THE ORGANIZATIONS WE SERVE
Community Health Centres
Social Service Organizations providing all types of human services
Hospitals
Security staff working within medical or social services
Schools
Private sector business desiring to improve communication between staff and customers.
OUR MISSION
We strive to enhance the well-being and continuous learning capacity of organizations, their workplace cultures, staff, clients and the people who work in them.
Safety, and the perception of safety are necessary precursors to engaged services. Focusing on safety in terms of facility design, use and maintenance, as well as reviewing human systems and interactions from a safety perspective provides a unique viewpoint on the workplace community.
OUR VISION
To support and sustain healthy individuals, organizations and communities.
Organizations need innovative ways to create and maintain safe environments. Maintaining the safety of an organization involves a strong vision, a sense of purpose and a willingness to change. Steve Hall Safety Consulting develops and delivers comprehensive and customized assessments and training modules that inspire safety and organizational awareness as well as employee’s confidence and commitment.
OUR VALUES
EXCELLENCE
We are constantly upgrading our evidence-based practices to provide you with the most current and exemplary strategies, aligned with our customers' mission, values and vision. We are committed to cultural competence in all of our programs and services.
COLLABORATION
We seek to develop long-term relationships with our clients. Let us be the people you can trust and call upon when you have safety concerns.
EMPOWERMENT
We aim to support every organization we work with to achieve independence and sustainability as an explicit goal in our safety and security collaborations.
MEET THE TEAM
STEVE HALL
Steve has been involved in crisis response and planning since 1985. He is a bilingual professional assisting individuals and organizations in creating safe environments and healthy workplaces. Steve brings a wealth of experience in addressing workplace violence. His work with Portage, Syl Apps Youth Centre, Probation Services, The Provincial Child Advocate Office, Ministry of Community and Social Services, The Canadian Training Institute and the Toronto Housing (TCHC)has made him one of the most impactful facilitators on the topic of workplace violence.
Steve is a certified member of CPTED Ontario (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) and a member of the International Crime Prevention Society (ISCP) and The Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (CATAP).
Graham Vardy, M.A.©, is an education specialist and organizational consultant collaborating with Steve Hall Safety Consulting Services. Prior to joining Steve Hall, Graham developed, coordinated and delivered the Trauma-informed De-escalation Training for Safety (TIDES) training program at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) in the Office of Education. As a life-long learner, he is currently completing his MA in Education at OISE/UofT). Previously, he was the Director of Training and Development with the Canadian Training Institute (CTI). Over the past thirty-five years, Graham has developed numerous training and applied research projects aimed at managing primary and secondary stress in the workplace and reducing violence and aggression in hospitals, schools, and in the workplace. At CTI, he also coordinated the Breaking the Cycle Youth Gangs Exit Strategy under the National Crime Prevention Centre. Graham worked as the Methadone Program Consultant with the Ontario Substance Abuse Bureau. He was the manager of the HIV/AIDS and Addictions program at the former Addiction Research Foundation (ARF). Graham initiated The Works, Toronto’s first needle-syringe exchange program for the City of Toronto, Department of Public Health. Graham also managed Youthlink – Inner City, a street based walk-in and outreach service for street-involved youth. Graham is an active mindfulness and meditation practitioner, self-protection instructor, wilderness hiker & endurance athlete, husband and father.
***** Graham’s Complete Resume
Steven Hughes, M.Ed., is an Education Specialist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). As a life-long learner Steven has interests in delivering educational programs pertaining to creating psychologically safe work environments that are characterized by optimal individual and team resilience and well-being. Steven has been a certified yoga teacher since 1985 specializing in yin yoga and yoga nidra. Steven integrates his interests that include transformative learning, positive psychology, dialogue methods, contemplative neuroscience, mindfulness, holotropic breathwork, and wellness-based modalities that assist individuals to cultivate self-awareness and unlock their full potential. All of his programs support learners to gently explore the edges of their personal growth boundaries and to experience new realms of self-discovery.
