Snjezana Pruginic ( she/her) is a seasoned Somatic Trauma Therapist, Transformative Justice Worker, and the visionary behind Circle Point Wellness—a socially minded business committed to cultivating work environments in which people feel good so they can do good.
With a rich career spanning 23 years, Snjezana has dedicated herself to the convergence of social justice and well-being, shaping her approach for her work with individuals, communities, organizations, and businesses. Her impact extends across 7 diverse countries, where she has delivered training, spearheaded community initiatives, and provided personalized therapeutic services. She is the Founder of a transformative well-being program called Moving Forward, which was successfully implemented with youth survivors of war in Bosnia, former child soldiers in Colombia, and communities experiencing violence in Canada. As a therapist she has spent many years supporting individuals and communities in transforming, healing and repairing harm, and has worked within the correctional system and with front line workers facing the opioid pandemic. She is also a seasoned Conflict Mediator, Restorative Justice Worker and Transformative Justice Worker.
She has made the transition into working for inclusive and healthy workplaces that prioritize well-being as more than a mere checklist after years of supporting clients in managing stress and trauma caused by toxic work environments. Her emotional literacy and trauma aware trainings have been delivered to countless organizations in Canada and the US, employment readiness programs, entrepreneurship programs, colleges and accelerators, and integrated into staff well-being strategies and plans (on which she provides consulting services). She is often invited into Diversity and Equity spaces where she supports the work of dismantling the harmful system of white supremacy as a part of active anti-racism work. She is a co-founder of the well collective which aimed to decentralize whiteness within the wellness sector.
She is also a fierce advocate for equitable economic well-being and has spent many years working with individuals who have experienced incarceration in supporting development of meaningful employment opportunities and conducting advocacy initiatives. She currently mentors entrepreneurs, especially women and individuals in the creative sector. (In another life time she was also an trainer in the business of arts and art manager). Her expertise has helped entrepreneur's build successful and thriving business.
A sought-after speaker, she has recently channeled more of her energy into the realm of writing and exploration of what it takes to create care-based systems.
Chris is passionate about passing on the gifts she’s received from those on whose shoulders she stands, to support individuals and groups with leaning into “this thing called grief
Rebeckah also spends her time advocating for more diverse, accessible and inclusive wellness spaces, with a background in community development, place making and policy she spends her time educating others and creating ways for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive wellness industry.
Even though we work globally, our offices are on the traditional unceded territory of Huron-Wendat, Anishinabek, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and The Mississaugas of the Credit River First Nations. As treaty people on this land, we acknowledge the collective, yet uniquely, and individually distinct responsibility of repairing the harms and preventing further harm caused by the White supremacist, colonial, systems which impact all parts of society, and which are directly responsible for the violent physical and cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, and the forced enslavement of people of African decent on these lands.
In our work we are accountable to all care practices that are not entangled with, and structured in punishment, surveillance and control. Care practices which are land based, and built on mutual support. Practices indigenous to all of our ancestors, and stolen from many. In our work we bring the history of our own individual ancestries, as well as the rich genealogy of deep lineage of care present in Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPoC) communities. Communities from which self-determined care has been stolen through the legacy and present day reality of colonialism, supremacy and binary based systems. We actively center the QTBIPOC voices and aim to ensure that we are taking leadership in care by those who experience most harm.