Our Team

Kim is a daughter, aunt, dog mother, sister, partner and friend.  She is the Director of Programs of LIFT and she spends most working days supporting client facing programs.  Kim’s greatest achievements include the completion of her Masters in Advance Practice Leadership of Nursing and her flower gardens.  Kim believes that it is impossible to heal in isolation but with community, loneliness can cease to exist and wellbeing can be nurtured. 

As the Housing Services Manager, Julie (she/her) oversees Lift’s Supportive Housing and Emergency Shelter programs, and works with partners to advance solutions to homelessness in qathet. Julie holds a BA (Hons.) in Political Science and Sociology from the University of British Columbia, and completed graduate studies at the University of Toronto. She has over a decade of experience in every corner of the community sector, from indie journalism and community-based research, to public engagement and non-profit leadership. With lived experience navigating mental health and substance use systems, Julie is deeply committed to anti-stigma work and harm reduction. Julie lives in χaʔaji (Cranberry) with her partner and two young children. 

Kathryn Colby founded the Community Development department at Lift in 2020 and has been facilitating multidisciplinary, community-based overdose emergency and treatment solutions in Tla’amin territory since 2018. She was raised in the Yukon and has worked for 20+ years in the non-profit and social services/social work sectors, with a special interest in working alongside people coping with complex mental health, substance use and homelessness. Kathryn holds a master’s degree in Community Development and joined the guild of motherhood in 2022.

I love to call Powell River my home.  I want to contribute in whatever way I can to make it the best little City it can be.  I enjoy golfing in the summer and curling in the winter.

I joined the Lift board in 2023 and want to contribute what skills I might have in ensuring LIFT continues as a successful non-profit society.  I currently sit on the Board Development Committee.

I have recently completed fourteen years as a City Councillor for the City of Powell River.  I worked as Assistant to the MLA for thirteen years and spent eight years as a paralegal at Legal Aid.

As a society we have an obligation to assist those who struggle to achieve success.  I want to help! 

A Powell River resident since 2006, you’ll find Lee at many music gigs, especially those at the Academy of Music, at PRISMA, or at St. David & St Paul’s as a participant, or active supporter or just as part of the audience. Lee serves as a Board Member for Lift Community Services, and sits on the Finance and Governance Committees. Lee is Retired teacher with longtime involvement in many not-for-profit organizations and their boards, and believes that it’s important to help all qathet residents who need differing types and levels of support.

Karen is passionate about making a difference in her community and believes, “you make a life by what you give”. Karen volunteers with a variety of non-profit organizations in the qathet community and is grateful for the opportunities that establish new contacts and friendships. For 30 years, Karen worked for the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada – BC/Yukon region. Now retired, Karen finds a sense of purpose serving on the Lift Board which connects her to people and ideas that positively impacts her perspective in life. Karen is an avid reader and loves spending time with her family.

Hans has seen seen most of life and believes that if you see something that is wrong, do something about it to rectify the situation. Hans is a board member for Lift Community Services, and sits on the Governance Committee. Hans is a retired Professional Engineer registered in the Province of British Columbia, and is very fortunate to have a wonderful family backing him up. Hans believes that working in the qathet community is important so we can eliminate poverty in the community.

Paramedic with BC Emergency Health Services for the past 33 years. Locally have been the unit Chief of the Powell River station for the past 5 years. For many years I was the trainer of the Powell River Kings as well as other teams in the BC Hockey League and Western Hockey League.

Through my time in the ambulance in both Vancouver and Powell River I have seen people in all stages of life. I have had clients that live in mansions and others that unfortunately call a cardboard box home. I have seen what homelessness has done to people and I think it is important for all people to have access to a warm bed, warm clothes, and food to eat. These are the basics of life and I believe in working together in the qathet community to help the less fortunate meet those everyday needs. Another need is a helping hand out of homelessness, help getting job training, help getting a job, family help and social support. Lift does this and I am excited to have the opportunity to join the board to aid in anyway I can.

Courtney Harrop is a long-term resident in the qathet Region, is the Harm Reduction Coordinator at Tla’amin Health, and her passions are her children, community-based harm reduction, and good food, primarily tacos!

Courtney has a background in Leadership and Disability Studies, emergency first response, emergency management and community building.

Having spent much time working away from her home community, Courtney believes that working on local, rural/remote grassroots community-based initiatives and solutions to support marginalized demographics in qathet is a priority to support our community, but also to provide an example to other rural and remote communities seeking support and collaboration, particularly in developing harm reduction services and supports.

Tom is known for seeing the forest as well as the trees, of thinking faster than asked, and for believing everyone is special (though he has a hard time with people who think they’re more special). Tom became a LIFT board member in 2022. He serves on the Executive Support Committee. Tom completed Post-graduate education in Cognitive Psychology and in Counselling Psychology. He fulfilled a career in social service leadership, consultation, and education across North America, primarily serving in mental health and addictions, employee assistance, and homelessness and poverty organizations, and in organizational development. He enjoys time being creative with lines of words and art…and doing nothing…while observing nature.  “The qathet community is a physical and social ecology challenged and informed by isolation and diversity. We each play a part in being informed and meeting challenges with others who live here, for the balance of life.”

I was born and raised on Vancouver Island and moved to Ayjoo mixw (currently known as Westview, Powell River) two years ago. I am the Head of Operations for Full Circle, a video game studio currently developing “skate”.
I have Project Management Professional certification and over 10 years experience in strategic planning and program management in the tech industry.
I dedicate both my personal and professional work to building healthy and just communities and for me that means challenging inequitable systems, intentionally removing barriers and strengthening community power. hɛwč ʔowanet (I am humbly grateful) to live on Tla’amin territories and I am learning how to hold myself accountable to the laws of this land that existed millenia before my ancestors arrived here.
I am very excited to be joining the incredible group of people at Lift who connect people and strengthen our community.
“Without community, there is no liberation” – Audre Lorde.

Originally from Vancouver Island, Rebecca is a settler woman whose ancestors were originally from Scotland and England. Rebecca has lived, worked, and played on the traditional territory of the Tla’amin Nation for the past seven years and is incredibly grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

Rebecca has a health-focused Masters of Social Work degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelors of Social Work degree from the University of Calgary. Rebecca has 13 years of experience as a front-line Mental Health Social Worker and is currently the Mental Health and Substance Use manager for Central Coast (Bella Bella and Bella Coola) with Vancouver Coastal Health.

Rebecca has volunteered to join the Board of Directors of LIFT because she has long been passionate about addressing issues of homelessness in the rural communities in which she has lived and is interested in supporting LIFT to reduce the psycho-social impacts of poverty, substance use, and homelessness. Rebecca is grateful to LIFT for all the amazing work that they have been doing in the community and feels that it is important to uplift and acknowledge this to help the community better understand the work of the organization. Outside of work, Rebecca loves mountain biking, working in her garden, and spending time with her husband and two children.