Who I am & My Credentials

Being a therapist is my third career. My first career was in medical science, studying the genetics and endocrinology. My second was being home with my two kids.

I am a fourth generation therapist, which may explain why I it took so long for me to find my way home. I didn’t want to go someone else’s path, and I didn’t think I would be as capable. I didn’t think I was a ‘people person’.

Supporting others through therapy comes down on my maternal side. My mother is an Artist and an Arts therapist, her mother was an Occupational therapist, and her grandmother was a ‘Village Healer’. People came to my great great grandmother to talk and buy healing herbs from her garden.

I offer free consultations

I am a white settler on native land. I was born with material wellness; a house, cars, never having to go hungry or miss birthday presents. I grew up with caring adults, and access to two by-most-standards healthy parents. I was born in a country that gave me free education, and I lived freely in democratic peace. I never had to experience the trauma, rage or resentment of ancestors that were forced off their land, their culture, their language.

I was born in Northern Europe (Sweden) and became an immigrant to Canada as an adult. I come here not to live, but to do my Post-Doc (in genomics), and mostly to play and explore. I did not intend to meet my husband, have children, and fall in love with this land, these people. I’m glad I did.

I am neurodivergent (ND), was born to an ND parent, and I parent kids that are ND. Being neurodivergent in a neutotypical (NT) world means that we live with an invisible disability. As a result of trying to fit within the ‘normalcy standard’ I have suffered a couple of fairly big burnouts. I can be so highly capable, and I easily push myself beyond what is good for me.

As a family, we have learned to live well by accepting our shortcomigs, celebrating our differences and honing our sometimes magnificent and remarkable talents. One outcome of my neurodivergence is that I need a lot of time to be creative, and to take care of my wellbeing.

I do my own therapy, and I receive supervision to better myself as a therapist. For me, therapy is a lifestyle.

I personal experience of medical trauma, sexual harassment, emotional and financial family/ partner abuse. In my ancestry we find a history of alcohol abuse, and religious trauma.

I am monogamous and queer. My kids are queer, and we celebrate love in all forms, colours, and shapes. I am a single mother, thriving in a collective household.

I have personal experience of marital separation, both as a child and as a parent. I am a living example that separation does not have to be heavy on our kids. I co-parent 50%, and lived in a nesting household for many years (me and the father of my kids took turns moving in and out of the house where the kids stayed put). I see myself as part of a blended family, with step-children and multi-nuclear households.

MY CREDENTIALS

• I am a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC) since August 2019, Master Therapeutic Counsellor (MTC) since September 2024, and Registered Counselling Supervisor (RCS) since November 2024. I hold these designations in good standing with the Association for Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada (ACCT), and my registration number is #2576.

• I have a Diploma in Transpersonal Therapeutic Counselling from Clearmind Institute, with additional training in Psychology at Kristianstad University and Lifelong Developmental Attachment Psychology at Jönköping University

• Before I became a therapist I acquired a Masters Degree in Biomedical Sciences (MSc, 1996) and a Doctorate Degree (PhD, 2001) in Medical Sciences (Genetics of Type II Diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome)

• I have additional training in:

  • Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy (EFT): Externship (2019) and Core Skills (2021)

  • Emotionally-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT, 2021)

  • Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (2020-2023)

  • Co-Regulatory Touch Therapy, Module 1 (2024) with Kathy Kain

  • Relational Life Therapy (RLT, 2024), Terry Real

  • Biodynamic Breathwork Trauma Release (BBTR, 2024)

  • Pranayama Breathwork Practice (2024)

• Even though I am not required to, I get continued Supervision on my work, because I know it improves my work to sometimes get input from other professionals when something limits how I am perceiving things. I tend to rely on my long-term supervisors, Veronica Kallos-Lily (Vancouver Couples and Family institute) and Craig Wanless (Benchmark Counselling).

• If you want to take a look at my full CV, I try to keep my LinkedIn Profile up to date.

MY belieFS

• Honouring The Land and honouring the Mother who birthed us is a practice that keeps us humble. The soil, the plants, the water nurture and feed us, both emotionally and physically. We are part of a cycle, and our health cannot be separated from that of our physical and social environment.

• Consent is an ongoing and essential part of anything we participate in. Consent is not compatible with any form of pressure, intimidation, oppression, or abuse. Actively attending to where we may not be partaking willingly and from our heart is a part of how I work and live.

• Honesty is a core value of mine. This does not mean sharing everyting, but sharing what is important for the relationship. We notice we did not share enough when we have to start to whthhold parts of ourselves. We notice we shared too much when the other is having trouble holding the information in a healthy way.

• Gratitude is what makes us happy. Not the toxic positivity kind, but noticing what we truly are grateful for, in this very moment.

• We find healing in Nature and in animals, because they don’t hold on to trauma the way humans do. Unhealthy shame is one thing that keeps human trauma in place.

• Trauma lives in our psyche, in our emotional structure, and in the body. We can trust the wisdom of the body. We just have to remind it how to access the natural healing capacity that lives in all of nature, and all of us.