About Us

Our Mission

Our mission is to inspire and support discovery and curiosity of mind, body, and brain in a way that honours individual differences and shared experiences with an ultimate goal of improving the well being for all.

How We Achieve Our Mission

• We create learning opportunities in-house through our courses

• We work within other organizations to deliver courses and coaching

• We work one-on-one as Life Coaches

• We offer mentorship programs

• We train people to become Life Coaches by understanding how the mind, body, and brain work

• We share our own personal experiences and recognize that we are all human and benefit from connecting with each other in an authentic manner

Philosophy

As a social enterprise, we are a privately-owned company that applies commercial strategies to maximize cultural and social wellbeing. In other words, we are a for-profit enterprise that has a social and cultural mission. That being said, our philosophy is of giving back so the income we generate supports a modest income for the people who work for the Centre for Applied Neuroscience. We value gender, ethnic, cultural, religious, economic, physical, mental health, and emotional diversity and work hard to make our courses and programs accessible to all people. We aim to be allies of our fellow humans and to love and respect everyone. We strive for transparency in our practices and fairness in how we interact with all people. We seek to lead by example as custodians of earth and believe that better minds, bodies, and brains are part of the ecosystem for a healthier planet. We believe awareness and striving to become more aware is a key step in becoming good, fair, and loving humans.

How We Implement our Philosophy

• Part of the revenue we generate returns to the workers of our organization to support their livelihood of dedicated service to others. 

• The balance of the revenue generated is used to develop and run new programs in order to keep expanding our wellbeing impact. 

• We engage in real conversations with our clientele and potential clientele and don’t rely on automated email responses. 

• We use an interview process for all those who take our in-house courses to ensure that our work suits the needs of a potential candidate and to ensure that tolerant, open-minded, and well-intended people with diverse experiences make-up our student body. We do not admit people who we feel would go against our philosophy or mission or those we believe would infringe upon the human rights of others.

• We only employ CAN-trained Life Coaches who have met all of our ethics and competency standards to work one-on-one with clients.

• We are always expanding our offerings and we are always open to conversations on how we can be more accessible with what we offer.

• We welcome conversations/concerns by people who have special needs and engage in dialogue about how to accommodate those needs.

• We are an LGBTQ2S-friendly space, with people who identify as LGBTQ2S as members of our teaching staff.

• We offer healthy snacks at our in-house courses, which cater to a variety of diets (e.g., GF, Vegan, DF, Nut-free when necessary etc.) to support good mind, body, and brain health.

• We buy snacks with low/no packaging including fruits and vegetables (local when possible) and make at home what we can (e.g., dips and biscuits). 

• We solicit regular feedback from our clients/students about their experiences and how we can better serve their needs

• We work out of a shared working space (Centre for Social Innovation), which itself is an ambassador of good environmental, cultural, and gender practices.

Inclusion & Diversity

There are many ways in which an organization can create inclusive working, and in our case learning, environments. Inclusion is an important part of our mission as a company as we seek to support everyone in their personal journey and ultimately strive for a better world for everyone.

We are an LGBTQ2S-friendly space. We believe Indigenous and Black Lives Matters. We believe in Truth & Reconciliation. We believe in accessible learning. We support and accommodate mental illness and neurodiversity. We value people of all shapes, sizes, ages, abilities, genders, orientation, color, citizenship. We are intolerant of hate, prejudice, discrimination, harassment, or abuse.  And we are always learning to be better humans. We act in accordance to these beliefs by using inclusive design and language, recruiting diversely for new students and staff, accommodating the various needs of our students and staff, and continuing to educate ourselves about best practices. We embed this philosophy into our learning philosophy.

Acknowledging our students’, teachers’, and staff’s preferred pronoun is also an important practice that we do in our courses to encourage an inclusive learning and work space.

We also acknowledge that some of our students may not yet be familiar with how to use pronouns or acknowledge the land they are on. For those who want to learn, we provide guides and resources. For example, to learn how to share your pronouns visit this website: https://www.mypronouns.org/sharing.

Land Acknowledgment

We deeply acknowledge the traditional territory where we work and speak from, which starts with our head office in the City of Toronto, on the land of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippawa, and the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat People (Huron-wendat (Wyandot) and covered by Treaty 13 and Williams Treaty.

We also have teachers in the following regions:

Halifax/Dartmouth - Mi'kmaq territory, treaty 3 (Halifax) and Peace and Friendship Treat (Dartmouth)

Ajax-Durham Region - Traditional land of the Anishinaabe, covered by Williams Treaty

Hamilton - Traditional land of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory, covered by Treaty 3.

Ottawa - Traditional land of the Algonquin, covered by Crawford’s Purchase 

Kingston - Traditional land of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Huron-wendat territory, covered by Treat 57. 

Fredericton - Unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi'kmaq

To learn whose land you’re on, visit this website: https://www.whose.land/en/ as referred to in this CBC article on Unreserved.

Our Team

Dr. Mandy Wintink, Ph.D.

Program & Curriculum Director, Founder

She earned a PhD in Neuroscience and Psychology from Dalhousie University in 2005 and completed her Post-Doctoral Training in Molecular Neurobiology in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie. Her research primarily focussed on the neuroplasticity associated with emotions (e.g., anxiety, fear, depression) and learning and memory. She focussed all of her research throughout her training on the differences in the brains and behaviour between males and females. She began coaching and working at holistic health centre while doing her post-doctoral training and then moved to Toronto in 2010 where she formally launched the Centre for Applied Neuroscience. She is also currently part-time faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto. Learn more about Mandy here and follow her podcast Mandyland at www.Mandyland.ca

Shenoa Ragavaloo

Managing Partner

Shenoa joined CAN as a student in the Life Coaching Certification Course in 2021 after completing her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Guelph-Humber. After working for CAN for a year she went to complete her masters at York University in Neuroscience (2024). In March 2024 she joined as the Managing Partner and is becoming a co-owner of CAN.

Teachers

Vanessa Vella

Associate Director of CAN, Director of Life Coaching, Teacher, Mentor, and Coach

Vanessa is the Head Teacher for the Life Coaching Course in Toronto and online. She completed her Life Coaching Certification with CAN in 2014 and was an assistant teacher for several years after that before become the Director of Life Coaching.

Jeana Conalas 

Life Coaching Certification Teacher, Unstoppable Me Teacher, Mentor, and Coach.

Jeana graduated from the CAN Life Coaching course in 2016, and there’s been no stopping her since then. She works privately with clients, leads workshops and runs her own blog.  Jeana is an online teaching assistant and student mentor. She lives in Halifax, and represents the East Coast at CAN. Jeana believes believes that living fiercely, authentically, and intentionally is the key to living the good life.

Nikki Jameson

Life Coaching Certification Teacher, Competencies Manager, Mentor, and Coach

Nikki completed the CAN Online Life Coaching course in 2017 and soon after became a committed member of the CAN Team. Her main contribution has been in bringing competency-based learning objectives to the online Life Coaching course. Nikki specializes in transition coaching for people in the "post-career" stage of life. She offers individual coaching, workshops, and community coaching sessions. Nikki is also a somatic yoga teacher and practices in Ottawa, Canada and Tulum, Mexico.

Laurissa Tassielli

Life Coaching Certification Teacher & Coach

Laurissa completed the CAN Online Life Coaching course in 2017 and soon after became a committed member of the CAN Team. She has been serving as a Teaching Assistant & Coach for the Life Coaching Certification Program since 2019 and began as a full teacher in September 2022. Laurissa lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Course Instructors

Guest Teachers and Teaching Assistants

To meet some CAN Coaches, check out our directory.

Contact People

General inquiries about CAN or Courses: info@canc.ca

Life Coaching Certification: Vanessa Vella, vanessa@canc.ca

Unstoppable Me Certification: Jeana Conalas, jeana@canc.ca

Technical issues with Online courses or Website: Allison McDonald, info@canc.ca

Speaking Engagements or New Course Requests: Mandy Wintink, mandy@canc.ca

Applications: applications@canc.ca

Payment inquiries & etransfers: info@canc.ca

Main Office (Toronto)

Our main office and our in-person training locations are in Toronto, Canada.

CENTRE FOR APPLIED NEUROSCIENCE

50 Carroll Street

Toronto, ON 

M4M 3G3

T +1 416 998 1104
E info@canc.ca

Privacy Policy

Effective date: January 7, 2020

This Privacy Policy has been prepared by The Centre for Applied Neuroscience for their required site (herein known as “The Centre for Applied Neuroscience”, “we”, “us”, “our”) and sets out the way The Centre for Applied Neuroscience collects, discloses, use, and otherwise manages personal information. 

