Therapy
"We think we tell stories, but stories often tell us.
Often, too often, stories saddle us, ride us, whip us onward, tell us what to do, and we do it without questioning.
We are our stories, stories that can be both prison and the crowbar to break open the door of that prison.
The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them,
and then, become a story-teller."
These words by writer and activist, Rebecca Solnit, offer a description of the therapeutic process I work with. I help people find crowbars they didn't know
they were carrying, find possibility where they only see walls.
Often, too often, stories saddle us, ride us, whip us onward, tell us what to do, and we do it without questioning.
We are our stories, stories that can be both prison and the crowbar to break open the door of that prison.
The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them,
and then, become a story-teller."
These words by writer and activist, Rebecca Solnit, offer a description of the therapeutic process I work with. I help people find crowbars they didn't know
they were carrying, find possibility where they only see walls.
|
I work with folks of all genders, orientations, & walks of life.
I use an empowering, compassionate & non-pathologizing approach that aims to help people recover their innate capacities for aliveness, connection & transformation.
Alongside my Master of Arts degree in Counselling Psychology from Adler University, I have obtained additional clinical training in IFS therapy, narrative therapy, mindfulness and compassion-based therapies, trauma therapy, relationship therapy, and sex therapy. However — official training aside — I learned most of what I know from my own life experiences and my decades-long dedication to my own therapy/healing journey. I am also deeply indebted to the wisdom of each and every youth I worked with at Peak House, an all-genders residential treatment centre for youth who are struggling with substance misuse.
Those I've worked with have told me I create a safe, non-judgmental space where they feel fully seen. My style is genuine, relational, philosophical yet playful. |
Just like naturopathic medicine believes that the body knows how to restore itself to health, I believe that each psyche carries within it the wisdom that it needs.
The role of therapy, then, is to help people access that wisdom, to uncover it from the rubble and noise. The primary modality I use in order to facilitate this is IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy a.k.a parts work founded by Dr. Richard Schwartz. IFS is an evidence-based, emergent method of psychotherapy that is becoming widely known for its transformative results. I have trained extensively in this method and continually undergo my own IFS therapy.
The IFS approach involves turning inward with compassion and greeting the many "parts" we all carry inside ourselves. The process begins with a 'befriending' process of getting to know your parts, and coming to respect and appreciate how your intrapsychic system is organized according to often-brilliant adaptations to early experiences in your life. With gentleness, curiosity, and permission, IFS then begins to 'update' your system to the present so your "parts" can be what they yearn to be (helpful inner resources), rather than who they became when they were burdened by difficult past experiences (personal and intergenerational).
Often the parts of us we come to therapy to change or 'fix' are simply parts of us that are trying desperately to protect us in the only way they learned how to do so.
Once this is witnessed, these "protectors" often relax, resulting in shifts that are felt in our minds and bodies as increased spaciousness, agency, and clarity in our lives.
To me, therapy is more than just treating problems; I feel it is an honour and privilege to help people transmute pain and suffering into growth and wisdom.
I know this is possible because I have experienced it myself.
The role of therapy, then, is to help people access that wisdom, to uncover it from the rubble and noise. The primary modality I use in order to facilitate this is IFS (Internal Family Systems) therapy a.k.a parts work founded by Dr. Richard Schwartz. IFS is an evidence-based, emergent method of psychotherapy that is becoming widely known for its transformative results. I have trained extensively in this method and continually undergo my own IFS therapy.
The IFS approach involves turning inward with compassion and greeting the many "parts" we all carry inside ourselves. The process begins with a 'befriending' process of getting to know your parts, and coming to respect and appreciate how your intrapsychic system is organized according to often-brilliant adaptations to early experiences in your life. With gentleness, curiosity, and permission, IFS then begins to 'update' your system to the present so your "parts" can be what they yearn to be (helpful inner resources), rather than who they became when they were burdened by difficult past experiences (personal and intergenerational).
Often the parts of us we come to therapy to change or 'fix' are simply parts of us that are trying desperately to protect us in the only way they learned how to do so.
Once this is witnessed, these "protectors" often relax, resulting in shifts that are felt in our minds and bodies as increased spaciousness, agency, and clarity in our lives.
To me, therapy is more than just treating problems; I feel it is an honour and privilege to help people transmute pain and suffering into growth and wisdom.
I know this is possible because I have experienced it myself.
