Our team

Our forest.

3Trees is led by a multidisciplinary team. Clinicians, researchers, community leaders, and youth with lived experience work together to build the program and steer the charity.

Co-founders

The people who started 3Trees.

Dr. Pia Pechtel

MPhil, PhD, DClinPsy, Registered Psychologist

Co-founder and Clinical Director

Pia is a clinical psychologist with more than 20 years of experience working with survivors of sexual abuse. She holds an appointment at the University of Exeter's Sir Henry Wellcome Building for Mood Disorders Research, previously served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and is the Clinical Director of the Child and Youth Advocacy Centre Kelowna. Pia's research on the impact of sexual abuse on the developing brain has been published in leading journals in clinical psychology and neuroscience. She founded 3Trees to translate two decades of clinical research into a program that actually reaches the families who need it.

Deanne Leung

B.A., M.Ed., R.C.C., A.C.S.

Co-founder and Clinical Counsellor

Deanne is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with more than 25 years of experience supporting children, youth, and families. She is the founder of Stepping Stones Counselling Group in Kelowna and Sage Cottage, a nature-based trauma therapy practice in Armstrong. Deanne has 20 years of experience integrating canine-assisted therapy into her work with young people, and her clinical focus centers on trauma and attachment. She brings a deeply grounded, relational approach to every family 3Trees serves.

Board of directors

The people who govern 3Trees.

Morgan Brannon

Chair, Board of Directors

Courtney Davies

Secretary, Board of Directors

Nicolas Schmidt

Treasurer, Board of Directors

Ben Erickson

Fundraising, Board of Directors

Nicole Sullivan

Indigenous Voices, Inclusion, and Diversity

Research collaborators

Our research network.

University of British Columbia

Research partnership with UBC Okanagan for program evaluation and trauma research.

University of Exeter

International research collaboration on childhood maltreatment and resilience.

Lived-experience youth

Young people who co-develop our programs. Their feedback shapes every summer camp.