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Practice Areas

I currently provide therapy to individuals between the ages of 12 and 80+ years of age.   Specific issues that I work well with include:

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Emotion Dysregulation/Regulation

  • Quality of Life Improvement

  • Borderline Personality Disorder

  • Eating Disorders / Disordered Eating / Body Image

  • Trauma (including Complex PTSD & PTSD)

  • Stress & Burnout

  • Perfectionism, Fears of Not Being Enough, Imposter Syndrome

  • Chronic Illness and Complex Medical Conditions

  • Struggles with Quiet Despair

Image by Zac Harris

Individual Therapy

My therapy style integrates a variety of therapeutic philosophies, and I endeavor to blend these styles into the offering of something useful to the unique needs of each client. I ask for my clients to come to the process bringing only the knowledge of their story, their understanding of their issues, their questions, and their strengths and desired goals. I envision my job as the offering of an assortment of tools and skills, different ways of thinking and understanding life experiences and relationships, and the learning and practice of more effective means of feeling and expressing given emotions; such that clients leave feeling better equipped to move through their lives. Foundational to all of this, of course, is the experience of being heard, validated and accepted for what is, within each client's life.

 

I do not approach therapy from the lens of being the "expert" on your situation; that I entrust confidently to my clients. Rather, I bring an expertise in the management of the process necessary to facilitate change. Therapy is not a place for judgment, shame or condemnation. Therapy is an opportunity to safely speak your story, gain greater awareness and insight into choices made and patterns or ways of being that hinder you in your life today, and learn new ways of being and engaging relationally that best fit you and the realities of your current life.  

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When seeing adolescents, I also endeavour to simultaneously support the generalization of skills and tools, as well as the navigation of communicating about difficult topics, to parent(s)/ guardians that come along with their teens, whilst ensuring client confidentiality. This parenting work is different from a family therapy process, and if a family would benefit from family therapy, I can refer them on to several professionally strong and trusted colleagues within my network.

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DBT Group Therapy

My other area of practice offerings right now is group therapy.  I am currently offering an Emotion Surfing group for adolescents.  This group is a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) informed skills group for teens aged 13 – 17 years old.  Unlike the kind of group therapy you might have seen in movies or through TV shows, this is more like a class where we teach and learn skills to help us identify, name, express and regulate our emotions more effectively.  This class also teaches some skills to help tolerate distress & crises without making them worse (distress tolerance skills) and core mindfulness skills (how to be in the present moment without jumping to the past &/ or future).  We use a mixture of teaching, interactive group activities and at home practice to help the teens learn and practice the skills within the group time and between group sessions.

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Image by Igor Rodrigues

DBT Family Skills Training

Beginning in the Fall of 2023, I am thrilled to be able to offer families and loved ones, DBT Family Skills Training (FST).  FST is a psycho-educational skills oriented training to help better support families as they walk alongside their loved one who struggles with emotion regulation and/or emotional vulnerability.  

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I know that when your family member or loved one is struggling with intense emotions and the behaviours that can come along with their efforts to try and regulate those emotions, your role is hard, confusing, and often is wearying.  In family skills training, I teach family members/ loved ones DBT skills to help them:

  • gain awareness about emotion regulation and emotional vulnerability

  • better understand family patterns, values, myths and behaviours

  • learn about the four basic assumptions for families within a DBT framework

  • learn skills that can both strengthen their entire family and themselves

  • practically apply DBT skills within the family in way that balances problem solving and validation strategies

 

Stay tuned for upcoming dates and further details about FST seminar offerings!!

 

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Image by Aleksandra Boguslawska

Supervision & Consultation

I have been involved in the supervision of mental health students for more than 15 years.  It’s an absolute area of passion for me to walk alongside those learning how to provide therapy and be with another.  Through this time, I’ve had the privilege of supervising pre-doctoral Clinical Psychology residents and Psychiatry residents. My more recent years have involved providing supervision through the Faculty of Medicine to Psychiatry residents where I was honoured to receive teaching and supervision awards in two different years.  

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In the last few years, I have also branched out into offering consultation services to psychologists' or psychiatrists' wishing to integrate DBT principles into their psychotherapy practice.

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If you’re interested in possibly working with me through a supervision or consultation process, please reach out!

What can you expect from Individual Therapy?

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