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The letters behind my name mean I've studied counselling and theatre, and I'm registered as a counsellor (RCC).

 

I have 15 years of experience as a counsellor and over a couple of decades of experience working in mental health. I have had incredible mentors and teachers. I have knit together how I work through a wide variety of life experiences and disciplines along with formal counsellor training.

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What do I do?

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I am able to get to the roots of what doesn't quite feel right, but is often hard to articulate, and with years of experience I can generally help you find a good path there. 

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I can help create lasting pattern change that works from the roots up rather than the leaves down.

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How do I do what I do?

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I would describe my style as warm, down-to-earth, humorous, informed, and inter-disciplinary. You may do things and make changes you didn't know you could because you feel safe, supported and curious. 

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Where am I from?

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I grew up outside of small towns that were outside of small cities in Alberta. I lived for two years in Guatemala.

 

I have lived for about 20 years on the West Coast. I am grateful to live in xwésám (“fat fish” in the shíshálh language; Roberts Creek in English), on the unceded ancestral lands of the shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations. I am attempting and struggling to acknowledge and heal the white body supremacy that lives in me, as a parent, a therapist, a teacher and a community member, so that I can live in good relationship with BIPOC folx and the land. ​

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Brief experience history

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• working with organizations and groups such as RED Academy, THNK School of Creative Leadership, SFU Theatre Department, Vancouver School Board, Energy Trust of Oregon, Naramata Center, Watari Counselling & Support Services, Rhodes Wellness College, SUCCESS Immigration Services, Kingsgate Chorus, Ministry of Children & Family Services, Canadian Mental Health Association, SFU Community Engagement and Chopra Addiction & Wellness Center.

• 15 years experience as a therapist, with prior experience working in mental health + expressive arts.

• teaching and facilitating diverse groups of people, both internationally and nationally, for over 15 years.

• training in theatre, theatre of the oppressed, clown, narrative therapy, group processes and facilitation, somatic-based therapy, and working with trauma. Training through living in various countries, working in various collectives, learning spanish, and various Buddhist meditation practices.

• over a decade of studying under, apprenticing with, and assisting master clown teacher David MacMurray Smith, creator of Fantastic Space Enterprise, who teaches “Personal Transformation and Creative Character Development through Clown” among other body-based creative practices. 

• completing a teacher training course with John Turner of Mump & Smoot (Canada’s well loved clown duo). Studying with various theatre teachers internationally, including Lila Monti in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Deanna Fleysher.

• completion of a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology with a focus on body-based therapy and play.

• creating and performing with an all women’s clown collective, The Assembly.

• Directing, dramaturging and co-creating a clown piece with a clown duo in Vancouver.

• working for 2 years in Central America, first as head of the artistic committee in a clown collective that worked on HIV/AIDS prevention in Guatemala and then in the theatre department of a women’s collective in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.