About Me
Many years ago, before my career began, I studied psychology at Champlain Regional College in Quebec City and at Carleton University in Ottawa. And yet, I believe that my most powerful teachers have been my clients who have dared to trust me with their most intimate stories of struggle and pain. I have worked for over 20 years in the health and social services sector reaching people who have struggled with trauma and grief as well as mental health and substance use issues. My learning has deepened only by accepting life’s invitation to heal my own sorrows.
I am a regular speaker and trainer, I educate front-line workers on trauma and addictions, understanding and fostering mental wellness, understanding stigma related to mental health and substance use, as well as vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue (see Speaking page for more details). My passion for teaching led me to accept a faculty internship with the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy which began September 2016. In May of 2018, I was invited to join the faculty and am currently contributing to the training of future psychotherapists.
i knew then what i know now: to join someone on their journey you must first be welcomed in.
The relationship must then be nurtured, and trust tested again and again. And finally, that compassion, empathy, and acceptance are powerful tools to help one heal towards transformation.
This has followed me throughout my career of 20+ years working in the health and social services sector. I spent many years working with street kids, youth in the child welfare system, and teens at risk of becoming gang involved in Ottawa and Winnipeg. I strongly believe that these youth were some of my most powerful teachers.
In October of 2015, I left the health and social services sector to devote my full attention on nurturing and building my private practice.