A Bit About Me
I have been privileged to play a range of different roles throughout my life including, athlete, coach, friend, student, wife, parent, and psychologist. Of all these roles, my role as a parent has brought the most rewards as well as the most challenges. Starting my own parenting journey led me to study and gain experience in the stages of child development, play based assessment and therapy, family systems approaches to treatment, neuroscience based parenting approaches, social-emotional assessment and skill development, as well as attachment based interventions.
In addition to my work with children, youth, and families, I also warmly welcome those seeking therapy on a more individual basis. Regardless of what path has led you here, I consider it an honour to be able to hold space for those I work with as they navigate the often complex dance of self discovery, healing, and growth.
Information On My Approach
My Beliefs About Change: I view the cornerstone of growth as resulting from increasing attachment to self (i.e., becoming aware of and attuned to one’s body regulation, emotional experiences, and thought processes).
How I Select the Type of Therapy Provided: we will discuss together the types of approaches available to you based on my knowledge of best practices in the area(s) you are seeking support on.
My Overarching Approach: we will first work to support nervous system regulation then shift to address more cognitive based learning and processing. This is called a “bottom up” approach.
Why I Take a Bottom Up Approach: sometimes when we experience challenging life events our brains and bodies become flooded. This means, we do not properly process and organize the body sensations, emotions, and thoughts that occurred. By first working to increase awareness of these “felt” sensations and developing tools to regulate through (i.e., reorganize these triggered responses) we can then more effectively move into working at a higher, cognitive level (i.e., work to address and heal negative beliefs about self, others, and/or the world that may be attached to these events).
An Overview of our Initial Session: first, we will slow down, take a breath together, and explore what brought you, your child, and/or family to see me. Information gathered during this intake will help us shift into talking about your option(s) for service approach.
Your Involvement: I view therapy as highly collaborative and take a transparent approach. This means, we will work together, relevant information will be openly shared, and questions are welcomed at any point!
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