“We think of The Sentinel as a custodian. A wise presence that watches over the land and cares for the people that live and spend time on this beautiful property.”
– Richard Kay and Gillian Maxwell, Founders of The Sentinel
Profound Experiences that Transform the World from the Inside, Out
OUR STORY
The Sentinel started with a single question:
What are we collectively capable of achieving and becoming when we explore beyond the boundaries of convention to access a mindful state of peace and compassion?
Gillian and Richard’s beautiful vision for The Sentinel is simply this: to realize the full potential of humanity.
OUR APPROACH
The Sentinel is a peaceful place, a place to recharge and reconnect. We offer transformative programs and diverse gathering spaces in a tranquil setting overlooking Kootenay Lake and the soaring Purcell Range. Join us for one of our wellness programs or host your event with us.
The Sentinel is a perfect destination for meetings, conferences, film and TV productions, events, and retreats. Our facility is designed to encourage group interaction, to inspire and engage you and your team, so you can enjoy the journey while achieving the results you seek. We offer experiences to optimize your time with us, personalized wellness treatments, activities, and adventures.
MEET OUR TEAM
Richard was born in 1959 in New Zealand — he began his entrepreneurial career at age 7 with a paper routeI Richard started working in restaurants and training to be a chef at age 15, graduating at 17 from the City and Guilds Culinary Arts Program with honours. He started his first business, a bistro in Sydney, at age 19, and purchased his first property on the Gold Coast of Australia on his 21st birthday.
His considerable culinary skills supported his sense of adventure and travel — in 1987, he was the Chef for the Great Peace March. He ran a successful catering business while living in Marin County, California, and reaped the rewards of real estate investment on Lucas Valley Road while he studied art. His artistic talent and design flair have created a beautiful aesthetic in all of his renovation, construction, and hospitality ventures.
Richard has lived in Canada since 1990, and became a citizen in 2014. He has turned his own real estate investments into substantial income earners, including several houses in Kaslo, Vancouver, and Zihutanejo in Mexico, as well as a 30 unit low-income/student housing building in 2002. He purchased a real estate management company in 2006, which provides executive furnished rentals in downtown Vancouver. He increased the annual income of Dunowen Properties from $640,000 to currently $3 million.
It seems there is nothing Richard cannot achieve once he puts his heart into a project. He designed Casa Espiritu, the beautiful house in which he loves to relax in Mexico, which generates a healthy income when he and his family are not there. He has catered an annual Christmas party in Vancouver for between 150-200 friends, which is now approaching its 19th year, and has raised approximately $240,000 for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Richard is able to manifest ideas into realities by bringing teams of skilled people together to fulfill his vision.
Richard is a graduate of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Business Management Program, and Landmark’s senior graduate course, the Team Management and Leadership Program. Over the years, he has devoted his considerable energy, time, skills, and resources to skillfully engaging groups, individuals, and particularly young people, in becoming leaders in the world, and tailors his coaching so that people experience their unique gifts in the world.
He has over 20 years of personal experience working with plant medicines,
Richard has been married to Gillian Maxwell for 25 years, and has two adult children. He considers his corporate accommodation and vacation rental companies in Canada and Mexico to be “his engines,`` allowing him and Gillian to do their life’s work together in creating The Sentinel, and realizing the full potential of humanity.
Gillian Maxwell has often found herself to be ahead of her time. She often finds herself talking about things that have not happened yet, but appear obvious to her — things that need to take place to fulfill her purpose of realizing the full potential of humanity.
This propensity to speak to the future has led her to be a leader in promoting harm reduction. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for community service, for introducing harm reduction to Vancouver and successfully advocating for INSITE, North America’s first supervised injection site, that opened there in 2003.
Gillian is a leader in the global movement for drug policy reform. She co-founded the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC), and has spoken at conferences nationally and internationally.
Born in England, Gillian moved to Vancouver when she was 22, and became a successful realtor for over a decade. Her own journey has been one of personal growth, accelerated by loss and grief. She found solace in the Dharma, as taught by the Buddha, and continues to find inspiration from Buddhist psychology, which motivated her to be in action to fulfill her purpose, and to continue to search for ways to untether her soul.
