My background

Work Experience

I have been in full-time private practice since July 2016.

From 2012 to 2016 I was Lead Social Worker at Taddle Creek Family Health Team here in Toronto. I supervised a team of mental health counsellors. Our specialties included anxiety, depression and trauma.

From 2000 - 2012 I worked as a psychotherapist at the Women`s Health Centre of St. Joseph`s Health Centre in Toronto. The Women’s Health Centre offered counseling and psychotherapy to women survivors of interpersonal trauma, specifically partner abuse, childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, or war or refugee based trauma.

Prior to this I worked as a psychotherapist affiliated with shelters for abused women. I have also worked at a Sexual Assault Centre in Montreal in many capacities including as a psychotherapist, as co-ordinator of a 24-hour crisis line, and as a hospital emergency room sexual assault crisis counsellor.

I have worked at an addictions treatment centre, as a manager of a counselling program at a university, as a manager of an intergenerational literacy program, and finally as a manager of a Women’s Centre.

Education

Master of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec 1997
Thesis: Empowering Abused Women as Mothers
Placement: McGill Domestic Violence Clinic, work with victims and perpetrators
Bachelor of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec 1996
Master of Arts, Sociology (coursework), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland 1993
Bachelor of Arts, Sociology & Women’s Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario 1989

Intensive Psychotherapy Training

2020-2021: Internal Family Systems Level 1, Kay Gardiner and Kathy Cox
May 2020: Attachment Strategies for Adult Relationships, Dr. Diane Poole Heller
2019: Clinical Supervision Training for Supervising Psychotherapists, Dr. Augustine Meier
2018: Hakomi Psychotherapy: Year long training
2017-2018: Internal Family Systems Skills & Competencies, Derek Scott, Toronto
April and July 2017: The Heart Of Trauma: Healing Our Embodied Brains in the Context of Relationships, Immersion in Interpersonal Neurobiology, Bonnie Badenoch, Vancouver, Washington
2016 : Incubated in Rhythm: Moving with the Tempo of Our Inner World, Sand Tray Therapy & Trauma Training: Sand Tray Institute of New Mexico, Theresa Kestly and Bonnie Badenoch
March 2015 : Mindful Self-compassion Intensive Training, Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, Kripalu, Massachusetts
2011-2013 : Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level Two, Attachment, Development & Trauma
2010-2011: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level One, Training for the Treatment of Trauma
2003: EMDR "Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing" Level One, by Sue Fraser
2003: Psychotherapy Training for the Dissociative Disorders by Dr. Claire Pain, at Mount Sinai Hospital through the auspices of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation

Other Trainings

Jan 2024: Embracing the Spiritual Gifts of Age, Pacifica Institute
Nov. 2022: Connie Zweig , The Inner Work of Age: Becoming a Good Ancestor
May 2022: Cece Sykes, Compassion for the Addictive Process: An IFS Lens
April 2022: Feeding Your Demons, Tsultrim Allione, Upaya Zen Centre
February 2022: Patricia Rich: Self-Led Sexuality
December 2021: David Stern: Everything Carries the Light: An Exploration of the Nature of Self and Self to Parts
March 2021: Janina Fisher, IFS Therapeutic Guide to Understanding Trauma & Dissociation
2021: Soma Soul, Levan Institute for Expressive Movement
Sept, 2020: Susan McConnell, Navigating Our Relationships during the Pandemic with Somatic Practices
2020 : Bob Falconer, IFS & Free Standing Burdens
2020: Einat Avni Bronstein, Legacy Burdens
2020: Michelle Glass, Daily Parts Meditation
2019: Frank Anderson, IFS & Trauma, Leading Edge
Fall 2018: Deidre Fay: Attachment Based Yoga and Meditation for Trauma Recovery
June 2018: Bessel Vanderkolk , Trauma, Memory and the Restoration of One’s Way
2016: Narcissism and Infidelity: An Integrative Approach: Terry Real and Esther Perel
2016: Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Sue Johnson
2015: DBT Intensive

Program Assistant Experience

2021-2022 : IFS Level 1 with Kay Gardiner and Terri Dalton
2021: IFS Level 1 with Paul Ginter and Terri Dalton
2013-2015: Sensorimotor Level 1, assisted three times