My Story

The first nine years of my career were spent working with children and their caregivers, addressing various challenges in the home, school, and community, ranging from behavioral issues such as ADHD/ADD/ODD, to family deployment, injuries, separations, or death. My experiences have included childhood trauma, working with children and teens, and working with Indigenous Communities in B.C and Ontario. I am trained in Modified Interaction Guidance, an attachment and resilience-based intervention, and this was my first step towards trauma work.

The remainder of my career was spent working within the criminal justice system where the main methodologies and skills are Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) based. There I also used psychoeducation about common mental health concerns, health teaching, along with teaching coping skills.

Due to the heavy and serious topics contained within those roles, I took time off in the past 5 years to gain clarity on my goals as a social worker and to discover the most effective ways to help others. During this time, I delved into more psychodynamic methods of counseling such as Adlerian and Jungian frameworks, which strengthened my understanding of the impact of childhood experiences on our beliefs in the present day.

Currently, my passion and expertise lie within mindfulness and meditation frameworks, and I am a certified meditation coach practitioner. I created a beginner’s program “Learning the Basics of Meditation Through Breath”.  This program is designed for children, youth, and adults in teaching the basics of meditation.  People learn how to reconnect with self, feel more grounded and learn that breath helps regulate the nervous system. I found that mindfulness and/or meditation is a wonderful starting point for anyone seeking mental health care or peace of mind.