AAP Member
Tori grew up in the county outside of Beaverlodge and attended the rural school of Elmworth for elementary and junior high where she had great opportunities for leadership and athletic pursuits. This helped her at Beaverlodge Regional High School where she pursued dance classes, volleyball, basketball and athletics while maintaining a top standing in academics. During Tori’s high school career, she enjoyed many accomplishments including several gold, silver and bronze zone medals from track and field, basketball and volleyball, one provincial bronze medal, one silver medal, and one gold. She was captain of the track team for two seasons, won silver medal at Alberta Summer Games in 2002 for hurdles, several Most Valuable Player awards, multiple Athlete of the Year awards and finally yearly academic honor roll.
After high school Tori attended University of Alberta completing a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. While in Edmonton, she volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton and with the Orientation program for new students and year-round mentoring at U of A. She also was a member of the U of A Athletics team competing year-round in hurdles, triple jump, long jump, heptathlon and sprinting. In her final year she was Co-Captain of the team and competed at CanWest University Games. Tori received the Jason Lang scholarship yearly for high academic and athletic performance. Lastly in her third year, Tori got her Letter A sweater which signifies completing of the third year of eligibility within the University Athletics system. She graduated with distinction in 2007.
Tori continued her academic pursuits by applying for physiotherapy school in Australia. She gained entrance into the Curtin University Graduate Entry Masters of Physiotherapy or GEM program. She moved to Australia to focus on mastering professional skills and on seeing as much of Australia as she could. She met lasting friends and graduated in 2010.
Tori returned home to Beaverlodge, married her high school sweetheart, and started her career as a full-time physiotherapist. In 2014 Tori felt she needed to advance her skills and she left her understanding husband at home while she returned to Australia and Curtin University to complete a Clinical Masters in Manipulative Physiotherapy. She has also pursued many postgraduate courses in pelvic health, Pilates, movement training, concussion, persistent pain and manual therapy.
Tori was an integral part of the Grande Prairie Primary Care Network within the Chronic Pain Management Program as a physiotherapist until early 2017. This allowed her the fantastic opportunity to speak at the 2016 Alberta Pain Conference which is a yearly multidisciplinary health conference which displays evidence based practice for the treatment of persistent pain. She also gained many clinical tools and skills at this job.
Tori returned home to her community, her husband, and their loveable black lab Dug. Tori and her husband enjoy the outdoors, hiking and camping and trying to juggle two businesses. They try to stay healthy and fit in amongst their busy lives and enjoy fitness and the challenge of pilates. In the last several years the Smiths have added two daughters to their family, Zoey and Rion which increases the complexity and energy of their lives.