My Specialties

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from different treatment approaches. EMDR therapy is an integrative psychotherapy and uses a technique called bilateral stimulation to repeatedly activate opposite sides of the brain. Therapists often use eye movements to facilitate the bilateral stimulation. These eye movements mimic the period of sleep referred to as rapid eye movement or REM sleep, and this portion of sleep is frequently considered to be the time when the mind processes the recent events in the person’s life.

Trauma Treatment

Emotional and psychological trauma can result from extraordinarily stressful events that undermine your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world. Any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed, unprotected and isolated can result in trauma, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized. 

Trauma can cause a person to live with deep emotional pain, fear, confusion, or posttraumatic stress far after the event has passed and can result in depression, anxiety or anger. Healing from trauma is supported and accelerated with the guidance and assistance of a therapist.

Relational

We are wounded in relationship and we heal in relationship. Therapeutic Alliance refers to the relationship between the client and the therapist that constitutes a laboratory for exploration, healing, and experiencing new ways of being. This can be seen as “having the right fit” or “clicking’ with your therapist. Within the safety of the therapeutic relationship,  transformation can occur.

Somatic Awareness and Nervous System Regulation

Our nervous system responds to experiences of safety and stress. Learning to use the awareness of what is happening inside our body can help us understand our responses. This practice unlocks access to an intuitive understanding of what we need and how to regulate and balance ourselves.

Parts of Self

It is normal to experience ourselves in different emotional and mental states. A Parts of Self lens allows us to organize and to come into relationship with various aspects of our experiences in ways that cultivates self-compassion and integration.

Compassionate Inquiry

Compassionate Inquiry gently uncovers and releases the layers of trauma, constriction and suppressed emotion embedded in the body, that are at the root of distress.

Compassion and curiosity allow us to acknowledge and examine traumatic events, recognize the beliefs we internalized, and feel the emotions we suppressed. When we can release ourselves from the hold of these old stories, a new way of being emerges, leading to spontaneity, choice, expansion and freedom.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions, like negative thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes, and their associated undesired behaviours. We target specific problems and develop effective coping strategies to relieve symptoms of distress.

Mindfulness

Often, our biggest worries are about what happened in the past or what will happen in the future. When we are in the present, we gain a fresh perspective on our situation right now and can view our past and future concerns more objectively.

Mindfulness is about being in the present, right now, as it is. We can cultivate mindfulness though practicing simple exercises like breathing and awareness of physical sensations. Mindfulness in our thoughts allows us to learn, understand, and redirect our thoughts to relieve suffering and invite peace.