My story

I love my work. I enjoy meeting people and hearing their story.  Or sometimes people don't want to tell their whole story, they just want tools and strategies to deal with life and relationships and that's good too.  I am experienced in working with depression, anxiety, trauma, grief and loss, goal setting, neurodiversity (ADHD/ASD), stress/burnout, and tackling the bigger questions in life, which involve finding meaning and purpose. I like to work collaboratively with my clients, giving them options on how to proceed to achieve their goals. I have used EMDR with clients who have experienced accidents, relationship breakup, religious trauma, anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, isolating themselves (boundaries that push people away), and limiting core beliefs ("I'm not good enough", "I'm not lovable", "I can't trust anyone"). I am also a certified hypnotherapist, Buteyko Breathing Educator, and have trained in the Developmental Model of relationships, Emotion Focussed Therapy and the Gottman approach to working with relationships. My reseach in my studies was on the function of sleep and dreaming, and I enjoy working with dreams to gain insight on what's happening under the surface.

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I come with a wide range of personal experience, having travelled through Africa, Israel, Europe, and Cental Amercia. I love learning about other cultures and have taken classes in the local nsyilxc?n language. I enjoy hiking, backpacking and canoeing trips, mountain biking, skiing, rollerblading, kayking, and snowshoeing. My path to becoming a therapist included working as a tree-planter for 7 years, I was a dental hygienist, then I attained my education degree followed by a masters in counselling and worked in the school system as a counsellor/educator. I then set up my private practice, first in Smithers and now in Kelowna. I have experienced significant loss  and trauma in my life, as well as many good experiences and deep connections, which have all contributed to my world-view. I love to get out in nature and find it inspiring and healing. I love animals. I am curious and compassionate, knowing that all we have is the present, and all we can control is ourselves and our perspective and attitude. And, I know that sometimes a good laugh is therapeutic too!

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 Other than individual and couples counselling, I have given numerous  workshops on Trauma-Informed Practice, Wellness at the workplace, the Buteyko Breathing method, on Dreamwork, and other areas of interest in psychology. 

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