Catherine Austin has worked in the field of social work for the past 25 years in the areas of school-based primary prevention, clinical social work, and social planning and policy. She has been working with children and youth in school boards since 1989 delivering primary mental health prevention programs and school social work services.

Throughout her career in the school system, Catherine has been committed to helping children and youth develop coping skills to help them better manage stress and anxiety and become more resilient. Her search for an effective school-based program for anxiety and depression is what led her to FRIENDS.

Catherine has been providing training in the FRIENDS program since 2005. She assumed the directorship in 2006, and Austin Resilience Development Inc. is an international Pathways Health and Research Centre training partner. Austin Resilience Development is the exclusive provider of FRIENDS training in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Nunavut and FRIENDS accreditation is provided by Pathways Health and Research Centre.

AnnMarie Churchill is a psychotherapist, researcher and professional trainer in the area of anxiety and mental health promotion. She has a Masters in clinical social work and a PHD in experimental psychology. AnnMarie has recently completed a post doctoral specialization in the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders in children and youth at the University of Ottawa, Institute for Mental Health Research. AnnMarie has been a certified senior trainer for the Friends Program since 2004 and is a certified trauma specialist, as well as a certified parent educator.

Currently AnnMarie is involved in a research study with anxious youth, examining the biological effects of a psychological treatment using a CBT protocol. She is a certified cognitive therapist with the Mental Health Program on the Mohawk reserve at Akwesasne, and works on a casual basis in the psychiatric emergency department at the Ottawa hospital.