Sophie Langri holds a BA in Chinese Studies and anthropology from Montreal University. After learning Tibetan in a monastery in India for a year, she studied at Cambridge University earning a Master's Degree in sociology and politics of development in 1998. Since her return to Montreal in 1999, she has been working as the project manager for the Institute of Tibetan Classics. She has been a regular participant at the bi-annual Mind and Life conferences taking place at the residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India. In 2008 Sophie started Zone de Paix school program teaching social and emotional learning. For her innovative school program she was awarded the YMCA Quebec Peace Medal in 2010. She has received extensive training in NVC (Nonviolent Communication). She is currently being certified for the CCT program from Stanford University (Compassion Cultivation Training). Sophie is also the Co-Founder of the Institute of Social and Emotional Education (with Dr. Tara Wilkie).
Tara Wilkie holds a PhD in cognitive psychology with a special focus on understanding different learning profiles. She has been a researcher, a classroom resource teacher, a special education consultant, a school psychologist and a university lecturer. Dr. Wilkie’s research has focused on the use of computers as cognitive tools and on the application of metacognitive learning strategies. Her clinical experience includes working with children and adolescents both in the classroom and in specialized settings.
Since 2015 Dr. Wilkie has been the Director of Social and Emotional Learning at the Peace Grantmakers Network (PGN), a group of philanthropic foundations, individual donors, and partner organizations working collaboratively in applied peace efforts and social harmony initiatives. As the director of SEL at PGN as well as its key resource person, Dr. Wilkie has been actively involved in the development of such applied peace initiatives as “Les Grandes Rencontres.” She also helped organize two key symposia for educators: “Creating Caring School Communities: Social Emotional Learning & Bullying Prevention” (February 2014) and “Research Meets Practice: Effective Tools to Prevent Bullying” (November 2014). Dr. Wilkie’s current focus is in the area of social emotional learning (SEL), bullying prevention, and creating caring school communities.
Dr. Wilkie co-developed “Ma Classe Zone de Paix”, a Non-Violent Communication-based Social and Emotional Learning school program. Since 2009 she has been teaching this program in French two days a week at École Bussonière, a primary school in Montreal. She also offers workshops and training on social emotional learning for teachers, parents, as well as school boards and maintains a private practice. Dr. Wilkie is the co-founder (with Sophie Boyer Langri) of the Institute of Social Emotional Education. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two daughters.