Narrative Therapy
Expressive Arts Therapy
Supervision/intervision
Psychedelic Harm Reduction
You don't fit in a box - neither do I...
photography by Mikayla Mazur
Who are you dealing with?
I think you have a right to know a little about who you're talking to before you take the step of deciding to work with them.
I'm a first generation Australian from a non English speaking mixed cultural background (NESB-ian), now based in Vancouver BC. I'm proud of my working class-ness and the all the resourceful authority averse traits that come with it. I'm a white middle aged married bi cis femme.
I trained and lived and breathed theatre and music for many years, with a special interest in new Australian writing, working class stories, and art as activism.
I have a long and complicated relationship with substances (as many arts and cultural workers do), along with mental health challenges. My history of outsiderness and othering has ultimately fortified me and helped me become the professional fringe dweller I am today!
Therapeutic Influences
Rigorous curiosity, broad lived experience, creativity, queerness, ethics rooted in social justice, and a capacity to hold and hear difficult things, combine with my deep love of otherness, & subversiveness to fuel my work.
My approach has developed slowly, sifted through layers of influence beginning with empirical theories of mind & body, followed by humanistic, client centred & transpersonal approaches, then a pause to fold in feminism, queer theory, expressive arts, post modernism, social constructionism and Narrative Therapy, which situates all of the above into a contemporary social and political that is careful not to collude in the pathologising of everything and everyone.
Vancouver Queer Arts Festival 2018
"The phenomenon of personal failure has grown exponentially over recent decades. Never before has the sense of being a failure to be an adequate person been so freely available to people, and never before has it been so willingly and routinely dispensed." Michael White
Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy is a relatively new kid on the therapeutic block. It's more an orientation or way of seeing things, than a prescriptive set of techniques.
It emphasises collaboration over the delivery of expertise, is informed by Feminism, social justice, and considerations of power and privilege, along with a healthy dose of skepticism around the value of pathologizing people and problems through traditional medical model approaches to mental health. Find out more about Narrative Therapy here.
What to expect
You may find yourself engaged in lively conversation, or working with your hands in a quiet contemplative space.
I value authenticity and aim to provide a space where you can be yourself, or a multiplicity of selves.
You'll be able to shape the direction and style of the process to suit your needs, including the length and frequency of our meetings.
Training & Education
A graduate of Melbourne University & The Dulwich Centre's Masters program in Narrative Therapy & Community Work, I also hold a BA in psychology, BA Hons, in drama (performance), an Advanced Diploma in Transpersonal Art Therapy, and certification as a clinical supervisor.
I'm currently a grad student at the Uni of Ottawa program in Psychedelic Studies & Spirituality. I hope to always be learning.
Click on the LinkedIn icon below for my pre-counselling exploits.