Kathy Schneider, Executive Director of St. Margaret’s House for nearly 30 years, holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Notre Dame. Before coming to St. Margaret’s House, she worked in parish ministry in New York City and served with the Sisters of the Holy Cross as a lay associate in their missions in Washington DC, Texas, and Brazil.

Isaac Hunt is a native of Chicago, IL but has lived in South Bend Indiana almost all of his life. Isaac is a graduate of South Bend Washington High School and Indiana State University, majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Business Administration. Isaac served in the United States Army from 1984 to 1990 and is a current member of Amvets Post 66. He worked in the manufacturing industry for over 20 years in positions from General Labor to General Manager. He is currently employed at Goodwill Industries of Michiana as the Director for GVI Social Services for the Group Violence Intervention Initiative. In Isaac’s current position he oversees the social services for Gary for Life, South Bend’s Group Violence Intervention and South Bend SAVE (Stand Against Violence Everyday) Outreach Team. He is also the owner of Ice Services, Inc.

Isaac’s background and focus on community collaboration has led him to several volunteer opportunities and community leadership roles. Isaac is one of the founders and former board members of Xavier School of Excellence, Member of the 100 Blackmen of Greater South Bend, South Bends “Not in Our Community Committee”, Commission on the Status of Black Males, Ivy Tech Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, University of Notre Dame Community Engagement Correlation Council, South Bend Community School Corporation African American Student and Family Services, Advisory Board for YMCA, Criminal Justice Chair for NAACP and his proudest honor is Alpha Sigma Lambda (National Honors Society).

Isaac has been a guest speaker at several universities such as Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Bethel College, Illinois State College, Malcolm X College, Indiana University of South Bend, United States Attorney General National Conference and various community settings.
Isaac Hunt is certified in Conflict Resolution, Restorative Justice, Certified Mental Health First Aid, Certified Gangs Specialist, Gangs Mental Health and ACE Interface. He has received numerous awards such as the Martin Luther King Community Award, Indiana Black Expo Elders Award and Community Spirit Award to name a few.

Isaac is married to his beautiful wife Yolanda Hunt. He has one daughter named Iesha Hunt and 2 grandchildren. When he isn’t mentoring young men and women or attending church at FAM Praise and Worship Center, he spends time harassing his wife, kids, joking and laughing with friends.

https://goodwill-ni.org/

Dominic O. Vachon, M.Div, PhD, is the John G. Sheedy MD Director of the Ruth M. Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine in the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a professor of practice in the preprofessional studies department, where he teaches courses in compassionate care in medicine, medical counseling skills, and spiritualties of caring in the helping professions. Vachon does research on the internal mental and emotional process of the clinician compassion mindset in patient care, clinician communication skills, and innovations in medical training applying the science of compassion. He is also on the Volunteer Clinical Faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend, Indiana. For over 10 years, he was on the faculty of the St. Joseph Family Medicine Residency Program as the Director of Behavioral Medicine and Caring Science Training. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1980 with bachelor degrees in Psychology and Philosophy. He received an MDiv from Notre Dame in 1985. In 1993, he received a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. He has been a practicing psychologist and has been involved with training physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other helping professions throughout his career. He is author of the book, How Doctors Care: The Science of Compassionate and Balanced Caring in Medicine just published by Cognella Press in August 2019.

Vachon has devoted the last 25 years of his professional career to supporting and training physicians, residents, medical students, premedical students, nurses, and other clinicians in patient communication skills as well as dealing with burnout and the recovery of compassionate care in the inner lives of clinicians. As a medical psychologist who has spent most of his life training new physicians as well as conducting his own clinical practice, Vachon has been uniquely positioned to hear how physicians suffer in clinical practice and to bring to bear the insights of the science of compassionate caring to help them restore their compassionate ideals and thereby to improve patient care.

https://compassionatecare.nd.edu/