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Our Team

Key Assets Nova Scotia is led by a team of dedicated professionals and staffed by many exceptional child and youth care workers who believe we can always do better for the youth we serve.

Leadership Team

    Cathy

    Cathy Morris

    CEO – Key Assets Canada
    Cathy Morris, B.Ed., BSW, MSW. RSW, CCPA – Cathy has worked with children, youth and families for more than 34 years in many capacities across the Province & Nationally and prior to assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer, Cathy was the Provincial Director and Founding Coordinator for the development of the Child & Youth Advocacy Centre for Newfoundland & Labrador. Prior to joining Key Assets NL in 2019, she was a Program and Policy Consultant for In-Care with the Provincial Department of Children Seniors and Social Development. It was in this position that Cathy had the pleasure of initially working collaboratively with KANL to develop, pilot, evaluate and regulate some of the program that continues to be an important KANL services available to children, youth and families in Newfoundland & Labrador.

    Cathy brings a multitude of expertise and experience as an administrator and leader, particularly in supporting families in child protection and in-care at the regional, provincial, and national level. Cathy is highly skilled and knowledgeable in trauma response, assessment, investigations, policy and program development, child protection programming, legislation and regulatory requirement in the provision of services to vulnerable children, youth and families. She was instrumental in developing the first Child, Youth and Family Regulations for family-based and residential care in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2019.

     

    Cathy cares deeply about the well-being of children, youth, and families. She is a provincial, national, and global trauma responder and a member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association in Canada. Cathy currently volunteers with several agencies and boards both at the provincial and national level and is a member of the national Sexual Assault Investigations Review Committee with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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    Jaime Lundrigan

    Operations Director
    Jaime has worked with children, youth and families for over 17 years and holds a post graduate study in Child and Youth Care through the University of Strathclyde, she has previously worked in mental health and addictions within the health care stream, group care and treatment settings. Jaime is the President of the Child and Youth Care Association for Newfoundland and Labrador and the recipient of the 2017 National Child and Youth Care Worker Award.

    Jaime and her husband are adoptive parents through Key Assets and continue to provide family-based care to children in their home. Through this program Jaime and her husband have spoken at multiple provincial, national and international conferences on family-based care and the dynamics within families.

    Heidi

    Heidi Holloway

    Manager of Alternate Care
    Heidi Holloway holds a degree in Child and Youth Studies from Mount Saint Vincent University, and has had the privilege of practicing in this field for over 12 years. Throughout that time she has worked in a variety of direct-care settings serving vulnerable populations of children and youth. Heidi has published articles in CYCW journals and most recently authored a chapter in the 2021 publication Relational Child and Youth Care in Action. She has presented at both national and international conferences for various social-service-related disciplines. Heidi is a facilitator of PersonBrain training and 3 Pillars of Trauma Informed Care, as well as being an experiential-recreation trainer with High Five (a Canadian standard for physical literacy programs with children). Heidi has a deep passion for quality, both in the therapeutic care provided to children and youth, and in the leadership and support she offers to the care providers.

     

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    Jill Sponagle

    Manager of Alternate Care
    Jill Sponagle graduated from the Child and Youth Care program at Nova Scotia Community College in 2012. After graduating, she moved to Alberta and worked with Edmonton’s leading Indigenous agency, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, for over 10 years. The unique partnership between the agency and the Government of Alberta’s child welfare system focused on providing intensive supports to families, children, and youth in a culturally honouring way. Jill worked in the front lines and as a supervisor where she learned how to center her practice in modalities of decolonization and healing through ceremony as a way for families to feel empowered within their own Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Jill is well-versed in trauma-informed practice, child safety, and child development. Jill recently moved back to Nova Scotia and now serves as the Manager of Alternate Care with Key Assets. She brings with her extensive knowledge of the experiences of children in group care and a focus on providing caring, safe, and structured homes for our children.