Find a Therapist in West Point Grey, British Columbia.

Take the courageous step towards personal growth and lasting change by engaging in my unique style of psychotherapy. I've been a psychotherapist for over 30 years and learned what's most effective from the clients I've worked with in the past. Through collaborative sessions tailored to meet your needs we will explore challenges, uncover insights, determine a path to healing, and develop effective strategies for a more fulfilling life. Unlock your resilience and your potential for happiness!

Psychotherapy can empower you to create lasting positive change. Creating a safe, compassionate space for your own inner journey is in itself often a meaningful contradiction to how we have been alone with our pain. Through my guidance and gentle support, you will begin to examine and move through the places of pain and confusion that trouble you. Your path toward personal growth and expansion will reveal new possibilities and ways to achieve a life of joy and the connection you want. Call me or email for a free 15 minute consultation.

Feelings need to be felt. Stories need to be told. Sometimes, a therapist takes the role of a highly trained audience. I know how to listen, with the curiosity and earnestness of someone newly in love. Listening is not the entire treatment, but it is definitely a necessary part of it. I'll quote Lou Reed here: "I'll be your mirror, reflect what you are, in case you don't know."

Sometimes you know something isn’t working, even if you can’t quite explain why. You may feel stuck in familiar patterns, overwhelmed by your emotions, disconnected from yourself, or struggling in the relationships that matter most. Psychotherapy can provide a place to slow things down and understand what is happening beneath the surface. My approach is warm, collaborative and emotion-focused. Together, we can explore the experiences, emotions and relationship patterns that have shaped you, make sense of the ways you have learned to protect yourself, and help you create meaningful change in how you relate to yourself and others.

Psychotherapy (or counselling) is ‘talk therapy’ – where you, as the client, share: your experiences, goals, challenges, presenting concerns, both verbally and nonverbally. Through this communication a therapeutic relationship (or alliance) is formed. This relationship acts a safe space for you to explore, excavate, evaluate, take new risks, etc. In a large way, engaging in the therapeutic relationship is ‘practise’ for the real world. I, as the therapist, will work with multiple modalities (or theoretical orientations) within our dialogue and engagement, which will serve to help us reflect, challenge, bear to light, collaborate, as well as model things (such as security, compassion, etc.).

Many clients come to me with only having had talk therapy. They tell me that with their previous counsellor they just discussed their challenges and never really got anywhere. I personally believe that the difference lies in the distinction between the terms "counselling" and "therapy." In my opinion, counselling involves talking and gently exploring issues, whereas therapy involves teaching new concepts, applying specific tools and approaches, and making tailored plans. Clients brainstorm with me, apply new ideas at home, challenge themselves, and develop new insights and skills. This is how I work and what I offer, and my clients notice the difference in their daily lives.

My approach to Psychotherapy incorporates mind, body, spirit and emotions. It goes much deeper than talk therapy alone. While talk therapy is an essential component, a somatic approach to Psychotherapy allows for the possibility of deeper healing and more permanent change, as the body holds the information we need to heal. Therefore I take a body centred approach to healing while drawing on an extensive range of other psychotherapeutic approaches. Each session is tailored to where the client is at in the moment and from the belief that somewhere in all of us, no matter how deeply we have been wounded, we have the resources we need to heal.

I offer a multidisciplinary and relational approach to psychotherapy that includes early attachment work and a sensitivity to intergenerational dynamics and trauma, with a holistic orientation and evidence-based techniques. The role of the body in healing is central to my work, as I draw on many somatic practices. Whichever therapeutic modality we choose as best suited to your current journey, we work with the fundamental creative drive that is present in all of us to encounter the many facets of your healing pilgrimage necessary for growth and lasting change. I offer EMDR and other trauma processing approaches to support you in your healing when appropriate.

You may be wondering what counselling and psychotherapy looks like. Typically, I will spend some time, perhaps a session or two, getting to know you and your concern in some depth. Then together we decide on a goal and the best way for us to spend our time together. This may involve exploring thoughts, behaviours, and emotions, solving problems, working on skills, or making sense of past experiences. My hope is that, through our work together, you will feel clearer, more focused, and connected with your life and the people in it.

Sometimes the problem isn't one thing you can point to. It's more like a greatest hits album of the same not-so-great songs: conflict that keeps finding you, a tendency to say yes when you mean no, self-criticism that's been running in the background so long you've stopped noticing it. You've probably tried to change some of this. For a while, at least. Psychotherapy gets curious about why these songs keep playing. Most patterns have a reason. And once you hear it, you can't quite un-hear it. This, it turns out, can end up being sweet relief.

My psychotherapy clients come with a range of concerns: people in job or relationship transitions, feeling "stuck" or limited in their lives, feeling “swept along,” disconnected, or worn out. People looking for direction, understanding, and change. Using open conversation and psychological tools, I help my clients learn the patterns that are holding them back and help them build new ways of thinking and living. Psychotherapy can help you gain insight into your life, make better decisions, feel happier and more in control, build more satisfying relationships, reduce stress, and feel more fulfilled in your life. If you’re ready to move toward change, please contact me.

If you find yourself stuck in patterns around food, relationships or difficult emotions, you're not alone. I offer a calm and confidential space where you can begin to make sense of what you're going through. My work is grounded in attachment and emotion focused approaches, which helps you to understand how your past experiences and relationships shape your present struggle. You may be facing an eating disorder, binge eating, a relationship difficulty or the weighed down by past experiences, we can work together to create meaningful change through practical tools and therapies that support deeper, lasting transformation.

Psychotherapy is a big word, that really just means talking through your thoughts, feelings and behaviours with someone that is trained in helping you understand them and then how you can change them to live the life you desire. Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of individuals who have shared with me their thoughts, feelings and behaviours and together we worked on individualized steps to create a new, more desired future. It takes honesty and a desire to make small steps and the results are amazing.