“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside of us”

~ Rumi

My Story

My childhood was at once very loving and incredibly chaotic.

Growing up in an environment that could be unpredictable, I was always on alert. Always aware of what might upset someone, always conscious of not causing a stir or creating ripples.

Making people happy became a source of safety. If I could keep the peace, be good, make things easy for those around me, life went more smoothly. People pleasing became one of my greatest talents.

Unfortunately, the thing that helped me navigate childhood also became the thing that caused me the most difficulty as an adult. I didn’t feel safe if people were upset with me. People not liking me was devastating. I would spend hours dissecting social interactions, going over things I said or didn’t say.

Things got worse when my daughter was born. All the underlying fears - of being not good enough, of getting it wrong, of letting people down - that I had managed to control throughout the years were amplified by the prospect of being a parent. Of not being good enough for her. Of getting it wrong with her. Of letting her down.

I wanted to be the mother I knew I could be.

And so I turned inward. And that journey took me back to myself. After a lifetime spent focused on what other people thought and felt, what made other people happy, I began to consider on my own thoughts and feelings, my own wants and needs. What made me happy.

And as I slowly learned to embrace the parts of me that had been neglected for so long, I realized that giving them space didn’t take away from the space I had for others. I was more present with my loved ones when I was kinder to myself.

Over time, I’m creating new patterns, changing and coming back to myself all at the same time.

Which is, in many ways, what I understand healing to be; a homecoming. A returning to ourselves, to our true nature, to the person we are underneath the armour we needed for one leg of the journey.

Pulling on a wealth of professional training and personal experience, I take an integrative approach to therapy to help clients find their way back to themselves.

My Why

Because we all deserve to opportunity to heal our trauma and not pass on our hurts to others.

My Philosophy

I used to believe in the “fix it” model of therapy. There was something wrong with me, and I needed a doctor or a therapist to fix it. There was something wrong with my clients, and I worked tirelessly to try to fix it.

It wasn’t until I engaged in my own inner work and furthered my clinical training that I realized the “fix it” attitude was as much a part of the problem as whatever I had thought needed to be fixed. Because ultimately, our humanity doesn’t want to be fixed. It wants to be witnessed.

I have learned that change happens, but not by fixing. Over and over again, I see that my clients only start to heal once the hurts have been heard and witnessed.

So I no longer focus on fixing, because you’re not broken. I focus on seeing what’s been invisible, hearing what’s been silenced and giving space to what’s been pushed away. Because that’s where I believe true healing and real change happens.

My Career

My career as a therapist grew out of a lifelong interest in human connection, creativity, and service to others. The path that led me here travelled through acting, yoga and finally to getting my Masters in Social Work from the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work at the University of Toronto. I am registered with the Ontario College for Social Workers and spent the early part of my career in social service and healthcare settings.

As I progressed in my career, I developed a special interest in trauma and all the ways it manifests in our everyday lives, from the big and obvious to the more subtle and insidious, as it was for me. That interest inspired me to pursue training in a variety of integrative modalities, such as EMDR, Somatic Therapy and Internal Family Systems, which I find to be the most effective with helping my clients change patterns and find harmony in their systems.

I work with individuals struggling with childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, social anxiety, parenting and burnout.