Alma is a well qualified and experienced Therapist. She brings professional competence and a wealth of personal experiences to her work with clients. Family has always been important to her. After immigrating to Canada she raised her three children, received a B.A. in Psychology, a B.Ed., and then her Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, MMFT, from the University of Winnipeg in 2005. She and her husband live in Winnipeg.

Services/Memberships

• Service provider for Victim Services - Department of Justice
• External Therapist for the Immigration and Refuge Therapy Program, University of Winnipeg
  
• Providing Therapy in English and German
• Certified EFT Therapist - Emotionally Focused Therapy
  
• AAMFT - Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
• RMFT - Registered member of the Canadian Registry of Marriage and Family Therapists
• Couples Institute – Drs. Peter Pearson and Ellyn Bader

Awards/Conferences/Workshops

• Academic Proficiency Scholarships abroad and in Canada.
• Gold medal in Germanic Studies, University of Winnipeg.
• Elizabeth Tresoor Award, University of Winnipeg.
• EFT – Susan Johnson

• IFS – Richard Schwarz
• Narrative approach – Michael White, David Epston, Johnella Bird, Karl Tomm

Alma ’s approach to therapy is very much client centered. She works within a framework of the systems approach to therapy. Entrusting one self to a professional with one’s inner emotional experiences can create comfort but also sometimes unexpected fears. As a professional she knows how important it is to be sensitive to those fears. She therefore works with clients toward a trust relationship in which new understanding and new meaning can be created. It is her passion to help individuals, couples, and families move through challenging and sometimes trying times. She strongly believes that individuals, couples and family systems come equipped with the ability to change. They have strengths and resources to adapt to new situations and circumstances in healthy ways.

How can Therapy help?

Acute or chronic stress comes to all of us at some time in our lives, often in unpredictable ways. The death of a loved one, a chronic illness, a relationship break-up, separation or divorce, conflicting views in parenting, a change in status or immigration may leave us feeling bereaved, numb and alone, frustrated, angry and confused, discouraged or powerless. With the increased demand on our time, mental, emotional, and physical resources our familiar ways of coping may not work anymore. Sometimes we feel stuck relating to one another in unhealthy ways. We don’t like who we have become.

Professional support can be helpful. Alma has a profound understanding of the need to establish, restore and preserve human dignity in the face of stressful situations and circumstances. She can help to find ways to ease emotional pain and restore human dignity.  In times of emotional pain and confusion, she helps her clients to discover healthy ways of dealing with distressing events in their lives.

Client focus/Special interests

• Alma loves working with individuals who are tired of being stuck in living in destructive patterns with self or in relation to others.
• She has a particular competence in helping couples in stressful times of separation, divorce or infidelity. Couples who are struggling with “How can I forgive you?” or “Do I stay or do I go”

• As a former educator Alma knows about the hopes and dreams of young people and the many challenges they face, on a developmental, social and emotional level. She understands the needs of teens and their families and can help make a desired positive difference.
• Alma knows first hand the challenges of acculturation and integration to a host country and society. The acquisition of a new language, adapting to new cultural practices, creating a feeling of belonging while mourning the loss of the familiar, requires considerable time, emotional resources and resilience. An immigrant herself, she can help facilitate a more efficient transition and effective integration.

  Alma is available for appointments days, evenings and week ends.

To make an appointment call 204-391-2990 or E-mail Alma at ajabs@mts.net.