SOLOS Staff
Merlyn Horton ~ Executive Director
Merlyn is a youth advocate who, prior to founding SOLOS, worked with high-risk, street entrenched and sexually exploited youth for over fifteen years. Since the inception of the Internet, she has been researching, studying and investigating the incidences and dynamics of online sexual exploitation as well as the intersections of technology and child abuse.
Horton has presented her ideas to over 60, 000 people in all regions of British Columbia, various parts of Western Canada and internationally. Horton founded SOLOS in 2002 as a stand-alone non-profit society. Since then she has guided the Safe OnLine Outreach Society from a geeky youth workers’ dream to a respected, dynamic organization that educates youth, parents and professionals about responsible online cyber-citizenry.
In 2007, she was the lead author on “Bridging the Gap: Best Practices and Policies to Address the Online High Risk Activities of Youth in B.C.”, a template for an integrated human service response to internet issues. Horton’s future plans include collaborating with various organizations to encourage adults to engage youths through online settings.
Merlyn is the recipient of the 2003 Myrtle Everett Woman of the Year Award and a 2008 B.C. Crime Prevention Individual Achievement Award.
Dolphin Kasper, Presentation Program Coordinator
Dolphin has been doing workshops in schools around the province for over ten years. He has experience working with a wide variety of programs and issues including: Violence, racism, homophobia, empowerment, self awareness, lifeskills and many more. He has a love and passion for working with people and brings a strong sense of purpose to everything he does. Dolphin is excited about working with SOLOS and their amazing and extremely relevant programs.
Lorinda Stoneman, Research Consultant
Lorinda has been a part of SOLOS since 2006. She recently completed her Master of Arts degree at Simon Fraser University and produced her thesis, "Law, Limits and Lessons Unbound: Perspectives from Key Stakeholders Responding to Transnational Child Sex Tourism in a World Without Borders". She is now a PhD student at the University of Victoria where she intends to further pursue the issues of transnational child protection as well as the behaviors of young people in online environments and internet-facilitated child sex tourism.
David Antrobus, Editor and Blogger
David is a former street youth worker turned writer who continues to contribute of combating child exploitation by contributing his ideas and research to SOLOS presentations.
The Safe OnLine Outreach Society is a federal charitable organization (Canada #86021 9641 RR0001) and a registered non-profit society -(British Columbia #S45067.
