As a healer, advocate and visionary, Peggy Shaughnessy has transformed the lives of thousands, her work buoyed by a fearless dedication to community care and wellness.
Those who know fully acknowledge that the world, and in particular our world here in Peterborough, is a better, safer and more soulful place because of Shaughnessy’s service, innovation and unwavering belief that every person, no matter their station life, has the right to heal.
“Peggy exemplifies the good neighbour,” assesses Cheryl Lyon.
“That member of the local community who looks around with compassion and a sense of justice, sees a need and steps up.”
In 2002, after her firsthand experience with the justice system, and while completing her Master’s thesis titled Friction Within The Machine: Aboriginal Prisoners Behind The Wall, Shaughnessy founded Whitepath Consulting.
Created to serve the 90 percent of people who never access help, its centrepiece was her RedPath Model, an emotional and social competency-based approach to healing that offers an alternative to traditional cognitive-behavioural therapies. Her mission was simple: connect the disconnected.
Five years later, Shaughnessy opened the Whistle Stop Café in downtown Peterborough. For 15 years thereafter, it was a warm and welcoming space that provided a sense of home, connection and dignity to people from all walks of life.
In the meantime, driven by the urgency of Peterborough’s opioid crisis, Shaughnessy co-founded Right to Heal, a grassroots initiative that brought her RedPath addictions treatment program to her hometown. Right to Heal offers free holistic out-patient care rooted in connection, community and cultural safety, all with a no-judgment approach. For more than two years now, the space has seen no overdoses and no calls for police. What it has seen is countless stories of transformation and hope.
Now working toward her Ph.D, Shaughnessy is a grandmother, a potter, a truth teller and a warrior for change. Whether quietly advocating on clients’ behalf, support Indigenous people before the courts, or working with women or men at risk, she is creating healing ripples that extend well beyond Peterborough to across Canada.
As her daughter Liz offers, Shaughnessy is “a seed planter,” laying the groundwork for others to carry forward her vision of wellness and dignity for all.