The Privacy Policy also describes the privacy practices on the The Centre for Applied Neuroscience required site website (the “website”, the “site”, or the “websites”) and through other interactions with

Collection and Use of Personal Information 

Website Registration: In order to obtain access to information regarding products and services on any password-protected areas of our websites, we may request certain personal information such as your name, telephone number, mailing address, email address and the corresponding password that you have selected. We use this information to provide and administer your online account or service your request. 

Marketing Communications: When you complete and submit a guest registration form, or otherwise sign-up to receive information regarding our related products and services, we collect your contact information such as your name, phone numbers, mailing addresses and email address. We will use this information to send you communications based on your expressed interests by mail, email or telephone. You may opt-out of receiving all future marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link included in our email communications, or by contacting us with the credentials noted at the bottom of this Privacy Policy. 

Customer Service: Any time that you contact us with a comment, complaint or a question, you may be asked for information to help us identify yourself (such as your name, address, and your telephone number) along with additional information we may need to help us promptly answer your question or respond to your comment or complaint. We may retain this information to assist you in the future and to improve our customer service and product and service offerings. We may additionally use personal information to establish and manage our relationship with you and provide quality customer service 

Disclosure and Sharing of Your Personal Information 

We will not under any circumstances disclose, rent, trade, sell or otherwise transfer your personal information without your consent, except as otherwise outlined herein.

Service Providers: Your personal information may be transferred (or otherwise made available) to our designated third parties or affiliates who provide services on our behalf. As an example, we may utilize a service provider for the maintenance of our website, including hosting an information form, providing additional services related to our site, sending electronic mail or other functions related to our business or services provided. 

Our service providers are given only the information they need to perform designated functions, and are not authorized under any circumstances to disclose personal information for their own marketing purposes. 

Your personal information may be maintained and processed by us, our affiliations and other third party service providers in Canada, the US or other foreign jurisdictions. In the event that personal information is transferred to other foreign jurisdictions, it will be subject to the laws of that country and may be disclosed to or accessed by their respective courts of law (or related parties), local law enforcement and governmental authorities in accordance to their laws. 

Legal/Compliance: The Centre for Applied Neuroscience, its affiliates, sister companies and its Canadian or foreign service providers may provide your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid order or inquiry to another organization for the purposes of investigating any breaches of an agreement, violation of a law or detecting, preventing or suppressing fraud, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable Canadian or other foreign laws. Your personal information may also be disclosed where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims and to prevent or investigate loss or harm to persons or property.

Sale of Business: Personal information may be provided to third parties in connection with a prospective or completed business transaction, including a sale or merger (including transfers made as part of bankruptcy proceedings or insolvency) involving all or a part of The Centre for Applied Neuroscience or as a part of a corporate reorganization or stock sale or additional or other changes in corporate control. 

Internet-Based Advertising, Information About or Website and Cookies

Overview 

We and/or our service providers collect IP (Internet protocol) addresses from all visitors to the website and other related information such as browser type, operating system, page requests and an average time spent visiting our website. 

This information is only used to enable us to understand our site’s activity and to improve and monitor the website.

Tracking Tags, Web Beacons and Cookies 

Our site uses a technology called ’web beacons’ and ‘tracking tags’. These systems allow us to understand which pages you frequent on our site. Tracer tags like these are utilized to help us learn how we can tailor and optimize our website for yourself and other site visitors. 

Our website utilizes a technology known as ‘cookies.’ Cookies are essentially pieces of data that sit on your hard drive so we can recognize you again when you return to our site.

We utilize cookies on the sections of our site in which you are prompted to log in or have boxes which are customizable. In the event that you have registered on our site, these cookies will allow us to identify who you are and which browser you are using and will allow us to recognize that you have previously visited the site and it is may be necessary to access your account information (which is automatically stored on our computers) in an effort to personalize services and deliver products. 

Cookies provide us and our service providers with information pertaining to your utilization of our site (e.g: which sections of the site you have frequented) that will then be used to personalize our site in accordance with your designated interests and preferences. 

Our site is not designed to respond to ‘do not track’ signals that are received from browsers.

