SERVICES
Psychotherapy
I offer psychotherapy services for children, youth, and families as well as for adults and couples. I work with all the parts of the system that are available for change. Sometimes this is an individual; other times it's the family, including multiple generations (e.g., grandparents) ; and other times it includes schools and other members of the community (e.g., other service providers).
I have experience helping people challenged by:
- Anxiety and depression
- ADHD
- Family conflict
- Learning disabilities
- Various psychiatric diagnosis including OCD, tic disorder, phobias, Autism spectrum and others.
- Emotion regulation
- Social competence
- Separation/Divorce
- Behavioural issues and academic concerns in children and adolescents
“What people bring to me in the guise of problems are their ways of living that keep them hampered and pathologically oriented. What we’re doing now is seeing how education allows us to move toward more joy, more reality, more connectedness, more accomplishment and more opportunities for people to grow.
- Virginia Satir”
What to expect in therapy
WARMTH
AWARENESS
ACCEPTANCE
FREEDOM TO MOVE
A SAFE CONTEXT TO EXPLORE
CHOICES
ACTIONS
Therapy is a process of learning and growing. Different than education in the traditional sense, our approach can be described as experiential education, which means learning that involves the mind, the body, the heart and all the various ways we experience and feel life. We will look at the interrelationship between parts that exist within an individual as well as the relationships between people. This is particularly true in the way that we understand symptoms or problem behaviours. Bad behaviour or symptoms represent the best of what a person has learned to do to cope with difficulties and to try to create balance. This does not mean that the person him or herself is bad; it simply means the method of coping they learned is poor or limited. By externalizing behaviour, we can avoid shame and blame and instead move towards acceptance, personal responsibility and the growth of new behaviours.
“People do the best they can with what they know how to do. When they learn a new and healthier way to cope, they will do that.”