Home should never be the barrier.

Pamela Nahal is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) whose 18 years of healthcare experience bring both a clinical and deeply human perspective to Living Thesis.

Her experience in healthcare and mental health provides an understanding of how physical health, mental and cognitive wellbeing, behavioural needs and changing abilities can shape daily life. She considers not only the person’s immediate needs, but also the routines, relationships and sense of independence that make a home feel like their own.

Pamela’s perspective is especially important when families are navigating caregiving, a return from hospital, a progressive condition or an unexpected change in mobility. She helps bring clarity to the practical realities surrounding care, including family dynamics, caregiver needs, privacy, dignity and what may become more difficult over time.

Her Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist credential adds specialized knowledge in aging-in-place planning, home modification, daily living needs, livable design and the collaboration required between homeowners and allied professionals.

Through Living Thesis, Pamela brings the healthcare and aging-in-place lens to assessment and planning. She helps the team understand what has changed, what matters most to the individual and family, what the home may need to support now and later, and when additional professional expertise should be involved.

Together with Lori, Pamela connects human needs with the built environment so that recommendations respond to the whole situation, not only the physical house, but the person living within it.

Lori Sutherland Burns is a Registered Interior Designer with more than 25 years of experience across residential, multi-residential, hospitality, healthcare, education and commercial environments.

She is the founder and Principal of Studio Ten Interior Design and Program Head of BCIT’s Residential Interiors Diploma.

A significant part of Lori’s professional and academic work focuses on accessibility, adaptive living and designing environments that can support people as their needs change.

Her professional experience includes designing homes for individuals with significant mobility and accessibility requirements, including clients living with paraplegia and other physical disabilities. This work has required individualized solutions addressing circulation, transfers, accessible kitchens and bathrooms, lighting, material transitions, reach and usability, and the relationship between the built environment and independence.

Lori also teaches senior living and adaptive design at BCIT. Her academic work includes aging in place, accessibility, wayfinding, human behaviour, social spaces, universal and inclusive design, and the physical and sensory changes associated with aging.

Her teaching extends beyond the classroom. Lori brings students directly into senior living and care environments to study how the built environment affects independence, mobility, dignity, social connection and the experiences of residents, families and care providers.

Through Living Thesis, Lori brings together decades of professional design experience with accessibility, education and senior-living knowledge to help translate changing human needs into practical, functional and beautiful built-environment solutions.