Beginnings

After finishing my undergraduate degree in psychology/sociology at the University of Alberta, I went on to complete a masters degree in psychotherapy and spirituality at the University of Alberta’s affiliated St. Stephen’s College before registering as a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). Upon graduating, I accepted a role as a Counsellor for Strathcona County Family and Community Services’ grant-funded Engaging Men and Boys in the Prevention of Family Violence program. Within this role I worked with adult men in both individual and group psychotherapy settings, focusing on themes of emotional awareness and healthy masculinity.

At the end of the grant funding, I transitioned to a Counsellor working for Strathcona County’s Walk-in Counselling program, where I was able to provide solution-focused counselling services to the general population of Strathcona County. This opportunity provided me with a broad range of psychotherapy experience while continuing to lead a men’s psychotherapy group.

Private Practice

At present, I provide therapy for adult individuals with a broad range of presenting concerns, with a special interest in healthy masculinity, grief and loss, trauma, anxiety, depression, relationships, and life transitions.

I have found that each of these life experiences, along with other concerns people bring with them to therapy, tends to reflect an encounter of oneself within the fundamental givens of existence. My therapeutic work therefore enters into the conversation of such givens to explore how one finds themselves amidst such experiences. To journey towards a deepening of one’s acceptance of their self and existence reflects my orientation to my psychotherapeutic work.

Theoretical Approach

Theoretically, I am primarily informed by existential-humanistic and analytical psychology traditions. I tend to orient myself to my clients through a lens of freedom, experiential reflection, and responsibility for the creation of meaning and one’s experience of their existence. My approach also emphasizes a here-and-now, relational focus, where I assume that an exploration of the therapist∞client relationship—and how it is experienced in the therapy room—can offer deep insights into the client’s experience of themselves in their world and relationships. For this reason, I recognize that each client with whom I work requires their own unique therapeutic approach, and I strive to tend to the important nuances of each therapeutic relationship.

I further acknowledge and place central the nature of the unconscious on the human experience. As we move through life towards a natural course of individuation and wholeness, life disruptions can interfere with this spontaneous psychic process. Psychotherapy can assist with attending to such disruptions and working to integrate unconscious material into our conscious lives, supporting one in their return to the natural unfolding process of psychological development.

FAQs