ONLY AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE SESSIONS
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ~ Albert Einstein
Psychotherapy and counselling is a big step to embark on. It means acknowledging that you want to change something within your being. It could be from circumstances that you never would have imagined to happen to you through to understanding on some level, that an improved way of being exists.
Counselling/therapeutic process is a lot like growing a garden. Sometimes a garden becomes overgrown, and it needs to be pruned back and weeded. Sometimes a garden is barren and raw, needing much TLC to nurture the tender little plants that are emerging. Sometimes new seeds are planted and the garden develops into something really wonderful. All the while, the garden needs to be nurtured, tended and cared for so that the flowers continue to bloom.
I can help with:
- managing emotions
- strengthening family bonds
- resolving the impact of trauma(s)
- loss and bereavement issues
- identity work
- addressing a critical illness diagnosis
- improving interpersonal relationships
- encouraging creativity
- integrating significant life changes
- reaching our fullest potential
To get a better idea of me, as a therapist, I will share some of my influences. My origins are in feminism and Carl Rogers' humanist theories. This evolved to a love of post-modern theories and a Narrative based practice. Further, as a person who has a meditation practice, this too, has lead me to use Mindful-based techniques in psychotherapy. More recently I have incorporated my creative side and have trained in Expressive Art Therapy and use this in my practice too.
One of the ideas from feminism is “the personal is political.” The personal very much informs my focus. My specialty is working with families, who are in the early child-rearing stage of life, where there has been a critical illness diagnosis or loss of one of the parents, in particular with cancer. An additional focus is working with trauma survivors (childhood sexual abuse, violence in families), which has been my work in social service organizations for over 15 years. Of course, addressing job loss to building self-esteem and everything in between can be the focus of psychotherapy. My passion in the therapeutic process is harmonizing people's perception of themselves when it does not match what is happening in their lives or when they find they are making choices which don't fit with who they are.
I strongly believe each of us is the expert on our own lives. I look at the services I provide as helping you decipher the roadmap of your life through use of a different point of view, slowing down automatic responses through mindfulness and creating alternative ways of expression (using various art modalities: visual, movement, writing, music). I like to consider ways to integrate life changes through art and personal narrative that facilitate being more in your life and living to your fullest potential. Although I write this for an individual client, this can apply to couples, families and groups where I look to strengthen bonds when significant change occurs.
My experience is that life is fluid, as are the challenges that come with living. Often what brings us to psychotherapy can change over time or be peeled back like an onion to find more underneath. There are many modalities of psychotherapy. Research shows that the modality of practice only accounts for about 20% for success in counselling, the other 80% is the connection you create with your therapist.
If there is something that catches your attention from my description of how I practice psychotherapy or you'd like to book an appointment, please contact me.
"Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is wisdom" ~ Lao Tzu