Our Team
Claire Forrest
ESYD Program Manager
Pronouns: She/Her
Email: claireforrest@uvic.ca
Claire joined CanAssist as the Program Manager for the Employment Strategy for Youth with Disabilities (ESYD) in August 2024. She brings over 15 years’ experience working with children and young people with a diverse range of abilities, including working as a support worker for autistic children, and administering standardized assessments to develop individual education plans. Claire has a background in developmental psychology and received her PhD from the University of Bath, England, where her thesis focused on the social and emotional difficulties of adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Before moving to Victoria, Claire completed a post-doc at the Institute of Education, University College London. She managed the London arm of a randomized controlled trial for a language intervention for preschool children from low-income areas. This project aimed to embed high-quality language learning practices in classrooms and instilled in Claire a desire to continue working on projects that have real-world impact.
Claire is passionate about bringing awareness to developmental disorders and disabilities, with an approach informed by the social model of disability. She believes in centering young people’s voices and enjoys learning from community partners to address structural inequalities and remove barriers.
In her free time, Claire enjoys running, cold water swimming and attending live music shows. She is grateful to be a guest on these lands.
I acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
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