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I began my career working with kids in foster care and group homes.  It was extremely challenging work and I found myself feeling overwhelmed and frustrated often in those early days.  Many of the families I was working with were struggling with addiction and mental health issues and I often felt as though I was not equipped to help them.  This inadequacy drove my initial decision to further my education.  I attended a Social Work Program and quickly moved to Sociology and Psychology as majors.  I studied the systems I was working within.  The families and individuals I was working with were making more sense to me, however I found that working on the front line really limited my ability to move people toward a solution.  I made a career change and delved into the world of addiction treatment.  I began my Graduate education the same year I started working in an adolescent treatment centre.  This was to date the biggest learning curve I had encountered.  I saw and was part of working with the family dynamics that are created around addiction and the impact on all family members when people enter serious addiction.  I loved the work and felt blessed to be working in an atmosphere where people got well and were able to change.  I learned that addiction is a family disease and that treating it involved a systemic approach.  I also learned that no matter how hard we work at treating this condition it is a chronic disease and I learned about loss and disappointment.

My Ph.D. began at another point in my career where I felt "in over my head".  This was with young adults facing concurrent mental health problems and addiction.  I had clients that were sober and still struggling with debilitating mental health problems.  It became very apparent to me that if I was to help these young people I needed to understand this experience and how to adapt treatment to fit their needs.  My research during my doctoral work focused on this and I interviewed a group of young people dealing with both mental health problems and addiction.  I found out what I was doing that was helpful and what I was doing that provoked their symptoms.  I was inspired by their bravery and learned a great deal about acceptance.

After the completion of my Ph.D. I went on to work at other treatment centres and attempted to bring the knowledge I had gained through the work I describe to programming that I developed with these centres.  I continue to learn from those I work with and my amazing and colourful colleagues.  I provide supervision and consultation to therapists working on addiction designations and also continue to attend groups that support my growth both personally and professionally.

In order to maintain my own personal and professional integrity I learned that I must work hard on the principals and values that my profession strives to bring to our clients.  This meant that I began to receive professional supervision and support through my colleagues and this marked the beginning of another important part of my career development - supervision and collegial support.

The last leg of my journey has been licensing as a psychologist.  This has allowed me to expand my practice and to work with many different populations.  At this time I primarily work with adults and see many people who are dealing with major transitions and relationship challenges.  Anxiety and depression affect many of my clients and I have developed an interest and passion for working with trauma.  I practice EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) and have had the privilege of working with many brave souls.  I continue to be inspired by my work and the people I have the pleasure of meeting everyday.

I use an eclectic approach as a therapist and introduce various modalities for the most helpful, therapeutic outcomes in therapy.  I believe in the importance  of a therapeutic relationship and help my clients become emotionally and spiritually connected and present.  I use Solution Focused techniques, art therapy, body awareness, breathing, mindfulness and grounding to help clients develop coping resources.

In time, clients develop the self confidence they need to start exploring the life issues that have been intimidating and difficult to face.  I work with my clients to help them develop therapeutic goals, improve their current living situations, develop inner resources, skill building, self esteem and boundaries.

Every case is approached using a bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessment and then, depending on the needs of my client I develop a treatment plan in collaboration with them.

In therapy I use a variety of approaches:  Emotionally focused therapy, Solution focused approaches, Cognative Behavioural approaches, Mindfulness techniques, Narrative and Bowenian approaches.  I am influenced by the work of Attachment theorists and believe that early traumas have an impact on brain development, and therfore our ability to cope.

Therapy must be a safe place to uncover painful truths about ourselves and to begin navigating a new way of living in the world.

I have worked in the addiction field for over 20 years and have a great passion for the work.  Watching people walk from hopelessness and despair into recovery is very rewarding.  The field has grown tremendously during my career.  We have come from very limited knowledge regarding what addiction actually means to having a robust literature and research base to draw from.  Understanding the neuro-psychological basis of addiction has opened many doors over the years and has helped countless people enter into recovery with understanding and self-forgiveness. When we become addicted early in our lives we often post pone emotional development, sometimes until adulthood.  This translates into behaviour that does not always make sense to the world around us.  We are children in adult bodies trying to resolve wounded histories.  In this process we are often re-creating past traumas and accumulating wreckage.

Dealing with addiction means rebuilding.  This is a long process that takes commitment and often involves coordinating various forms of treatment practices.  I approach addiction from a multifaceted and eclectic framework.  This means that at the outset I do a thorough assessment that gathers information about family of origin, trauma, physical injuries, spiritual beliefs, education and career, mental health and relationship patterns.  Therapy moves towards regaining relationships and replacing unhealthy belief systems with self empowerment and support structures.  I incorporate group work, 12 Step support and coordinate care with other mental health professionals.

DEPRESSION

We are more familiar with stories of depression in our media today and the world is beginning to understand that for some people depression is a debilitating and suffocating disorder.  Depression is a serious condition that many people suffer with in silence.  Whether this is from denial of our own suffering, which is common, or from our tendency to think mental health is "our fault" many of us don't come forward with depression until it has caused a great deal of difficulty in our lives.  There is hope for people struggling with depression and therapy is often an integral part of this.If you are experiencing any of the following, please reach out for help:

• An inability to follow through with commitments.
• Feelings of hopelessness that can be felt physically and prevent you from participating in relationships.
• Persistent sadness that seems to descend on you.
• Flat mood that sometimes is experienced as "numbness".
• No interest in activities that previously brought you pleasure.
• Loss of sex drive.
• Weight gain or loss.
• Unexplained physical complaints.
• Thoughts of suicide.

Anxiety

Individuals struggling with anxiety disorders experience excessive fear and anxiety.  Anxiety is the anticipation of danger.  Consequently when we live in an anxious state our body and mind moves into an aroused or hypervigillent state and thoughts of danger and escape become ever present.  In its' more serious forms anxiety can limit us in our lives and interfere with being who we would like to be.  

Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:

• Feeling nervous, restless or tense.
• Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom.
• Having an increased heart rate.
• Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
• Sweating.
• Trembling.
• Feeling weak or tired.
• Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry.