Melindria Tavoularis currently serves as the board president of the Restigouche Multicultural Association in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Melindria Tavoularis is our Senior Advisor for community integration, specializing in board development, facilitation, and diversity.
Throughout her 30 year career, Melindria has worked as a psychotherapist, artist, and community leader to enable a process of self-discovery resulting in healthier individuals and organizations. She has a passion for working within diverse groups to facilitate openness to new concepts, ideas, and approaches for growth.
Melindria, now in Campellton, New Brunswick, serves as the board president of the Restigouche Multicultural Association, a government-funded nonprofit that welcomes and provides integration services to immigrants arriving from all over the world. The New Brunswick government is heavily focused on promoting immigration into the province as a means of addressing its population decline, meeting its workforce needs, and enhancing and supporting diversity in its communities.
Prior to gaining permanent residency in Canada, Melindria lived in New York City, Connecticut and Maine, working as a psychotherapist in the public sector as well as in private practice until her retirement in 2006. Throughout her career, she treated clients of all ages from a variety of environmental, socio-economic, sexual, racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds. She also provided group facilitation services to disadvantaged youth, divorced couples, and the parents of adult children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Melindria served on numerous non-profit boards prior to her presidency at the Restigouche Multicultural Association, meeting the needs of: seniors, at-risk children and families, immigrant populations, sexual assault victims and community service organizations.
In addition to her dedication to community development, Melindria has exhibited her art since 1978. Her work has been accepted into juried group exhibits in New York City, up-state New York, the New England states, and Canada. Her most recent solo exhibitions have been in Maine and New Brunswick.
During her practice as a psychotherapist, Melindria provided art therapy to children ages 5-7 years old in groups and individually. Since retiring, she has been teaching abstract art workshops to teenagers, adults and professional artists.
Melindria holds a Master’s degree in counseling from Colombia University and a bachelor’s degree in art history and anthropology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus.