Social Work Therapy and Experience Sharing

I am passionate about supporting people, communities and organizations in healing.

I do this through

Individual Counselling Services;
Clinical Consultation & Supervision Services;
Public Speaking and Training;
Organizational Knowledge Sharing

I have a special interest in untangling the impact of trauma within people, relationships and communities.

Welcome to

Centered Fire
Counselling & Consulting

Who I am

Hello!

I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself.

I am a master-level social worker, registered with the OCSWSSW, an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) certified practitioner with EMDRIA (EMDR International Association), a 200-level yoga teacher registered with Yoga Alliance of Canada, and a PhD student, studying at Trent University.

I have all sorts of work experience, from front-line, community based mental health services to executive leadership in trauma and sexual violence, to co-leading a multi-year, cross-cultural research collective on human trafficking in Northeastern Ontario.

Most recently, I have been in private practice full time since 2018, providing trauma-specific psychotherapy services, consultation and supervision.

Trauma isn't about an event itself - it's about our reactions to it. Together we will work to transform you emotional, physical, cognitive and spiritual responses to trauma, through a variety of interventions.

Sometimes people are nervous about trauma therapy. I get it. I will strive to make this an empowering and collaborative experience. I am well equipped and prepared to join you in your healing journey.

Areas Of Service

Consultation Services

Classic Title

Induced After Death Communiction

An understanding of the role and impact of trauma is of growing importance among service providers and organizations. This is wonderful news for our clientele whose lives have been touched by traumatic events and need trauma-informed care. It is my goal to support service providers and organizations in becoming trauma-informed.

I do this by providing:

Clinical supervision to help mitigate the impact of trauma work on those who help (vicarious trauma, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, moral distress);
Clinical consultation for service providers interested in exploring different perspectives in their work, including trauma-specific concepts;
Trauma-specific support on special projects;
Experience sharing and workshops for service providers and organizations to learn more about trauma, working with trauma and/or impact of trauma on organizations.

Rate for clinical supervision and consultation:

$180-$200

I think of healing as becoming centered again, and reigniting our internal fire. The healing journey is different for everyone, and sometimes you may find yourself looking for someone who can help guide you along the way.

I use a blend of modalities and techniques, though the basis of my approach is primarily narrative therapy, delivered from a holistic perspective, though I have formal training in:

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Certified
Brief Solution Focused Therapy
Motivational Interviewing
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Narrative Therapy
Emotion Focused Therapy
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Focusing
Psychodynamic Theoretical Approaches

One of my strengths is in building safe and secure therapeutic relationships. If you are looking for someone you can feel safe enough to open up with, perhaps give me a try. I would be honoured to join you in your own healing journey.

Prior to covid, I would provide in person services to both Nipissing and Timiskaming Districts. Today, I continue to provide services to Timiskaming via online video-conference

Rate: $150

Grief after the loss of a loved being (human, pet, other) transforms the way we sense the world around us. The sadness can linger, making it difficult to carry on without them.

Pioneered by Dr. Botkin in a hospital setting with Vietnam war veterans, Induced After Death Communication is a powerful and unique short-term treatment for grief.

The treatment begins with a brief half hour phone call where we will decide together if this treatment would feel right for you. The primary goal of this treatment is to reduce the sadness associated with your loss. We do this using a similar approach as EMDR. An interesting secondary component is the possibility of you experiencing some kind of communication with your loved one. The research has found that these after death communications happen in about 70% of the time with this grief treatment.

Ideally we will meet for 2 sessions of 1.5 hours each, spread over 2 consecutive days. For example, 1.5 hours on Monday, followed by 1.5 hours on Tuesday. In that time, we first focus on reducing the feeling of sadness. Once the sadness has significantly reduced and a feeling of lightness emerges, I use the strategies I have been trained in to induce communication.

I was trained in EMDR by Barbara Horne, then trained in Induced After Death Communication by César Valdez.

Rate: $600 for the full short term therapy