Our Team

Michelle Franklin

Chief Executive Officer

Email: [email protected]

Mary Secco

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Email: [email protected]

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Mary Secco

Mary began her career in epilepsy in 2001. For the first 14 years she served as the Executive Director of Epilepsy Support Centre (renamed ESWO). In that time she developed and evaluated many programs that are used locally, provincially and internationally. These include the grade 5 Thinking about Epilepsy program, grade 12 Brain Matters curriculum unit, Wacky Wednesday’s summer camp and the Game ON recreation program.

In 2014 she changed her role to focus on addressing the systemic gaps in services for persons with epilepsy. With generous funding from the Ontario Brain Institute and the Ontario Trillium Foundation she has developed and evaluated the Clinic to Community© health care linkage program. In March 2018, she published the results of a needs assessment: Living with Epilepsy: Voices from the Community to highlight the importance of early intervention and community support for families living with epilepsy.

At a provincial level, Mary served as a patient advocate on the Ontario Ministry of Health’s Epilepsy Implementation Task Force and is a member of the EpLink Community Advisory Committee. She is currently working with a team of researchers to develop and evaluate epilepsy curriculum for classroom teachers. At the national level she served as the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance representative to Neurological Health Charities Canada.

At the International level, Mary is the past Chair of the North America Region of the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) Mary currently serves as the Secretary-General of the IBE (2017-2021) and the Co-Chair of the Global Outreach Task Force (2013-2021) working with the International League Against Epilepsy and the World Health Organization to develop a Global Epilepsy Report and to implement the recommendations of WHA68.20.

Sandra Pidduck

Epilepsy Educator, Chatham Kent and Sarnia Lambton

Email: [email protected]

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Sandra Pidduck

A Chatham-Kent native, Sandra graduated with a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Waterloo in 1990 and went on to get her Masters of Health Administration in 2000. She has spent her career working in a variety of health care settings in London and Chatham area. She did three years working with the Provincial Office of the Canadian Cancer Society educating the public about cancer prevention in Southwestern Ontario. When not working, she is travelling, gardening, doing genealogy and trying to keep up with her teenage daughter. Sandra is really excited to join the team at Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario and to promote epilepsy awareness in children.

Sarah Fields

Epilepsy Educator, Windsor Essex

Email: [email protected]

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Sarah Fields

Born and raised in Windsor, Sarah has an educational background in Criminology, Philosophy, and History. She began working as a teacher at an international school and became passionate about teaching youth. Later becoming a teacher for youth with learning exceptionalities, Sarah quickly learned of the immense need for support of youth with barriers to education in Windsor Essex County. Also working as an Instructor at St. Clair College, she adores educating children, youth, and adults to create novels ways of accommodating students' needs and helping to make Windsor a more barrier free place to live! In her free time, Sarah enjoys spending time with family, hitting up the gym, and singing and acting at her church.

Holly O’Neill, BSW, ECE

Epilepsy Educator, London Middlesex, Huron Perth, Grey Bruce

Email: [email protected]

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Holly O'Neill

Holly first began her career as an early childhood educator, working in the field for more than 10 years mainly with infants and toddlers. She continued her education with post-graduate certificates in Early Childhood Resource Consultancy and Autism and Behaviour Sciences. Most recently, Holly graduated from the Honours Bachelor of Social Work program at King’s University College in London. Holly is passionate about social justice, accessibility, and attachment relationships. In her free time, Holly loves to read and write, and to spend time with her wife and their rescued pets. Holly is excited to support individuals with epilepsy through advocacy, education, and the provision of resources.

Bailey Tschirsow

Outreach and Events Director

Email: [email protected]

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Bailey Tschirsow

Bailey's involvement as a staff member at ESWO began in December, 2014. Prior to this, she worked with youth in an entrepreneurship program, helping them expand their career options or consider self-employment. Bailey completed a Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Studies and a Postgraduate program in Communications and Public Relations. Her goal is to impact the lives of others in a positive way. With the help of our clients and community, she hope to host exciting fundraisers and awareness initiatives for our agency. Bailey loves to spend her spare time with her golden doodle pup, Ralph; enjoys camping and hopes to visit as many provincial parks as possible.

Melissa Pushelberg

Multimedia Designer

Email: [email protected]

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Melissa Pushelberg

Melissa started working at Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario as a Multimedia Designer in February 2018. Prior to working here she worked for another marketing company in London and then decided she needed to be utilizing her skills to help people rather than sell to them. As a Multimedia Designer at ESWO, Melissa strives to create engaging graphic content for the ESWO events and marketing material. As well as, manage the website and third party events.

Melissa graduated with an Integrated Three Year Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media Information and Technoculture from Western University and a Two Year Media Theory and Production Diploma from Fanshawe College.

Melissa spends her free time mostly working her other job as a wedding and lifestyle photographer, along with binge watching Netflix series and playing recreational volleyball.

Volunteer With Us

The hard work and dedication of our volunteers make our major events so successful, help keep the office running smoothly and allow us to continue to provide programming. We are always looking for volunteers to help support our agency. Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering.
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