Sylvie Vidaillac

The big questions brought the spiritual life to the centre of my work. There are also the other elements and issues of life: the ones prompted by bioethics, trans and posthumanism and the matter of our communal life. I devote myself to those questions, aiming to serve and walk with those who engage with those issues and try to live a meaningful life.

My work lives at an intersection that is rarely mapped: psychology and spirituality, organizational life and contemplative practice, the professional and the deeply personal. I did not choose this intersection from a distance. It is where my own life has taken me, over thirty-five years of practice, study, teaching, and accompanying others.

I began in psychology, then moved into management, organizational development and executive coaching — training leaders, and building human development programs in companies and universities across France and Canada. Over time I was always confirmed that the most important questions — the ones that were actually shaping people’s decisions and lives — were not ones that any management framework could hold.

Working in social services and mental health in both France and Canada taught me what formal education does not: that the inner life is not a luxury. It is essential. My doctoral research in bilingual spiritual life, poetry and apophatic theology has given me language for what I had long been practising without fully naming.

I write — in both French and English. A collection of poetry is in progress. Writing is not adjacent to the work; it is part of how I think, meditate, discern, and remain honest with myself.

– Doctor of Ministry (DMin) . St. Stephen’s College, U. of Alberta · Expected 2026. Spiritual life in a second language & transformation.
– MBA . HEC Montréal. 2004. Management & Human Resources.
– Maîtrise, Psychology University of Toulouse II. 1996. Development over the lifespan.
– Licence, Psychology University of Toulouse II. 1990. Language, handwriting and mental health.