It was a natural progression for her to explore inner dimensions with plant medicines, and she has extensive experience over a decade of being in ceremonial circles. Currently she is a member of the Board of Directors for MAPS Canada (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) where she continues her advocacy for making entheogens available for humans to level up their presence on the planet.
As a graduate of the Justice Institute’s Program for Conflict Resolution and Negotiation, Gillian honed her skills in moving from positions to interests, a practice to disarm seemingly intractable situations, which put her in good stead during her three-year term as a member of the Vancouver Police Board. She is highly trained with Landmark, having graduated from a two-year Team Management and Leadership program that gave her the impetus to manifest a mindful world beyond convention by envisioning The Sentinel, and it’s potential to hold the space for a gigantic jump in collective human consciousness.
These days she finds herself fully engaged in Act III of her life, and is honoured to bring a depth of knowledge, humour, generosity, innate intuition and wisdom to her work as a Transformational Coach. The Sentinel is the culmination of her life experience, and she is grateful for the opportunity to be in service. She is very happily married to Richard Kay, has two adult step-children, and a vast network of friends and acquaintances, all of whom have contributed to her journey thus far.
Since her teenage years, Janet has been keenly interested — and engaged — in spiritual pursuits.
After undergraduate studies in Art History at the Universities of Kansas, Madrid, and Alberta, Janet eventually launched a publishing career. She became national sales director for Canada's largest independent educational publishing company, Reidmore Books, then went on to co-found one of the world's first web-based publishers, Oz New Media. In 1998 she was named Edmonton's Female Entrepreneur of the year.
Janet left publishing in 2000, and, searching for a more soulful outlet for her passions and strengths, became both a certified feng shui consultant and a professional organizer.
Soon after her arrival in Kaslo, BC in 2004, she became enthusiastically engaged in her new community, serving on the boards of both the Langham Cultural Society, and the North Kootenay Lake Community Services Society.
Relentlessly optimistic and positive, Janet's smiling face, friendly attitude, and uncanny ability to spread joy at every turn are well-known — and well-loved — in Kaslo. She brings a unique combination of life experiences, skills, and traits to her role on the Sentinel team.
Dustin is a connector, and a passionate community leader in British Columbia's West Kootenay region. Since committing himself to Kaslo, Dustin has found himself promoting healthy rural living and bringing back the young people. Dustin has hosted numerous economic development and agricultural events, and has been part of many community projects helping Kaslo thrive.
Dustin practices Rebalancing massage, and is a dedicated Vipassana meditator. He considers daily meditation the key to happiness, cultivating healthy habits and having fun. Dustin is a life-long learner, and is continually studying the latest in neuroscience to help transform lives so we can all realize our fullest potential.
When not organizing Sentinel logistics, creating events, or working on community projects, Dustin is found developing a large sub-alpine property he owns with his family. He is passionate about creating sacred spaces in this spectacular setting, designing off-grid systems and developing buildings for the ultimate backcountry experience. Dustin is an active community member and values his time most making music, dancing, backcountry skiing, and being with family.
Randy has degrees in art and political science from the Universities of Oregon and Alberta. After his PhD thesis work at Oslo's International Peace Research Institute, he launched a career that saw him create several groundbreaking publishing houses, including Reidmore Books, Oz New Media, and the Indigenous Learning Company. He served as president of the Alberta Book Publishers Association for several years, and sat on the national council of the Association of Canadian Publishers. Since moving to Kaslo and the West Kootenay, Randy has become fully engaged in helping this very special part of the planet thrive. He founded the Kaslo Institute, produces a weekly show on Kootenay Co-op Radio, and is the communications director for the BC Rural Centre. He brings his many years of entrepreneurialism, his boundless enthusiasm, and a shared desire with the rest of the Sentinel team to help others reach their full potential to our bountiful table!
TESTIMONIALS
A MINDFUL WORLD
BEYOND CONVENTIONS
The Sentinel exists to realize the full potential of humanity, creating a mindful world through cutting edge transformative programs.
5278 Amundsen Road
PO Box 1028
Kaslo, BC Canada
info@sentinelbc.ca
1.250.353.2246
© 2019 The Sentinel