My Services
As humans beings, we are not meant to navigate suffering and distress by ourselves. Our brains are neurobiologically wired to develop, heal, and thrive within relationships. This is the foundational philosophy from which I work to collaboratively build therapeutic experiences with my clients.
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As a clinician who practices EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, I work collaboratively with clients to identify early memories and experiences which may be causing current challenges, or preventing personal growth. I also draw from orientations such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) in the work I do with clients. I combine all of these therapies in different ways through the lens of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), which lays out a sequence to put therapeutic activities in, and focusses on working with the part of the brain where the greatest need is first.
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*Read more about EMDR Therapy in the Blog section of this website
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I offer counselling for:
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Parenting
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Adoption
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Anxiety
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Dysregulation
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Depression
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PTSD/ Trauma
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Stress and Burnout
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Self-Insight
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Confidence and Self-Esteem
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Relationship Issues
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Grief
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Whatever your unique needs may be
Adoption and Parenting Support
($140/ 50 min. session) ($150/ 50 min. session for 2 parents)
"Parents don't make mistakes because they don't care, but because they care so deeply."
- Dr. T. Berry Brazelton
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As both an adoptive and birth parent, I combine lived experience with my educational background and current research, to provide support to families through a lens which examines and acknowledges the developmental process across the lifespan. By acknowledging parenting as process which is built upon trial and error with the best intentions for our children, I support parents to be gentle with themselves as they reflect upon what they are bringing into their relationships with their kids. This compassionate lens, which views all development as occurring within relationships and is grounded in the late Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints model of Development, is the foundation upon which I provide support for parents to make meaning of the experiences they have in the relationships with their children.
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More specific to Adoption, I support parents in gaining a deeper understanding of what it means developmentally and relationally for a child to join a family, both for the family and the child (all children have a critically important perspective, even as babies). Sometimes, due to adverse circumstances which a child may have experienced in some part of their life, strong survival-based patterns of response may emerge, which new adoptive parents may find both puzzling and challenging to navigate. By investigating and understanding more about the underlying function which these adaptations (eg. refusal and hyperactivity as classic examples) are fulfilling, both parents and other adults in the child's life can respond (vs. react) to the need in a way which acknowledges the "WHY" of this function/ behaviour, and helps adults to take it less personally. As a parent of lived and living experience, I also support parents in navigating the complex caregiving needs of children living with physical and developmental disabilities.
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Parenting is the most rewarding and challenging job we have as human beings, and we were not meant to do it alone. I am here to support you in navigating this journey with your family in a way which collaborates with you as the expert on your child.
Based upon the work of Dr. Bruce Perry, the NMT Metric can be a tool which greatly aids both parents and other providers in compassionately understanding how their children’s brains function, and how to best respond to their needs. The Metric provides a map to sequencing therapeutic activities, by first targeting the areas of the brain which need them the most. This can be greatly beneficial in unifying care teams in their lens and understanding of how best to support a child (especially those with complex needs) and family.
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The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) metric is a semi-structured approach for understanding the brain, based on 20 years of research by Dr. Bruce Perry and his team at the Neurosequential Network. The NMT Metric is being used to assist parents, teachers, clinicians and other professionals to better understand children’s functioning, thereby allowing us to provide developmentally appropriate recommendations for treatment.
The process of creating an NMT metric involves interviews with various people in the child’s life, as well as observing them in different environments in order to gather information about their current functioning and developmental history. With this information, NMT clinicians such as myself are able to assess current brain functioning, and map out both the adverse experiences and relational health throughout a child’s development, showing how these experiences have likely impacted them. An interpretation of the NMT metric will then be shared with the child’s parents/ caregivers and anyone else in the child’s life, whom the caregiver would like to have present. A special debrief of the metric where the child is present, can be adapted when appropriate and requested by caregivers.
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I provide NMT consultation services to individuals, schools, and social services agencies across British Columbia and throughout Canada. Please be in touch with me so I can tell you more about how this process can help you and your family.
As a seasoned presenter and workshop facilitator throughout many community and provincial systems of education, social work, health, and mental health, I can work with your team in learning new strategies and theory which will help you to support clients who live with the most complex needs. As a Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) and Brazelton Touchpoints trainer, I can both train and supervise your staff through a lens of developmental neuroscience and relational practice. These research-based models provide insight into understanding the impacts of trauma on the human brain, and ways in which we can practice more reflectively to better understand the needs of our clients, co-workers, and ourselves.
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I currently supervise and train several community, provincial and territorial teams, including being the co-lead facilitator/consultant in a Yukon territory-wide initiative to support all schools in becoming developmentally-responsive towards the regulation and learning needs of the most complex students.