SOLOS Staff
Merlyn Horton ~ Executive Director
Merlyn Horton is a chic Mac she-geek that started her professional career as a youthworker and street outreach program pioneer. Starting in Calgary AB in the early 1980's until the end of her frontline career in 2000, she worked with high risk youth in many different residential and community settings. Knows as a strong advocate, she created a new career for herself over the last 12 years as the founder and Executive Director of SOLOS. A true innovator, she blends her strong foundation of teaching sexual health, counselling youth and studying adolescent development with her lifelong interest in technology. (Self - lol) described as dynamic, passionate and brilliant, she has presented workshops and lectures throughout Canada to over 75,000 people. While travelling extensively throughout the province of British Columbia she has crafted specialized materials for audiences ranging from large urban non-profit organizations, to small First Nations youth groups. In 2007, she was the lead author on “Bridging the Gap: Best Practices and Policies to Address the Online High Risk Activities of Youth in B.C.”, a template for an integrated human service response to internet issues. Merlyn is the recipient of the 2003 Myrtle Everett Woman of the Year Award and a 2008 B.C. Crime Prevention Individual Achievement Award.
Cathy Crawford, Business Manager
Cathy has been with SOLOS since 2011 and is the go-to person for all the administrative and booking information. A dynamic and fun loving person, Cathy is proud to be a part of our organisation and is always happy to help our clients in any way possible. As a mother of four, she understands the need for education of online safety to our children. In her non-working hours, Cathy is a Director on the Mission Arts Council Board and a Coordinator of the Mission Folk Music Festival, and beyond that can be found in her garden, house or if it's a really good day, behind a sewing machine!
Buffy Cornell, Presentation Facilitator
Buffy Cornell is new to the Solos team and comes from a background in Mental Health research. She's begun to concur the world of internet safety and awareness, quickly realizing the great need to educate our youth who are eagerly discovering the ins and outs of the internet with little to no boundaries constraining them. She enjoys the challenge of making learning fun, and finding new ways to teach and interact with all ages.
Lorinda Stoneman, Research Consultant
Lorinda has been a part of SOLOS since 2006. She recently completed her Master of Arts degree at Simon Fraser University and produced her thesis, "Law, Limits and Lessons Unbound: Perspectives from Key Stakeholders Responding to Transnational Child Sex Tourism in a World Without Borders". She is now a PhD student at the University of Victoria where she intends to further pursue the issues of transnational child protection as well as the behaviors of young people in online environments and internet-facilitated child sex tourism.
David Antrobus, Editor and Blogger
David is a former street youth worker turned writer who continues to contribute of combating child exploitation by contributing his ideas and research to SOLOS presentations.
The Safe OnLine Outreach Society is a federal charitable organization (Canada #86021 9641 RR0001) and a registered non-profit society -(British Columbia #S45067.
