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Meet Our Team
Lyndee Codinha, BA
Lyndee is a life long resident of Kingsville ON. She is a wife, mother and nature lover. Lyndee graduated from Kingsville Public School & Kingsville District High School and finally the University of Windsor in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. She is currently enrolled in the Forest & Nature School Practitioners certification course offered by the Child & Nature Alliance of Canada. This is a one year certification course following the philosophies of Forest & Nature School Canada.
Lyndee is passionate about helping others and has spent the last 25 years working and serving many community agencies and families in Windsor & Essex County as well as Chatham Kent County. Although Lyndee's experiences have mainly been with people of all ages living with autism, she is a firm believer that Applied Behaviour Analysis is an effective teaching strategy for all people regardless of diagnosis or non diagnosis. If you are looking to change your behaviour, ABA is an evidence based strategy and we can help.
In 2019, Lyndee suffered an extreme mental health crisis as well as a physical health diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Lyndee made the tough decision to leave the dream agency, she worked so hard to be a part of for eight years and with their partner agency for the previous ten years. Lyndee opened The Country Learning Centre in 2019, as the sole therapist.
It has been an amazing but challenging journey for Lyndee. She has found that the power of nature, along with ABA strategies has given her the inspiration and excitement to share her knowledge as well as the land that her family takes care of, with many more people.
Lyndee's vision as CEO is to create an organization that is able to help kids, teens and adults reconnect and find love with themselves and each other, uncover inspiration from nature to bring out the best in people, teach others the skills that are needed to navigate this crazy world that we live in; use the knowledge she has and will gain about the land and our sensory system to better help those trying to find coping strategies for themselves or those they love.
Kailey Jackson, R-ECE
Kailey is a Registered Early Childhood Educator. Her purpose is to bring education in natural environments to children of all abilities.
Kailey identifies as a First Nation and although she is still learning more about her culture and ancestors, she is dedicated to making a change for her people. She has experienced racism, not having a sense of belonging and silenced for who she is. Her mother was able to experience living on their reserve for a short period of time but unfortunately her ancestors did not share or admit to their culture due to the history of her people. Before Kailey's grandma passed away, she helped Kailey receive her status card. Unfortunately there are new requirements in place for other statuses. Kailey is open to resources and getting to know her people more and hopes that together we break the silences of the ancestors.
When Kailey took the Early Childhood Education program at St. Clair College, she immersed herself fully in the learning that happens by expanding to being a part of the ECE Club in her first year. In the second year she was the Co-President of this club and took the club to a new level as she had to think outside the box due to the COVID Pandemic. Being limited by the pandemic, Kailey reached out to the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada and a forest school for a final project. She was able to connect and learn more about the significant benefits that forest school programming had on children.
In 2021, Kailey experienced the sudden loss of her uncle to mental illness. This pushed her to take a leap of faith to move out to Surrey, BC. This is where she experienced forest & nature program within childcare. Kailey noticed less transitions, less challenging behaviours, natural safe risk taking along with natural consequences which allowed for significant teachable moments. While she was out there, her mom called her with amazing news! Kailey was chosen from the faculty at St. Clair College for the Student Leadership Award from her graduating class.
Kailey has personal and educational experience with mental health, mental illnesses, self-awareness, coping strategies and much more. Being the Co-founder and Director of Fundraising, she hopes to make a difference for Windsor-Essex County by giving children, teens and young adults a safe space to explore and build a deeper connection to the land and themselves. Kailey is someone who has an open mind that as society changes, we can adapt and engage in continuous learning. She believes that with her past experiences, education and passion, herself and staff at The Country Learning Centre will help people of all abilities succeed in day-to-day life activites.. With the core values of Love, Inspiration and Finding Empowerment, our programming is something you, your children and our community does not want to miss!
Morgan Smith, R-ECE
Morgan is a Registered Early Childhood Educator. From a young age, Morgan always knew she had a special connection with children. She volunteered her time in grade school during recess to help the kids in kindergarten, which lead to a high school Co-op placement in another kindergarten room.
After high school graduation, Morgan decided that she wanted to pursue her passion of working with children. She attended St. Clair College for Early Childhood Education; graduating in 2013. While in college, Morgan worked for Franco-sol daycare in Lasalle and upon graduation she went onto working for the Greater Essex County District School Board as a temporary support staff from 2013 – 2020 - until the pandemic shut everything down in March. During the pandemic, Morgan and her then fiancé decided it was finally the perfect time to move to Victoria, BC for a couple of years before returning to the Essex County area to start a family while having their family around.
While living in the beautiful landscape of BC, Morgan had a newfound love for being in nature. She experienced working in a few childcare centers while living in Victoria, making her connection to the outdoors stronger and loving the environmental impacts it had on the children each day. Morgan also had the amazing opportunity to work for a few months in an Indigenous community. She helped to open a childcare center for the Songhees First Nation. During this time, she was expected to order and set up an Infant/toddler program for children of the nation. While being employed at the childcare, she was able to learn more about the many reasons that children thrive in the outdoors. Morgan signed up for a Learning outdoor workshop. Once she was no longer needed at the indigenous center Morgan had the liberty of taking the Learning Outdoor Together (LOT) 12-week course. Through her experiences out West, Morgan has been able to see first hand how beneficial the outdoors is for children.
Upon returning to Kingsville this fall (2023), Morgan and her husband have settled back in. She began her search to find a center that allowed her old passion and new passion to come together; somewhere that she could offer children space for nature exploration, risk taking, problem solving, natural investigation and see independence thrive. Morgan is truly excited to be in the lucky position to be able to bring some West Coast vibes to this Windsor Essex County community. She is fired up to allow children to blossom in the nature that surrounds us. She is looking forward to helping build this community and see where The Country Learning Centre grows alongside your littles!