Author name: Dayirai Kapfunde

Dayirai is a Registered Clinical Social Worker and approved Clinical Supervisor (RCSW-S) who is passionate about mental health care and envisions a world where families practice skills and regulate their emotions together. She has provided mental wellness, coaching, and consulting services to individuals, families, couples, and communities for over 17 years and is living her purpose. She is registered to practice in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Nova Scotia. Dayirai obtained her MSW from Toronto Metropolitan University and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Alberta School of Public Health. She says that she ‘became Black when she came to Canada.’ Based on intersectional theory, her identity is also gendered, beginning as a girl child living in Zimbabwe who immigrated to Canada as a woman. As a Social Worker of African descent, Dayirai has added to the voices of diverse Social Workers in Alberta and continues to seek opportunities for more involvement, capacity building, and collaboration for Social Workers of African descent living and working in Alberta. In keeping with the above, she also advocates empowering equity-seeking individuals, families, and communities to use their voices authentically. Dayirai is a co-founder and former Vice-President of the Alberta Association of Black Social Workers (AABSW). She is a Member at Large of the Alberta College of Social Workers Council. She served on the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) By-Laws Committee in 2022 and 2023. Dayirai is committed to serving. She is willing to learn how to build a sustainable bridge of empathy using decolonizing, anti-oppressive practice, social justice, and a ‘Ubuntu’ centred lens. Dayirai birthed Journeys of Life Counselling Services Inc. through many ups and downs. Losing her mom and witnessing her death at the tender age of 16 forever changed her life. As she has journeyed through this gift called life, Dayirai figured that there are lessons to be gotten, and she vowed to take what she is learning along the way and help others transform their lives on their terms. According to Dayirai, we each have a story worth telling, and as a result, she seeks to honour people’s stories as we journey together toward insight, transformational healing, and change. Dayirai is of the Christian faith. She enjoys music, dancing, reading, and spending quality time with family and friends.