Internet-Based Advertising 

You may find our advertisements on other websites through the usage of our third parties, such as Facebook. These companies may additionally use web beacons, tracer tags, cookies to report understand certain information surrounding your visits to our site and other sites you visit and/or interact to ads, in order to measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and to deliver the appropriate ads which are relevant to you on and off our website. 

If you would like to learn additional information about the collection and use of information by third parties for behavioural purpose. Additionally, if you would like to opt-out of certain third-party cookies or selection what online advertisements you choose to receive, you may do so by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada website. 

If you would like opt-out of internet-based ads from Google, you may do so here. 

Analytics

We may utilize services from a third party such as Google Analytics to aid us in obtaining and analyzing information about the sections of our site which you frequent. These third parties may use technologies as noted above including: web beacons, web server logs and cookies. This information will be used to improve and evaluate your customer experience and the simplicity and convenience of our website, in addition to aiding us in understanding the specific ways in which you use our site based on your website visits. If you would like further information regarding how Google uses data when on a patterns’ sites or applications, you may do so here.

• Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

• Facebook Advertisement

Facebook offers advertising that targets users based on designed audiences and specific objectives. Facebook collects this data based on provided and approved user parameters.

Alternatively, ads may target you based off of data from your browser through the utilization of algorithms. Facebook may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of ads by going to your Facebook profile, selecting settings, ad, and then making modification in the Ad settings (Ads based on data from partners) by selecting ‘Not Allowed.’ 

Social Media

This site may provide you with the opportunity to engage with our content on or through third-party social networking sites, applications or plug-ins. When you engage with our content on or through third-party operated social networking websites, applications or plug-ins, you may allow us to have access to certain information that is associated with your social media accounts (Username, email, name) to deliver the content or as a part of the operation of the website, application or plug-in. When you provide information from your social media account, we may utilize this information to personalize your experience on our site and on the third-party social networking websites, applications or plug-ins and to provide you with other services or products you may request.

Third Party Links

Our site may contain links to other sites that are not owned or operated by us, this includes social media websites. The links to our website may be featured on third party websites on which we advertise on. Except as you provided herein, we will not under any circumstances provide any of your personal information to these third parties without your explicit consent. These links are provided to third party websites as a convenience to you as the site user. Links are not intended to act as an endorsement of or a referral to the linked sites. These linked sites have independent and separate privacy statements, terms of use and notices which we advise you to read very carefully. We do not have any control over these websites, and as such, have no liability or responsible for the manner in which these organizations that operate these linked websites may use, disclose, collect, secure or otherwise treat your personal information.

Retention and Safeguards

We have applied reasonable administrative, technical and physical measures in an effort to protect the personal information in our custody and control against loss, theft and unauthorized access including the usage, modification and disclosure of information. We restrict access to your personal information on a need to know basis to employees and authorized service providers who need access in order to fulfill their job requirements. 

Your online access to your personal information may be protected with a password that you have selected. We strongly discourage you from disclosing or sharing your password with anyone. We will never prompt you for your password via any unsolicited communication (such as phone calls, email, phone calls, or social media messaging systems.) 

Our personal information retention processes are meant to retain personal information of our customers for no longer than necessary for the purposes stated above or to otherwise adhere to legal parameters. 

Access to Your Personal Information 

You retain the right to access, update and correct inaccuracies in your personal information that we have in our custody and control. This is subject to personal exceptions as prescribed by the law. 

You may request access to update, modify and correct inaccuracies in personal information that have in our possession or control by emailing, writing us, or calling us through the contact information as noted below. 

We may in turn request certain information for verification purposes in order to properly identify you as the appropriate person seeking access to their personal information records.

Changes to the Privacy Policy 

This privacy policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices in accordance with the law. We will post the updated Privacy Policy on our website; your personal information will always be treated in accordance to what is noted within the Privacy Policy in place at the time your personal information was collected, unless you otherwise consent.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

• By email:  info@canc.ca

• By visiting this page on our website: https://www.knowyourbrain.ca/

• By mail: 2080 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON M4C 1J9

Weekend Recipes

We take great pride in the food we supply at our weekend trainings. In addition to the healthy snacks we buy, we also prepare food when possible. Inevitably, we are asked for the recipes. So here they are!