In over 30 years working with people in a therapeutic setting, my focus has been on supporting people who struggle with overwhelm, stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, change and transitions to feel more connected to their lives and to thrive.
Clients often come to see me feeling overwhelmed and stressed, sometimes expressing that they feel they have lost themselves in relationships, abuse, divorce, their careers, family, or addictions. Sometimes clients have experienced a traumatic event that they feel has a grip on their lives. Clients may be experiencing physical symptoms of stress, including problems with sleep, nightmares, digestive distress. Many of my clients experienced childhood struggles such as complicated divorce or grief, neglectful, abusive, or absent parents, bullying, and other difficult and unsupportive environments.
With a gentle but direct approach, I collaborates with my clients to explore patterns, learn skills to manage emotions, thoughts and sensations, recover resilience, change their relationship with themselves, and practice new relationship skills. I also offers support for the family members of those with mental health concerns, and works to encourage sustainability for practitioners in caring professions, high stress jobs, and who may be experiencing burnout, trauma, vicarious traumatization as a result of their work.
While my counselling orientation is informed by a wide range of theoretical frameworks, my main clinical interests focus on how we orient ourselves to a sense of safety in ourselves and in the world. My training includes Polyvagal theory, Psychodynamic work, CBT, EMDR, Brainspotting, Attachment theory, Narrative Therapy, and of course Art Therapy, as well as many other influences gathered over the years. Together with my clients, I carefully and creatively incorporate elements of healing conversations, creative expression, and brain training to support integrated, lasting, and meaningful change.
In addition to my work as a Counsellor, Art Therapist and Neurofeedback Trainer, I am the Founder and Director of East Vancouver Counselling and Blooming Brains Neurofeedback, located in shared offices in the professional suites above the Il Mercato mall on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. East Vancouver Counselling(EVC) was founded in 2016, and Blooming Brains was registered in 2017. Both emerged out of evident need for types of services offered: the EVC team is based on research that shows that collegial supports are strongly associated with sustainability in private practice. Blooming Brains was founded to offer access to a range of supportive technologies that can be used in addition to counselling that can help the nervous system to optimize and offer a range of non-verbal therapies to help promote wellbeing and peak performance.
I have completed a Masters in Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University, and a Graduate Diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. I holds current registrations as a registered clinical counsellor and am a provisionally approved as a clinical supervisor RCC-ACS(Provisional) # 13767 with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC), and am a Professional Art Therapist with the British Columbia Art Therapy Association.
In addition to my credentials, I am a Certified Advanced NeurOptimal® Neurofeedback Trainer, have a Certificate in Addictions Counselling from the Justice Institute, a Certificate in Association Management from the Canadian Society of Association Executives, and I have attended additional training in neuroplasticity, trauma, self-regulation, anxiety, relationships, and much more. She has lectured and presented workshops on Art Therapy, Anxiety, Counsellor Sustainability, and Neurofeedback at agencies across the Lower Mainland, and has been Clinical Supervisor to several programs in Metro Vancouver.
Clients often come to see me feeling overwhelmed and stressed, sometimes expressing that they feel they have lost themselves in relationships, abuse, divorce, their careers, family, or addictions. Sometimes clients have experienced a traumatic event that they feel has a grip on their lives. Clients may be experiencing physical symptoms of stress, including problems with sleep, nightmares, digestive distress. Many of my clients experienced childhood struggles such as complicated divorce or grief, neglectful, abusive, or absent parents, bullying, and other difficult and unsupportive environments.
With a gentle but direct approach, I collaborates with my clients to explore patterns, learn skills to manage emotions, thoughts and sensations, recover resilience, change their relationship with themselves, and practice new relationship skills. I also offers support for the family members of those with mental health concerns, and works to encourage sustainability for practitioners in caring professions, high stress jobs, and who may be experiencing burnout, trauma, vicarious traumatization as a result of their work.
While my counselling orientation is informed by a wide range of theoretical frameworks, my main clinical interests focus on how we orient ourselves to a sense of safety in ourselves and in the world. My training includes Polyvagal theory, Psychodynamic work, CBT, EMDR, Brainspotting, Attachment theory, Narrative Therapy, and of course Art Therapy, as well as many other influences gathered over the years. Together with my clients, I carefully and creatively incorporate elements of healing conversations, creative expression, and brain training to support integrated, lasting, and meaningful change.
In addition to my work as a Counsellor, Art Therapist and Neurofeedback Trainer, I am the Founder and Director of East Vancouver Counselling and Blooming Brains Neurofeedback, located in shared offices in the professional suites above the Il Mercato mall on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. East Vancouver Counselling(EVC) was founded in 2016, and Blooming Brains was registered in 2017. Both emerged out of evident need for types of services offered: the EVC team is based on research that shows that collegial supports are strongly associated with sustainability in private practice. Blooming Brains was founded to offer access to a range of supportive technologies that can be used in addition to counselling that can help the nervous system to optimize and offer a range of non-verbal therapies to help promote wellbeing and peak performance.
I have completed a Masters in Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University, and a Graduate Diploma in Art Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. I holds current registrations as a registered clinical counsellor and am a provisionally approved as a clinical supervisor RCC-ACS(Provisional) # 13767 with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC), and am a Professional Art Therapist with the British Columbia Art Therapy Association.
In addition to my credentials, I am a Certified Advanced NeurOptimal® Neurofeedback Trainer, have a Certificate in Addictions Counselling from the Justice Institute, a Certificate in Association Management from the Canadian Society of Association Executives, and I have attended additional training in neuroplasticity, trauma, self-regulation, anxiety, relationships, and much more. She has lectured and presented workshops on Art Therapy, Anxiety, Counsellor Sustainability, and Neurofeedback at agencies across the Lower Mainland, and has been Clinical Supervisor to several programs in Metro Vancouver.
Wild Geese
By Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile, the world goes on.
Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
In the family of things.
|
|
|
|