After more than three decades of supporting women and girls and advocating for gender equality, the top official with the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre is calling it a career.
Michelle Schryer has announced her retirement as the centre’s Executive Director after 33 years.
Schryer has represented the crisis centre at local, provincial and national levels, as well as participating on panels at international events. She is also credited with advancing gender equality through her many efforts over the years, including legislative reform.
“It’s given me the opportunity to do so many meaningful things and I’m really grateful that I was here at a time when I was able to be involved in some very meaningful work around legislative change and supporting families,” she said.
Schryer called her retirement bittersweet referring to her position with the centre as less of a job and more of “a calling.”
“I have not lost my passion for the work. I will always do this work in my own way on my own terms,” she said. “It’s important to make room for new folks. New ideas. Fresh visions. All of those things that are so important to every organization.”
The crisis centre has also announced that Linda Soulliere will fill the Executive Director role upon Schryer’s departure. Soulliere has served as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Persons with Disabilities in Mississauga for nearly 25 years.
Schryer said she’s extremely happy with her chosen successor.
“I’m feeling really good about the direction that crisis centre will take [going] forward,” she said. “To leave knowing that this organization will do some incredible work going forward — that’s a pretty good feeling.”
Initially hired on October 1, 1990, Schryer’s last day at the centre will be January 15, 2024.
“I have this wonderful loving family that I really miss. I look forward to being able to spend time with them,” said Schryer.
The Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre provides its services to women and girls who have experienced the impact of sexual assault, harassment, exploitation, or abuse. The centre also works to raise awareness and effect positive change toward the prevention of sexualized violence and the elimination of gendered violence
