Counselling and psychotherapy are both ways of helping people through life's challenges, and the words are often used interchangeably. The main difference is the process and purpose of the work.

Counselling usually focuses on a specific concern, helping you find support, practical strategies, and ways to cope with a current challenge.

Psychotherapy is a regulated health care service in Ontario. It involves working together to understand how your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, relationships, and life experiences may be affecting your well-being. The goal is not only to reduce distress but also to foster meaningful and lasting change. Psychotherapy can help with concerns such as anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties, grief, and other emotional or mental health challenges.

As a Registered Psychotherapist, I provide psychotherapy in a way that is collaborative, respectful, and tailored to address what’s most pressing to you. Whether we meet for a single session or over a longer period of time, our conversations are focused on assisting you to move toward the life you want to live.

It’s a confidential space for you to share as much or as little as you like of your story. We’ll focus on what is most pressing for you. It’s a conversational time, in everyday language, but I ask questions to learn from you what you are facing, what you want different, and about your skills and abilities. You will leave with different ways of thinking about things or with ideas that fit for you to try out .

I work with children, youth, and adults of all genders as well as families.

Some of the experiences therapy can address include:

Stress, anxiety/worry, depression

Anger, shame, guilt, sense of failure

Grief, death, loss, and change

Parenthood, caregiving challenges

Attention, focus, concentration

Work, career and financial pressure

Alcohol, drug use and addiction

Isolation, loneliness and life transitions

Identity, meaning and dreams

Trauma - acute, chronic and complex

However, every story is different. You might just feel off. You may not know what you want to address and that’s okay, we can figure it out. There’s nothing to lose by giving it a try.

What makes my approach different?

I bring over 30 years of experience working in the community mental health sector, supporting children, youth, adults, and families through a wide range of life challenges.

My approach is grounded in brief, collaborative psychotherapy, including single-session therapy and narrative practices. This means we focus on what is most important to you right now, while also making space for your strengths, values, and the ways you’ve already been responding to difficulties.

Rather than seeing therapy as something I “do” to you, I see it as something we do together. You are the expert in your own life. My role is to assist in making sense of what you’re experiencing, notice what is already helping (even in small ways), and open up new possibilities for change.

I pay close attention to stories—how problems affect your life, and also how you have responded to them, resisted them, and continued to move forward. Many people find this helps them see themselves and their situation in a new and more hopeful way.

Sessions are guided by your priorities. Sometimes that means a single focused conversation that brings clarity or direction. Other times it may be an ongoing process of reflection and change. Either way, we move at a pace that feels right for you.

Online therapy works very well for some but not everyone. It’s a chance to meet from the comfort of home but it’s important to set things up well.

• You’ll need a private space where you won’t be overheard or people won’t walk in on you.

• The internet needs to be reliable

• You need a camera but it’s not mandatory to have it on.

• Importantly too, all devices should be set to ‘do not disturb’ because we want the focus that your concerns deserve.

I am required to create a progress note archiving the theme of our talks. My preference is to collaborate on these notes, doing them together as we talk. I do my best to get your words and will check in with you, from time to time, to ensure you are okay with what I’m writing. This is called concurrent, collaborative documentation. I take great care to store these notes securely within my database. You are always welcome to view them and I follow all requirements for destroying them.