I help individuals and couples create healthier, more fulfilling relationships, starting with the one they have with themselves. If you want to process and reset following a breakup, improve or repair your current relationship, or make sense of your unique family ties,
I am here to help you do that.
My work is informed by:
Attachment science - how we connect to others
Mindfulness - how to live in the present
The Gottman method - how to improve communication, skills and connection in couples
Recovery principles - how to change.
I help clients bring new awareness and skills to themselves and their situations and shift away from limiting beliefs and dysfunctional patterns.
“The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives.” (Esther Perel)
I am an experienced Addiction Counsellor specializing in alcohol and cannabis. I work with people who are high functioning and who've reached a point where their lifestyle is creating problems at home, at work, and in their relationships. I offer practical tools to strengthen your motivation to change and coping skills to help you through emotional reactivity and unexpected triggers. This is an approach to recovery that integrates proven strategies from the 12 Steps and other models. It supports taking one step at a time, growing self-reliance, and discovering new possibilities for your life.
"If you have this idea (even if the voice speaking to you is very small and quiet) that there might be another way to live: listen." (Laura McKowen)
Spiritual psychotherapy allows for a positive way of understanding difficulties and for connecting with parts of yourself that you are unaware of. This mind-body-soul approach involves deepening your intuition and exploring parts of yourself that may be hidden or holding you back. It is about uncovering the path “home” to your true self.
In coping with life's challenges, achieving outward success, or perhaps in striving to meet expectations of others, we often lose connection with who we are on the inside. If you are spending your energy in ways that aren’t lighting you up, then this approach may resonate. I work with inner child healing, the Tarot as an intuitive guide to inner wisdom, and a range of simple experiential and energetic tools.
"All I ever needed to do was surrender and let my soul courageously lead. Call off the search party. I was inside me all along." (Rebecca Campbell)
Brainspotting (BSP) is an approach to healing and wellness that is deeply rooted in the body's nervous system. Research studies have shown that BSP leads to transformational change that is emotional, psychological, and physical. Discovered by Dr David Grand in 2003, BSP provides a simple, neurobiological tool that can locate, process and release experiences and symptoms out of reach of the conscious mind. It is particularly effective in helping to identify and heal underlying trauma that contributes to anxiety, depression and other behavioural conditions. “Where you look affects how you feel.” (David Grand)
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is the therapeutic approach most similar to coaching. It is goal-focused and incorporates positive psychology principles. SFBT helps individuals change by developing solutions to their problems, rather than focusing their efforts on the problem itself. It helps clients discover capabilities they may have overlooked, while identifying past successes and ways to repeat them. It is an accessible and motivating approach for achieving behavioural change. “That’s a way to see it and there is also another way to see it.” (Insoo Kim Berg)
“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.” (Bessel van der Kolk) This approach recognizes the signs of traumatic impact and takes steps to avoid re-traumatizing people while supporting their healing from the past. Whether from adverse childhood experiences or circumstances in adult years, this is a compassionate approach that helps clients with emotional regulation, grounding and coping tools, and the deep healing provided by Brainspotting.
Pema Chodron
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