This is a FREE online workshop.
Facilitators: Sarah Burnett-Murray, Alex Bailey, and Olivia Amoateng
This workshop is geared to anyone who leads board or member meetings.
What You Will Learn
This is a FREE online workshop.
Facilitators: Sarah Burnett-Murray, Alex Bailey, and Olivia Amoateng
This workshop is geared to anyone who wants to join a board or who is already a director (refresher).
What You Will Learn
COCHF’s 2025 Annual General Meeting will be held online.
Agenda to include:
Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
This workshop is one of three afternoon options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
This training provides participants with essential verbal crisis de-escalation techniques to support effective communication with individuals experiencing mental health challenges or distress. The session explores strategies to foster calm, defuse tension, and navigate high-stress interactions with confidence and empathy.
Participants will learn how room awareness and body language influence de-escalation efforts and how to adjust their approach to create a sense of safety and trust.
A representative from the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA WW) will be facilitating this session.
This workshop is one of three afternoon options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
Hoarding can manifest in various ways within your co-op, and the Board has the responsibility to take decisive action in addressing these situations, particularly when they pose a threat to the lives, safety, and health of members and the community at large. While managing hoarding can be challenging, it is imperative to tackle it effectively and discreetly. There may not be specific laws against hoarding, but there are numerous legal and effective strategies that your co-op can implement to address problematic hoarding behaviors successfully.
Ofelia Guanlao
Ofelia Guanlao is a senior program manager in asset management services with CHF Canada, dedicated to supporting housing cooperatives across Canada. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a LEED Green Associate,recognized for her leadership in energy and environmental design. Ofelia also holds a Building Operator Certification from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC).
This workshop is one of three afternoon options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
Every one of us has asked these questions: “Why are so few members involved in running our co-op?” “Why is it always the same small group of people who do everything?” and “Am I the only one who understands how important it is to build our community”?
There is good news and new ideas. Join two of our most experienced educators, who will share tried-and-true engagement methods that will energize your members and provide new perspectives on these age-old questions. In-person only.
Carine Nind
Carine has been the general manager at Willowside Housing Co-operative for 20 years, and has been an outspoken advocate for co-op housing and initiatives to reduce experiences of homelessness.
Sarah Burnett Murray
Sarah holds several post-secondary diplomas and degrees, and is a published author and poet. She has been involved in Co-op housing for as long as she can remember. She firmly believes in fostering the sharing of knowledge and community support within the sector which is what inspired her to become increasingly involved in 2013.
This workshop is one of three morning options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
Former sector lawyer, Celia Chandler, will discuss the importance of preserving housing for vulnerable people at a time when affordable housing is scarce. Members, directors, and staff, please be ready to discuss your strategies to prevent eviction for arrears and for behaviour and hear of some others you haven’t used.
Celia Chandler
Celia Chandler began her career at the City of Toronto and then in an environmental organization, but has worked for two decades now in the affordable housing sector, first as a lawyer in a small Toronto law firm and now as the Deputy Executive Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto. When she’s not doing her part for the housing crisis, she’s sitting in her Toronto laneway suite blogging and working on a book.
This workshop is one of three morning options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
This session is designed to support boards in gaining stronger skills and confidence in moving through change and discomfort in the co-op environment. Learn the underpinnings of chaos to unlock your ability to thrive in turbulent times.
Sonia Byrne
Sonia has been leading board retreats, strategic planning and succession planning projects in the Co-op Housing Sector since 2009. Learn more about Sonia at www.soniabyrne.com.
This workshop is one of three morning options for the 2025 COCHF Spring Education Event. Please see the event package for more details, including the full-day agenda.
Crowne Plaza Kitchener
105 King St E
Kitchener, ON N2G 2K8 (map)
Member Cost: $105 for the day. Additional attendees from the same organization are $85 each.
Non-Members: $150 for the day.
Registration Deadline: April 13, 2025
In this hands-on workshop, participants will create a medicine wheel. Registration is limited.
Mary Clause
Mary Clause is an Indigenous elder who has spoken about the importance of honoring survivors of residential schools and learning about their history. As a member of Strong Water Singers and spokesperson for the group, she was at the Niagara-on-the-Lake town hall for a ceremonial flag-raising and lowering to honour and acknowledge the significance of Sept. 30, and remember the Native children who were sent to residential schools, and never came home.
The Central Ontario Co-operative Housing Federation (COCHF) is a member-supported organization representing non-profit housing co-operatives located in Brantford, Cambridge, Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo.
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