Arto was born in Haida Gwaii and moved to Vancouver from Kitimat in Northern B.C in the early 80's and has worked in many aspects of the Aviation industry for more than 20 years. In that time he has gained experience by working on fixed wing aircraft as well as helicopters. His work also provided some interesting opportunities such as having chances to work for short durations in places like Alaska and as far as Australia. He has felt fortunate to have been able to hold a variety of positions from hands-on, to inspection, test, and several management roles.
His own struggles with a lifetime of anxiety altered his path. After an extensive search he found out about the Anxiety disorders clinic at UBC where he participated in a one on one CBT treatment program. After treatment he felt a desire to give back and as such had been volunteering with AnxietyBC in a peer to peer managing panic disorder group. This lead to a full time position with the organization, and his current role is as the Executive Director. He feels fortunate to be able to share his story.