SPECIALTIES

INTEGRATED SERVICES

How can I help?

When your child or teen is struggling, it’s hard to know where to turn for help. You’ve come to the right place. I specialize in supporting children and youth to navigate life’s difficulties through a lens of empathy and compassionate guidance. I’ve designed my services to build the capacity to reframe life’s challenges into growth opportunities. This approach enables children and youth to build strength and resiliency that can serve them throughout their lives.

Child and Youth Counselling

Many children and teens experience things that negatively impact their sense of well-being as they grow up. This can include – but is not limited to – bullying, loss of a loved one, divorce, neglect or physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Childhood grief and trauma can lead to troubling and even dangerous behaviour. And when left unresolved, it can become a pervasive and debilitating shame, fear and guilt that leads to ongoing challenges in adulthood. 

In my work with young people who have had these kinds of experiences, I work to earn a trusted relationship through genuine empathy for their stories. Rather than offer advice,  I walk alongside them, assuring them that:

  • they are seen and heard 
  • their experiences matter
  • ownership of their pain is the key to inner transformation

Through the process, my goal is to empower my clients to become their own therapists, able to identify dysfunctional thoughts and triggers and manage their emotions in positive and healthy ways.

Deciphering Dyslexia

While dyslexia is simply a difference in how the brain is wired, that is not the message that most children and teens with dyslexia get or internalize. Rather than being encouraged to celebrate their unique neurological strengths, they feel shame and label themselves as failures. These feelings can persist and twist. The frustration of prolonged failure on a young person can have profound and lasting effects.

In my work with dyslexic children and teens, I focus on overcoming these hurtful labels, choosing instead to look at dyslexia through a more positive lens. We work together to:

  • decipher what dyslexia is
  • reframe dyslexia as a difference, not a weakness or disability
  • focus on what a person with dyslexia CAN do
  • build genuine self-esteem
  • nurture skills to self-advocate within systems that don’t accommodate them

I work to empower and educate parents, as they are the key to their child’s success, sense of self-worth and optimism for the future. I also advocate for children and teens with their teachers and schools.

Psychoeducational Assessment

Taking a child-centred approach to identifying learning differences and appropriate recommendations can have a long-term impact on self-worth and success. This service is coming soon.