Celina Symmonds
The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
Contractor, Community Stakeholder Engagement
Celina Symmonds is the Executive Director of Medicine Hat Family Service, where she is passionately dedicated to expanding access to mental health support by eliminating financial and wait-time barriers. With a strong background in change management across the nonprofit and municipal sectors, Celina has a proven ability to drive meaningful, systemic change.
A few highlights of Celina’s career include:
• Serving as Medicine Hat’s first Housing First Team Lead, helping the city become the first in Canada to achieve functional zero homelessness.
• Diversifying representation during her tenure as a City Councillor, and her time as a school board trustee where she was one of the few elected women on council and the only representative from the social services sector.
• Leading a $2 million transformation of the Medicine Hat and District Food Bank, establishing the Food and Wellness Centre to promote dignity, skill-building, and community engagement.
Beyond her professional work, Celina cherishes her role as a grandmother to four wonderful grandchildren, a mom and stepmom to six amazing kids, and a proud “dog mom” to two beloved pups.