how the brain and body works to facilitate and support change. Since 2017, I have been helping professionals navigate the changing healthcare environment by helping them create a healthy work/life balance in both clinical and leadership roles. Outside of coaching, I continue to have an active clinical practice in Community Psychiatry and in a Physician Health Program.

I am credentialed by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) with an ACC designation. My training includes certification with the Brain Based Coaching Program (NeuroLeadership Institute) and as a Physician Development Coach (Physician Coaching Institute).

Dr. Gibson is available for evening appointments.

Alexandria (Sandi) Roberts is a leadership development coach with significant experience coaching physicians at all stages in their careers. She is dedicated to supporting her clients as they deepen their self awareness, set their goals, and work through the places where they get stuck. Her passion is partnering with clients in the thought-provoking and creative process of coaching to inspire and maximize their personal and professional potential.

In our everyday lives, we rarely have a champion—someone to talk to confidentially and without judgment. Sandi considers the opportunity to play that role with her clients a privilege. She is committed to working in the healthcare system and maintains a large complement of doctors in her individual coaching practice.

Dr. Stephanie Melanson, MD, CCFP, DipSEM
Physician Leadership Coach | Family Physician

Dr. Stephanie Melanson is a family physician, physician leadership coach, and academic clinician with extensive experience in physician wellness, leadership development, and organizational change. She supports family physicians across Canada through individual and group coaching, with a focus on self-awareness, resilience, adaptability, strategic influence, and sustainable medical practice.

Dr. Melanson earned her medical degree from the Université de Sherbrooke and completed her Family Medicine residency in New Brunswick. She holds advanced diplomas in Sport and Exercise Medicine and is certified as a Personal and Business Performance Coach. She has completed multiple physician leadership programs, including provincial leadership training and a Physician Leadership Bootcamp.

She currently serves as Co-President of the Medical Staff at the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont University Hospital Centre and as President of the Family Medicine Specialty Leadership Group for the New Brunswick Medical Society. She is also an active member of physician health and peer support committees and previously served as Unit Chief during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading clinical teams through complex system challenges.

Dr. Melanson has been providing physician leadership coaching through provincial medical societies since 2021 and is a frequent speaker at provincial and national conferences on physician leadership, resilience, and work–life sustainability. Her approach is practical, reflective, and grounded in the realities of frontline family medicine.

In addition to her leadership work, Dr. Melanson is an Associate Professor with the Université de Sherbrooke and a recognized leader in Sport and Exercise Medicine. She is the founder and Medical Director of sports medicine and concussion clinics and has served as Chief Medical Officer for multiple national and international sporting events.

Dr. Melanson is committed to supporting physicians in building effective, meaningful, and sustainable careers while strengthening the healthcare systems they serve.

Sue Austin is grateful, curious, and driven everyday in her pursuit to coach others to realize and lean into their true potential. With the inherent challenges in our complex world and particularly in healthcare, Sue has drawn on her empathic approach in coaching healthcare practitioners in PEI, Ontario and now Guyana. Her clients value her partnership in thinking creatively as they build self-awareness and identify solutions to grow their impact, fulfillment, and self-compassion. Her clients also benefit from different perspectives through Sue’s coaching experience across multiple sectors in addition to healthcare, including professional services, financial services, executive education, real estate, technology, grocery, retail and not-for-profit.

Sue is passionate about her family, friends, and sports. She is often found playing year-round beach volleyball, downhill skiing, cheering on her hockey team, enjoying a hand of bridge or kayaking. Her love of learning has been passed along to her two daughters each currently studying master’s degrees at Queen’s University.

Tammy Carroll has been working since 2003 in the field of organizational psychology and leadership for both public and private sector organizations. Her unique blend of scientific background, international training and professional experience makes her well-versed as a leadership and executive coach. Having coached over 550 clients, she has accumulated over 1,400 hours of professional coaching, mainly with executives. Dr. Carroll specializes in using evidence-based approaches and tools, often including psychometric assessments in her coaching practice. She is committed to support driven leaders who want to become the best version of themselves and move the world forward in human ways.

She is currently an Executive with the Government of Canada in addition to her part-time practice in organizational psychology and leadership.

Tara Burley (she/her)

Associate, Fire Inside Leadership

Tara Burley is a leadership development coach with significant experience working with high-performing individuals, having spent the past two decades focused on career growth and transition.  Her open and inclusive approach has supported leaders in the deliberate nurturing of relationships for intentional impact.  Using the principles of Co-Active coaching combined with a deep history in the practice of yoga, Tara brings a warm and playful approach to coaching while creating space for clarity and exploration.  She supports clients to prioritize what they value most in service to fulfillment and longevity in the healthcare system.

Wendy Jones, PCC 

Clients work with Wendy to enhance their communication skills, navigate leadership roles, manage workplace conflict, and explore how to handle the demands of their careers and personal lives. Through her intuitive and compassionate coaching, clients gain confidence, deepen self-awareness, make choices and develop action plans towards their desired results.

Wendy’s coaching schedule is flexible and often includes early mornings, lunch hours or evenings in order to fit the needs of her physician clients.

Here are three short testimonials from PEI Physicians coached by Wendy:

“Honestly, I don’t think I’d have gotten through this past year without Wendy as my coach.”

“Coaching has improved my confidence in speaking up and setting boundaries. Wendy provided support and acted as a sounding-board.”

“I’m incredibly grateful for the safe space that coaching with Wendy provided me. Her coaching allowed me to see issues in a different way which helps me to make better decisions.”

As one of Atlantic Canada’s most experienced and respected coaches, Wendy builds trust with her clients to create a safe foundation for open and honest dialogue.