My recognition of the importance of giving honor to individual stories has come from training in Narrative Therapy*, personal experiences and over 25 years of counselling/consulting. Each of us has our own journey and each family system or group/business also has their unique place in life. I bring curiosity, compassion, client-focus, and strength-based support to my clients, recognizing how challenging it is to reach out for support when sometimes we don’t really know what we need support for. Together we will explore the best way for us to proceed. I will honor the story that you bring with professionalism and confidentiality.
My career has included working with individuals and groups assisting them in navigating personal challenges, relational conflicts, and system breakdowns. I also have experience teaching children with learning differences, guiding youth and young adults through challenging transitions, and providing individual as well as couples/relationship therapy. My work has included working with non-profits in leadership roles supervising staff and working with disadvantaged groups. My training in Narrative Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Enneagram, and Emotional Freedom Technique provides me with a unique understanding of people, their behavior, and relationships.
My life experience includes death of a spouse and resulting single motherhood, raising a blended family, supporting an adult son with chronic illness, supporting children with learning differences, and loss of close friends to cancer. This adds to my ability to listen to the experiences of others and honor the unique challenges we each face.
Along with supervising students and counsellors, I consult with non-profits for teambuilding, process development, decision-making models, and more.
Training:
- Narrative Therapist with training in CBT, Solution-focused Counselling, Family Systems, Motivational Interviewing, Harm Reduction, and Addictions
- Emotional Freedom Technique (useful for anxiety, trauma, and stress)
- Hurley/Donson Certified Enneagram Trainer (personality typology)
- Master Practitioner in Clinical Counselling Supervision (MPCC-S)
Scope of Practice:
- Clientele: children, youth, families, men, women, LGBTQ2+, various cultures
- Issues: abuse, trauma, stress, anxiety, depression, career, grief, health, relationships, personal development, learning differences (disadvantages), life skills, career, addictions, substance misuse, mediation.
- Supervision of Clinical Counsellors and students
Experience:
- Clinical Lecturer with the University of Alberta
- Curriculum development and delivery
- 20+ years counselling and consulting experience
- Program development
- Various Director and Management roles
- Development of Ethical Decision-Making models
- Right brain journaling groups
*Narrative Therapy is non-directive (the client is the expert), non-judgmental (work with all genders, cultures and faiths), without assumption, and curiosity at its best. Mainly interested in knowing the person and getting to know the uniqueness of that individual while empowering them to find solutions through their strengths. Therapists learn about client beliefs, values, culture, and assumptions and from there help to guide them to their own best solutions. Questions are formed to produce meaning for the individual rather than to solicit or give answers. Narrative Therapy includes processes like externalizing the problem, listening for unique outcomes, questions that form a landscape of meaning and listening to the broader story (thickening the story/plot).