GRAHAM VARDY
STEVEN HUGHES
JAISA SULIT
Jaisa Sulit BPHE, BEd, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont) is mindfulness and self-compassion facilitator collaborating with Steve Hall Safety Consulting Services. Jaisa is an occupational therapist who worked for five years in neuro-rehab until she sustained a spinal cord injury in a motorcycle accident. This put her on the inward journey where as a therapist turned patient, she discovered parts of herself waiting to be held. As such, Jaisa went on to become a practitioner of medical qigong, reiki, Chinese Shamanic Medicine and a teacher of the Mindful Self-Compassion and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction curriculums. In 2018, Jaisa published an Amazon bestselling book "Purpose in Paralysis: From Chronic Pain to Universal Gain" which tells the story of how Jaisa learned to walk and stand in her truth.
ANN BALMIER
Ann Balmier is a digital marketing and advertising professional, with over 10 years of experience both as a consultant and in enterprise roles.
Ann is passionate about new technologies, communication processes and building client relationships.
She oversees digital communications and website development for Steve Hall Consulting.
MICHAEL WONG
Michael Wong, DHSc. (candidate), MPH, BSW specializes in mental health, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for over 30 years. His work experience includes frontline, administrative, education, and training in both community and institutional settings in Canada, Hong Kong, and Macau. As a psychology graduate, he started as a psychiatric assistant in the Emergency Department of Toronto General Hospital. The exposure led to a lifelong passion for mental health and crisis. He was a member of the crisis team with Gerstein Centre (1989-1992, 2021-present), Scarborough Mobile Crisis Program, Toronto Western Hospital, and Suicide Crisis Intervention Centre (Hong Kong). Michael joined the Canadian Training Institute as a trainer in the 1990’s where he delivered numerous workshops related to crisis intervention both locally and abroad. From 2009 and onwards, Michael has taught in various academic institutions on counselling and crisis intervention.
MEET OUR CLIENTS
TESTIMONIALS
"This training is invaluable and the initiative to make more time to work on these issues/strategies is excellent and much appreciated. Revising this more frequently will allow staff to really absorb material and apply it more effectively."
Toronto
"I found this training very informative. It was great to begin the conversation of safety in our resource center which was long overdue. Thanks for providing your insight, share your experiences and techniques with us. Your expertise around these topics was well-received. I am looking forward to a follow-up session in the future."
"Very interactive and resourceful. Great presentation overall. Really appreciated that as a team we all have a role to support each other. Learning how helpful and important it is for us to practice and utilize codes to raise team awareness and mobilize additional support."
CMHA
"I can sincerely say I learned more strategies from you in the three hour presentation than I have in years...maybe ever. I do immediate crisis response with police and EMS and we never know what we're walking into. I feel much more confident now, so thank you! Hope to see you back soon."
YSSN
"Since we have received the training the staff seems to be more confident. They recognize the signs before the client escalate. I might be a coincidence but I get less calls from Front Desk to help to de-escalate. The Clinical team is more pro-active and they will speak with their client when the client has behaved inappropriately with Front Desk."
"We approached Steve Hall because we needed to strengthen our practices in dealing with client crisis within our organization. He helped us by providing practical tools and applied strategies to manage crisis in a non-violent and respectful way. The result was that we built an agency wide approach using his training to handle difficult situations as they continue to arise. One thing we gained was a new approach using experiential teaching to help staff have the confidence to work through crisis on an ongoing basis. We found Steve’s experiential teaching model made us reflect upon policies, communication and improve common practice. Steve’s experience working in the community services sector with the justice system, mental health and youth also made us think about the needs of clients with greater empathy. We would recommend Steve to any organization looking to apply non-violent crisis intervention."
Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood & Community Health Centre
"We debriefed the training yesterday at team meeting. Everybody was excited, felt more confident about going into the community and shared specific learning. One staff person was especially grateful for the extra help you gave her, she didn’t say exactly what it was, but she did say that it made a big difference for her both personally and professionally. It means a lot to me that you took such good care of them. Thank you."