BANA Board Members,

Please take a few minutes to review the following candidate introductions in full before completing the survey below. After considering all five of the individual’s experience, skills, and potential contribution to BANA, please rank all candidates from 1 to 5 in the survey below, with 1 representing your highest preference. Your rankings should reflect who you believe would best strengthen the Board’s capacity and strategic priorities.

Please note that only the top three ranked candidates will be invited to join the Board, so your thoughtful input is important to this decision-making process.

Thank you in advance for your time and dedication to BANA.

Jeevan Matharu

My name is Jeevan Matharu and I am entering my second year of university at the University of Windsor. I am currently pursuing my Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematics with the hopes of going to teachers college upon the completion of my degree. Health and wellness – physically, mentally, and spiritually – are particularly important to me and all of the commitments within my life reflect this. I highly value discipline, consistency and self awareness which leads to personal growth and I approach all of my commitments with responsibility and genuine intention.

I am deeply interested in this organization as I understand the importance of advocacy, education and awareness within healthcare through my experience working at Belle River Diagnostic Imaging. The work BANA does within this community is indispensable. There is so much stigma and a multitude of negative connotations surrounding eating disorders; hence BANA’s thoughtful, empathetic, support and education of this sensitive topic is so important within the community. The excellent work BANA does is what has called me to apply to this position and is why I would like to be a member of this board. As a member of the Sikh community I strongly value the importance of what we call ‘seva’, otherwise stated as “selfless service” and I see this position as an excellent way to make an impact within the community.

Being a younger individual myself I bring a unique perspective especially in terms of understanding and approaching younger demographics including minority communities. I would love the opportunity to contribute to the board of this wonderful organization and learn and grow as an individual alongside such experienced members. I thank you deeply for the time and consideration for this opportunity.

Allie Telfer

My name is Allie Telfer and I am expressing interest in joining BANA’s Board of Directors. I have spent the last thirteen years coaching softball, ages twelve up to college level in our local community, where I have seen teens and young women face many obstacles that directly impact their mental health and overall well-being.

I currently sit on my union’s EAP committee where we work together to create a less stigmatized environment for my coworkers; we make sure mental health assistance is readily available and easily accessible. Recently, we developed a poster with a QR code that has been placed in all of our workplaces that fall under Unifor 444. This poster is both in open areas and as well in more secluded areas for those who want to be more discreet about looking into getting assistance. The link takes employees to a website where they can access both internal and external support. We also do fundraiser events a few times throughout the year to help out local agencies the best we can. In the past, we have raised money for Noah’s House, The Downtown Mission, and the Children’s Youth Centre; places we know that do amazing things for people who are struggling with different life situations. I take a lot of pride in being a part of this committee.

I, myself have not struggled with an eating disorder, but I have witnessed young females that I have coached go through the struggle with it at varying degrees. Without community support and support from agencies, a lot more lives are put at risk and I would like to put my name forward to join you in helping you create change.

Danielle Cameron Elias

I’m a mental health therapist who specifically works with individuals experiencing disordered eating and other related mental health concerns and would love to be considered for a volunteer position on the board to continue to make a difference in our community and the treatment of eating disorders I am writing in response to your recent posting to express my interest in joining the Board of Directors with BANA. As a therapist currently working directly with individuals experiencing disordered eating, body image concerns, and other related mental health concerns, I have relevant clinical and personal experience and a strong commitment and passion for supporting this population.

I began working in this field when I was offered the incredible opportunity to be an intern therapist at a practice whose primary focus is on disordered eating while completing my Master’s degree and have since been offered a position as a therapist at the clinic to continue this work. Through these experiences, I feel that I have gained a deeper understanding of the importance of client-centered care, ethical decision-making, and multidisciplinary collaboration in order to provide effective care. Working with clients to navigate both their internal challenges as well as external barriers to care has further increased my passion towards advocating for accessible and inclusive care. I would greatly value the opportunity to contribute to BANA’s mission and appreciate your consideration of my application

Katie Moriarty

I noted on Facebook that you were looking for individuals to apply for positions on your BOD. I talked to my mum about it over the past weekend and I really thought that I would love to apply to serve.

I am attaching my CV (sorry it is long—this is how our university wants our CVs to look and to track).

I do believe that I have a lot to offerfrom my personal family background when BANA first was being developed I remember attending the focus groups and then working the ‘hotline’ that was set up at UofW (I was a student nurse at that time); to my participation in the BANA summer camp—I was the nurse, research assistant, and also assisted with some sessions (I was a new graduate nurse) and I remember when we presented at the post conference; my educational background and experience as a BScN nurse (I went to the University of Windsor); my graduate nurse-midwifery education and full scope clinical practice (1992-2017)—I have worked in all birth environments from hospital, free standing birth centers, to in hospital birth centers, to homebirth; to my PhD and post-doctoral studies and my faculty roles both at the University of Michigan (2008-2014) and Frontier Nursing University (2015-present)

I have served on the BOD for the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) in the past. I served 2 terms (so 6 years as the Region IV rep)

I am still a FT faculty member; but, I have always participated in service within my community and this is something that I know I could be really passionate about.