Shaynee McDougall

Bio

Shaynee is the youngest child of six children. She was raised in small towns in Alberta, Canada while her father was a coal miner and later the operator of a trucking company in the oil field . She has two older sisters who are both school teachers and three older brothers, and many nieces and nephews.

Shaynee completed a degree in Journalism in Calgary, Alberta and later, after a marriage and being on her own with two small children, she completed a degree in Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.C. While working as a social worker for People with mental handicaps and Special Needs Daycare, she was certified as a Hypnotherapist.

Shaynee has always owned horses and been very active in the outdoors believing her native ancestry to be about caretaking the earth. She was able to sell her home and purchase 60 acres of mountaintop in 1987 and has maintained the land living in very rustic conditions. She have an outhouse and a wood burning stove. She does have electricity. She raised her three children, a son who will be 33 soon, a daughter 32, and the youngest daughter, 21 on the land teaching them something about traditional ways. Shaynee has witnessed her youngest daughter Willow riding her horse with a scrub-board on her back to the creek to do her laundry. She is blessed with a 5 year old granddaughter. She also has foster children who adopted her as a mother and with whom she is still in contact. One daughter lives in Germany. She is a longtime sundancer and maintains and pours water for a traditional family sweat lodge. She was made a Peace Elder in Austin Texas in 1996 and later traveled to Amsterdam as a Peace Elder.

Shaynee also makes jewelry and does beadwork and recently had several of her creations in an Art Show at the University in Kamloops. It was a great moment to have her moccasins be considered as art instead of crafts.

Shaynee is a member of the Baha'i faith and has been to Isreal on two occasions. She believes it is as important to train the character of a child as well as the mind. Linda Popov, a fellow Baha'i, has created the Virtues Project which has been recognized on Oprah and is a great tool when working with children, for their self esteem and their knowledge of virtuous characteristics. Shaynee has been active in the community and has taught art at the children's classes.

Shaynee has held a dream of having a center on the land to offset urbanization with connection to and training on the land and to nature. She has later focused on the need to develop the sense of community and working together. She plans to build an outdoor kitchen this spring and create a space for young families to come with their children and spend time learning together. She will start with an adobe bread oven. She is committed to making the world a better place and one that encourages creativity and wholeness.

Web Site

Visit Shaynee's blog at www.joyfulparenting.spaces.live.com