Dr. Maude Champagne Delivers Keynote Address at the EKO Spring Symposium 2025

February 06, 2025

Respected clinician-researcher and innovator to speak about Empowering Complex Families

Neuroscientist, psychotherapist, social worker, trainer, and program developer, Dr. Maude Champagne is a leading bilingual expert in many areas—Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, attachment, complex trauma, and childhood aggression—all areas where she has made significant contributions to the field.

“Let’s add one more title to the list: Changemaker,” says Jennifer Churchill, EKO President & CEO. “Maude has played a pivotal role launching groundbreaking programs focused on strengthening and supporting families. As a researcher, her impactful work centers on childhood disability, particularly FASD.” A respected authority, Maude Champagne brings her expertise to the 2025 EKO Spring Symposium, delivering a keynote address, Empowering Complex Families: improving outcomes by supporting all family members.

“Maude is known for revealing unmet needs of families and caregivers, bringing stakeholders together to devise solutions, and fast-tracking social projects,” says Geoff Pradella, Chief Executive Officer at Kids Brain Health Network which is the Program Partner for this EKO Spring Symposium keynote. “With her many areas of expertise and as the mother of five children, four of whom have a neurodevelopmental disability, she is uniquely positioned to understand the daily challenges facing caregivers.”

As a doctoral candidate reviewing survey results, Maude discovered that more children living with neurodevelopmental disabilities started or escalated aggressive behaviours at home during the pandemic. She took action, and her efforts to fill a gap in Canadian support services generated three innovations for the caregiver community: Canada’s first-ever nonviolent resistance (NVR) therapy program, the first National Consortium on Aggression Toward Family/Caregivers in Childhood and Adolescence (AFCCA), and the first AFCCA Family Supports Program.

This groundbreaking work earned Maude the Award for Outstanding Innovation—PhD in 2022 from Mitacs, a national organization that fosters growth by solving business, health, and social challenges with research solutions from academic institutions.

 

Program Partner: Breakfast Keynote