Dr. Deena Shaffer

Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer, PhD, MEd, BEd, (Hons)BA, OCT is the Coordinator of Student Transitions and Retention, Student Wellbeing, at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), a lecturer on the intersection of wellbeing and learning for TMU's Sociology and Psychology departments, and is the President of the Learning Specialists Association of Canada. Whether by immersion in nature, somatic programming, digital strategies, or arts-based provocations, Shaffer helps students learn how to learn, and to do so from an equity-guided, research-driven, health-promoting approach. Formerly a learning strategist with TMU's Disability Services Office, and a skilled OCT teacher, Shaffer offers a holistic, empathic, and joy-based pedagogical stance. She is co-innovator of the Thriving in Action resilience intervention, and oversees the Portage paddling program and Mood Routes campus st/rolling initiative. Shaffer holds a doctorate in nature-based pedagogy and learning strategies, and is also a trained yoga teacher (200 hour), restorative yoga teacher (60 hour), mindfulness meditation teacher, published poet (The Grey Tote, Véhicule Press, 2013), and a writer, public speaker, consultant on learning and well-becoming, and owner of Awakened Learning.