Feel More Like Yourself
Working One on One
I support adults who feel overwhelmed by the impacts of anxiety, burnout, trauma, and loss. You may know all the things that are ‘supposed to work’ to help you feel better – but you can’t do it alone. (Spoiler alert: that’s because we’re not meant to do this alone. Co-regulation with others is a necessary part of healing and growth.)
You may be on ‘high alert’ or ‘shutdown’ based on past experiences. These patterns developed to protect you, but they come at a cost – burnout, disconnection and isolation. The good news is, you can learn to understand and shift harmful patterns in your thoughts, emotions or behaviours. I can help you feel more like yourself again. I provide guidance for you to master the somatic skills for wellbeing as you keep moving through.
For me, counselling is not a ‘treatment’ or a linear process. It’s a relationship which acts as a mirror and container for you to safely examine your stories, patterns, fears and desires. The work we do together can support you to:
- improve your relationship with yourself and others
- build your self-confidence
- set healthy boundaries
- reduce the impacts of stress and anxiety
- navigate significant career and life transitions
- move toward wholeness after loss, illness, and trauma
How We’ll Get Started
Step by step
1
Step
Schedule a Free 20-Minute Phone Conversation.
This is an opportunity for you to learn more about my approach, and for me to hear some ‘headlines’ about what you are seeking. A live conversation where you get to hear my voice is helpful for you to know if it’s a good fit.
2
Step
Get Oriented to Our Counselling Relationship.
The intake includes reflection questions to get some clarity on your supports and primary concerns. I encourage you to complete this before our first appointment, and we’ll discuss this when we meet in person. I’ll provide more information about somatic therapy, and we’ll get a sense of how we can work together.
3
Step
Co-create a Plan to Help You Move Through.
It definitely helps to set some goals. But then, we hold them lightly and see what else shows up. I will ask for your feedback regularly, to discuss if we’re on track or need some changes, so your investment of time and energy and money serves you well. In between appointments, you can expect to have something to ‘work on’ – which may be as small as noticing things in a different way, or as focused as some daily practices.
Somatic Experiencing
Restore Rhythm and Flow
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a way of understanding what is being communicated by your nervous system. Your unique patterns are based on your past relationships and experiences. Some patterns support us to be in healthy connection with ourselves and others. Others emerged from self-protective responses (sometimes known as fight/flight/freeze) and now get in the way of healthy connection. Our nervous system responds to stressors with poor coping methods like high anxiety, isolation or harmful use of substances.
SE supports the nervous system to restore rhythm and regulation, by developing the somatic skills of paying attention, tolerating distress and noticing relative safety. These skills increase your capacity to navigate daily life and relationships with more confidence. You’ll learn to identify body sensations, emotions and thoughts/mental images associated with experiences of overwhelm AND experiences of connection and safety.
Over time and with practice, you’ll notice less magnetic pull of avoidance, less emotional distress, and more response flexibility. You’ll feel both lighter and more grounded as you move through life’s tricky stuff without getting bogged down.
Please note that all of my counselling work is informed by my SE training, however SE is not always the focus of our work. The tools we use will be determined according to your needs.
How Do I Know If It’s A Good Fit?
Healing happens in relationship.
So much of effective counselling is this elusive thing we call ‘a good fit’.
For me, good fit means that people begin to feel comfortable relatively early in our work together. (Keeping in mind that sensing safety is unfamiliar for some people.) You should see clues in my office space that I’m someone you want to spend time with, and from our first meeting, you should sense that you have my attention, care and support. We might even have some laughs. And I’ll be dedicated to gently nudging you toward new patterns, instead of old ones.