Anxiety, depression, and anger are the most common entry points to therapy and for good reason. In today's post-covid world, we are tasked with navigating our personal struggles as the world around us is falling apart. It has become harder and harder to live and act from our hearts and with a clear mind. My approach is to view and work with anxiety, depression, and anger as parts or patterns of behaviour. Instead of trying to outrun, suppress, or banish them, together we begin building a relationship with these parts, exploring how and when they formed. Compassionately attuning to your parts in this way allows you to build agency in your responses and more trust in yourself.

Common issues I work with include: generalized, situational, or anticipatory anxiety, the spectrum of depressive issues (including post-partum), and building a compassionate relationship with anger. I also acknowledge that anxiety, depression, and anger are natural responses to the world we currently live within, and offer tools to work with them in this context. 

Family issues, past and present, are often significant contributors to mental health struggles. My approach is first to locate your experience within the family system and then begin developmental and attachment-based work. Where are the historical wounds? Are you still responding from these places? By finding and healing the wounds, you can start building a stronger foundation and establishing new ways of feeling, responding, and moving forward. 

Common family issues I work with include co-dependency, enmeshment, high conflict, living low or no contact with family members, attachment wounding, intergenerational trauma and healing, parenting support, and role-shifting as parents age.

Grief is one of the most impactful issues on mental health, perhaps less because of grief itself, and more because of all the tactics we use to avoid feeling it. Protective responses often take centre stage–everything from anxiety to substance use to massively over-extending oneself–to distract from the deeper waves of grief. My approach is to gently begin working with these protective parts and then easing into and processing the underlying feelings of grief. 

Common issues of grief I work include loss of a person, culture, relationships, community, pets, work, a way of life, finances, and acute, chronic, or anticipatory grief.

A big part of the work I do is supporting people to understand themselves, how they fit into the world, and how to live a meaningful, purpose-driven life. I start by meeting you where you are at, locating your personal strengths and resources, and then together, begin the journey into personal exploration. Often we will come across a historical backlog of experience that needs processing in order to move forward and live presently. Because of this, I am always trauma responsive, and we will work at a pace that feels safe and appropriate.

Common issues I work with: loss of meaning; feeling stuck with no clear sense of ‘what’s next;’ fear of change; longing for a deeper; more fulfilling life; establishing a spiritual practice; and questions of identity (who am I; who am I after a major life change; who am I after trauma?).

Neurocomplexity in my practice refers to ADHD, autism, and trauma-induced brain changes including PTSD/CPTSD. My approach is trauma responsive, and unique to each person I work with. I provide a warm, nonjudgemental space to show up entirely as you are.

Common themes I support neurocomplex people include building a realistic and compassionate relationship with your nervous system; masking and its energetic tax; establishing personal accommodation practices (meeting yourself where you are at); and working with internalized feelings of shame, guilt, anger, and grief around neurocomplexity.

Chronic health issues can extend far beyond the physical experience. The reduction in capacity may cascade into areas such as self-esteem, parenting, partnerships, worklife, joyful activities, friendships, and finances. My approach is built on validation and compassion for your experience, and then working gently to shift patterns of self-criticism, avoidance, fear, shame, and anger that may have arisen in response to these health issues and act as additional burden on your system. We work to clear space and find new ways of relating to your body and your experience.

Common chronic health issues I work with include symptom management overwhelm, diagnosis struggles, medical gaslighting, grief over how life used to be, deteriorating social capacity, and catastrophizing the future. 

I am Sansei (third generation Japanese Canadian) and supporting the JC community to heal from internment trauma is a big part of my life and work.

Common themes I support for include processing the present day impact of internment; unpacking parents’ or grandparents' lived experience during the war; and addressing intergenerational themes such as silence, shame, and loss of culture. 

I also work with community members who reach out for other issues, and find the shared intergenerational experience offers a level of implicit understanding, ease, and safety. 

Nervous system care is foundational to the work I do with people as dysregulation has a global impact on the body and mind and shapes how we approach ourselves and our lives. 

Learning to meet ourselves where we are at instead of where we wish we were is the way forward. In this space, we can work together to begin metabolizing historical energy in your body, and practicing simple methods and tools to begin shifting your reactions and responses that can be easily applied outside of session. 

Common nervous system regulation issues I support with include chronic anxiety or depression, panic and anxiety attacks, mood swings, disassociation, hyper-rumination, shutting down, hypersensitivity, and feelings of numbness.