I will work with you to explore your counselling needs using a Narrative therapy approach to understanding problem stories. Depending on your treatment needs I may also use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) approaches, and/or my skills in Dialetical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).

 

Here are some beliefs that drive my approach to therapy with individuals:

• People are the experts in their own lives and experiences (even when things are not going as they would like).

• Problems come up and negatively influence a person’s ability to cope in their lives and relationships.

• There are many stories being lived at once in a person’s life. There is more than one way to begin a therapy conversation and many different directions that can be taken on a healing journey.

• People have unique abilities, strengths, and values that they can use to lessen the influence of problems in their lives.

• The culture in which we live impacts our stories and we cannot disconnect our experiences from their context in society.

I will work with you and your child or youth to define the presenting problem and create a treatment plan taking into account the individuals unique needs as well as developmental stage. 

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Working with children and youth requires specific skills and experience:

• Children and youth have unique stressors and difficulties in their lives.

• When they have experienced stress, trauma, or relational challenges this often comes out in difficult behaviours at home or school.

• Often struggling children are the ones to bring their families to counselling; when one family member is in distress this impacts the whole family system.

• Children need support with big emotions, anxiety, and problem stories just like adults.

• Effective interventions for children support non talk-based expression of experiences (play, art, sand tray)  as well as specialized EMDR interventions.

I will work with parents and families using a Narrative and Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) approach to exploring patterns of interaction between family members as well as their emotions and attachment needs.

 

There are many reasons why caregivers seek out counselling for their families:

• Caregivers may have worries about difficult relationships within the family (anger, meanness, lack of trust, isolation, and difficulty communicating needs).

• Caregivers may also seek out counselling supports due to concerns about poor coping of their child or youth (at home, school, or in the community).

• Working with a counsellor to explore negative communication patterns and difficult emotions can support increased understanding of each other and trust.

• My social work background gives me the skills to effectively support caregivers to make sense of the child or youth’s situation and functioning and to seek out appropriate supports from the school system.