Shirin Rayani

Shirin Rayani the brains behind HippoCampus Hub was born in Peterborough, England and moved to Canada when she was 9 years old. She attended the University of Calgary obtaining her Bachelor degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. She later went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology and is interested in pursuing her doctorate in Education. Shirin focused her work on understanding children and their behaviours. Shirin has always had an enthusiasm for working with children of all ages and helping them achieve personal growth in many areas. These include Behavioural Therapy with children with special needs, working in Emergency Mental Health, overseeing child care programs and creating a new facility for children.  Shirin holds her Montessori certification and has years of experience teaching English and teaching preschoolers.

Shirin’s passion for children started when she worked as a behavioural therapist primarily working with children on the Autism Spectrum. With this experience Shirin was able to help many children and their families with some of their challenges. Shirin then went on to gain experience as a Mental Health Clinician providing mental health assessments, diagnosis, therapeutic interventions using psychodynamic, solution focused and family therapy techniques. Shirin has worked within a multidisciplinary team holding various roles for Alberta Health including playing an integral role in designing and creating purposeful spaces for children and their families using hospital services. Her compression of younger children’s needs ensured the mental health and wellbeing were built in to the programs to help support the children through one of the toughest parts of their lives.

Shirin, a mother of two, has taken a vast interest in understanding how children’s brains grow from birth to adulthood. Shirin has volunteered for many years with various children’s groups that have the opportunity to positively influence our younger generation. Seven years ago while searching for an academic preschool in Calgary and after extensive research, Shirin was not convinced that there were any programs that fully addressed the needs of children when it came to academics, social and mental well- being. This is when she started to explore the idea of building a preschool right here in her home town. With over 20 years’ experience working with children in a learning environment Shirin co-founded and built an award winning Montessori school for young children. Developing an all-encompassing, individualized and well-rounded program and environment where graduates are well prepared for the next stage in their life. During the last 12 months she created and implemented a virtual program to support families amidst the global pandemic. Shirin continues to support families through a variety of approaches and strategies to help families create a balanced, healthy and enriching home environment that maximizes and encourages learning and growth!!