Penny Whillans: A Short Biography

Penny Whillans is the Director and Founder of the Canadian Institute for Enneagram Studies. She is also a practicing psychologist, teacher, counselor and supervisor. She has been in practice since 1983. Her doctorate and post graduate research and practice focused on her keen interest in chronic illnesses and pain, and how these affect the psyche and the personality’s coping mechanisms. She has received extensive Enneagram training with Riso and Hudson, and she has undertaken courses with other key Enneagram teachers. She is a fully qualified Enneagram teacher. Penny has continued to research within this arena. She uses up-to-date research combined with direct experience and the use of metaphors and narratives to facilitate workshops about the Enneagram of Personalities and our health, our bodies, our hearts, our minds, and our spirit.

Penny’s insatiable curiosity leads her and her workshop participants to further explore the boundaries of who we think, or feel that we are, compared to the direct experience of who/ what we actually are. Her keen interest always leads workshop participants toward the direct awareness of who we truly are, and to how we might live from this place of fullness, and peace, rather than become caught in our ordinary existence of fixations, compulsions, and assumptions.

Penny uses Psychosynthesis and Self Inquiry as a framework for her living, her practice and her teachings. She is a committed student of the Diamond Approach, a board member of The Contemplative Society, and a past board member of The Victoria Coalition for Survivors of Torture. She is a frequent speaker and presenter.

Click here to read more about Penny’s Journey
Click here for Dr. Penny Whillans’ Curriculum Vitae (DOC)