Team

Venture Academy utilizes the expert experience of independent consulting community professionals who work together with our staff and clients in each of our locations. All consulting professionals demonstrate a prominent level of expertise pertaining to struggling teens in their identified field of practice. Valued professionals provide hands-on client intervention, case consultation and program development support. Further contributing to quality assurasnce and the ethical delivery of services, all our consulting professionals are held to highest professional standards by their code of ethics and standards of conduct and clinical practice. You can expect high standards and specialized services when engaging Venture Academy.

Please contact us to find out more about who may be working with your child. 1-866-762-2211

Our Consulting Psychologist experienced in assessment of high-needs youth include Psychologists with;
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Victoria and University of Calgary. Some have had clinical internship at B.C.'s Children's Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children specializing in assessment of children and adolescents. Another has worked at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children specializing in the assessment and diagnosis of children and youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and other developmental challenges.
Our consulting Psychologists specialize in the assessment and diagnosis of children and youth with a variety of developmental and learning challenges and social-emotional issues.They all specialize in assessment and diagnosis of children and youth with complex presenting problems including learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, autism spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and mood/anxiety disorders. Our consulting psychologists recognizes the importance of uncovering strengths as well as areas of challenge, and work carefully with young people and their families to develop strategies designed to help realize potential and maximize success.

Full Report and Recomendations
You will recieve a full report with results of psychological assessment and testing providing you with answers to many of your questions. These results also help us as an organization better understand your child. Critical to getting help for your struggling teen, all reports come with child specific recomendations which we then turn into specific interventions along with goals and plans on how to achieve those goals.

Bios of some of our consulting professionals are below. Contact us to see who else we have working with us!
1-866-762-2211

Dr. Peter Marshall, Ph. D.
Consulting Psychologist
Born in England, Dr. Marshall lived for two years in the Far and Middle East and moved to Canada in 1973. Today, he has his own practice, as well as consulting to children's mental health agencies, family court clinics, and boards of education. He is the author of four books and speaks internationally to a wide variety of professional and lay audiences.

In the course of his career, Dr. Marshall has been a consultant psychologist for sexual abuse programs, an early intervention program for youth gangs, an intensive family therapy unit, and university student counselling and teaching effectiveness programs. He has served on the Board of Directors for divisions of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Children's Aid Society. Academically, Dr. Marshall has lectured for undergraduate and graduate courses including social and abnormal psychology, psychometrics, statistics, human growth and development, behaviour modification, personality, and human sexuality. Before entering private practice, Dr. Marshall held positions as an Adjunct Professor in the Psychology and Psychiatry Departments at Queen's University, a psychologist in the Kingston General Hospital, and a clinical consultant to the Frontenac County Board of Education and Kingston's Prison for Women. He has been widely published on issues including blended families, criminal behaviour in children, anxiety and assertiveness training. He has also been a researcher and educator in the field of sexual dysfunction.

A regular presenter, workshop leader and keynote speaker, Dr. Marshall has spoken to both professional and lay audiences on topics including What's the Matter with Kids Today? A Perspective on Canadian Youth; Two Jobs - No Life? Balancing Work and Home; Resilience and Stress Management; Positive Trends in Education, The Child's Experience of Spousal Violence; Sexual Exploitation via the Internet; Parenting Styles; Teenagers and Their Parents; The Impact of Separation and Divorce on Children; Sexual Abuse of Children; and Assessment of Learning Disabilities. A father of five, Dr. Marshall lives with his wife and family in Barrie, Ontario.

Dr. Grant Pagdin, M.D.
Consulting Medical Director
Dr. Grant Pagdin graduated from UBC medical school in 1988. He served for three years as a Flight Surgeon on an F-18 squadron with the Canadian Air Force, and then settled into family practice in Vernon, BC. He later specialized in Emergency Medicine and worked for a few years in Upstate New York. Dr. Pagdin moved to Kelowna in 2005 where he practices Urgent Care, assists in the operating rooms at Kelowna General Hospital, conducts research with Okanagan Clinical Trials, and works in detox at the Crossroads Treatment Centre. He also does private consulting in wellness and anti-aging medicine. Dr. Pagdin has been the on-site physician for Venture Academy since October 2010. When not working he enjoys triathlons and playing keyboards in a rock band. Married with three daughters, he and his family attend Willow Park Church.