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My Approach
My Approach
To facilitate deep healing and lasting change, I utilize an integrated approach grounded in somatic, trauma-informed, and antagonism-informed principles. This means we specifically address the impact of difficult, adversarial, or exploitative relationships and dynamics on your sense of self and safety.
I work with evidence-based tools, including DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and parts work. I am also 12 Step Informed and Experienced, recognizing the deep wisdom found in these principles and also the struggles of being a part of those programs.
My focus is on helping you regulate emotions, come into the present moment, identify what you're feeling and where these feelings are coming from, reprocess pain and build sustainable new patterns with new tools for coping and behaving.
We move at your pace, gently transforming pain into purpose and strength by equipping you with effective strategies and tools alongside generous amounts of self-love, compassion, and understanding.
Reaching out takes immense courage, and you deserve to feel safe, seen, and supported as you heal, reconnect with your body and your sense of wholeness, and realize that Post Traumatic Growth is truly possible.
My Approach to Recovery & The 12 Steps
My Approach to Recovery & The 12 Steps
Bridging Therapy & The 12 Steps I believe that while the Steps save lives, deep trauma work saves your recovery. Many of my clients are active members of 12 Step fellowships (such as SLAA, CODA, AA, NA, S-Anon, ACoA and Al-Anon) who are ready to go deeper than a sponsor can take them.
Being "12-Step Literate" means I understand your language: from "qualifiers" and "acting out" to the importance of "bottom and top lines." You don't have to explain the program to me. Instead, we can focus immediately on healing the nervous system dysregulation and wounds that drive the addiction or codependent behaviour. My goal is to help you build the internal safety needed to maintain your boundaries and your serenity.
Option for Faith Based Counselling
Option for Faith Based Counselling
As a therapist, my focus is always on your whole person; your physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. My personal journey has been deeply formative and I understand the immense value of a spiritual path in the healing process.
If you are faith-based and wish to integrate your Christian beliefs, the Bible or prayer into our work, I am honored and delighted to include this as part of your journey toward wholeness.
If you are not faith-based, have experienced hurt in religious settings, or follow another form of spirituality, I deeply respect your background and life philosophy. We will work in a way that is entirely client-led, honoring your beliefs and focusing only on the tools and concepts that resonate with you as you seek to connect with your Core Self and find your calm center.
My promise is to meet you exactly where you are and provide support for you in a way that truly honors your unique beliefs and life journey.
My Story
My Story
From Internal Conflict to Self-Compassion
From Internal Conflict to Self-Compassion
Growing up on a farm in Delta, BC, I was shaped by the rhythms of the land, the soil, and a deep respect for creation. Yet, the dysfunction present in my family environment required me to develop sophisticated coping mechanisms just to survive. While I carried a strong sensitivity, this same trait meant that external pain and difficulty could easily overwhelm my whole internal system.
The Conflict and Disconnection
The Conflict and Disconnection
As I moved through my young adult years, I sought purpose and healing through various spiritual and personal growth paths. Yet, this seeking often became a way for my inner critics and driven protectors, the achievers, the people-pleasers, and the relentless, to take over. I chased external validation and "success" and pushed myself to burnout, leaving me disconnected from my Core Self and others.
Looking back, I felt lost and fragmented, driven by deeper, often hidden feelings carrying quiet grief and invisible wounds that I didn't know how to reach or love. I was desperately trying to keep my head above water while being controlled by the very internal forces trying to protect me from getting hurt again.
The Breakthrough
The Breakthrough
Then, everything changed. I had a breakthrough experience with my creator, a moment of profound unconditional love and acceptance, that bypassed the noise of my survival patterns. For the first time, I felt my inherent self-worth and love, I was fully seen and understood. It was a realization that shattered many illusions that my protectors held to try to keep me safe but in reality they were keeping me stuck and actually not safe at all.
This insight sparked a deep deconstruction and reconstruction of my life and beliefs. I went through this process multiple times, it was very humbling to say the least! It was about an intimate relationship with the profound and a gentle, ongoing process of Re-Alignment. I began learning how to understand and comfort the stressed, protective parts, and welcome the wounded, hidden feelings home with acceptance.
The Journey of Wholeness and Calling
The Journey of Wholeness and Calling
This journey taught me a fundamental truth: Most of us are just doing the best that we can with the tools and knowledge we currently have. Every behavior and action makes perfect sense when you understand the context of one’s life, culture, relationships, difficulties, traumas, and background. What felt like "too much" was simply my system's attempt to keep me safe.
Today, the journey is much more calm and connected. It's an ongoing practice of returning to the Core Self, but I now carry immense self-compassion, love, and acceptance for the difficult-to-love inner feelings; the fearful, the angry, the sad, and the shame-carrying parts.
I’ve answered the call to guide others through this same process. Through trauma, somatic and attachment informed approaches that recognize the wisdom of your internal world, I create a safe, non-judgmental space for you to heal emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. My passion is supporting you to hear the wisdom of your experiences, heal your fragmentation, and come home to the Core of who you truly are; a place of inherent wholeness, regardless of your past.
You are not too much. Your patterns make sense. You can find peace in the internal and external conflict. You are loved. Let’s walk this healing journey together, toward your own path of peace and radical self-acceptance.
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