The Pride Society of the Comox Valley has hired Janine Scheffler (she/her) as its new facilitator.

Created to work towards bringing people together, and envisioning a future offering love and inclusivity, Pride Comox Valley is launching a project to assess the needs of the Comox Valley queer community and to help create a plan for its future. The facilitator will also co-ordinate an assessment of, and future plan for, the organization.

Scheffler brings a UBC honours degree in food, nutrition, and health to her new role, along with extensive experience in project management and information gathering. Scheffler has supported 2SLGBTQIA+ folks by providing gender-affirming information, mental health workshops, and programming resources to address age-related barriers. In addition to 2SLGBTQIA+ support, her experience as an allied health professional includes offering weight-neutral, trauma-informed, and neurodivergent-affirming services.

鈥淒espite some recent negative experiences, there has been an incredible surge of support for the queer Comox Valley community in the last two-to-three years,鈥� said Pride Comox Valley chairperson, Christopher Bate (they/them). 鈥淛anine鈥檚 position, and the work envisioned for her role, will provide the community with an excellent assessment of the queer Comox Valley community.鈥�

鈥淭hrough the work to be done, Pride hopes to gather information from queer people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds to propel us towards vibrant ongoing support for the Valley鈥檚 queer residents,鈥� added Pride Comox Valley treasurer, Kazimea Sokil (she/her).

Janine Scheffler can be reached via email at pscv2021@gmail.com