Naturally curious, I wanted to understand people long before I knew counselling was a profession.

I was drawn to the stories of people who felt like they didn’t quite fit. I resonated with the descriptions of feeling trapped by something they couldn’t quite put into words. The stories of feeling unseen, misunderstood, or stuck. I recognised myself in what they were describing, having lived some version of it myself, and understanding how hard that shame can make reaching out for help. I wanted to be for others what I’d wished I’d had growing up, someone who could hear the hardest parts of a person’s story, keep holding space with warmth and skill, and still show they could see the person underneath.

I had my own struggles with addiction, and I say that not because it makes me an expert on anyone else’s experience, it doesn’t, but because it means I come to this work with a grounded understanding of humanity, not the luxury of judgment. I’ve learned what addiction can cost. I understand a bit about how heavy it can be to keep trying to carry everything yourself, while also hiding it from everyone else.

That natural curiosity has led me to look at how we all learn to survive our lives. We reach for substances, and fall into behaviours, we desperately hope will finally fix things, cover the deeper wounds, and make the discomfort stop. Anything to numb what we desperately try to avoid.

The most important lesson from both my own life and over a decade of sitting across from people in these places, is that hope is worth growing. Hope that we can find answers that feel strong. Hope that it’s never too late to look at old patterns and figure out how to change them. Hope that we can clear away all the crap and find who we want to be.

I’ve felt and watched how recognising and growing hope is what actually heals the pain we’ve carried for so long. That pattern, repeated across hundreds of conversations, is what eventually became the 4C Framework. It gives hope a focus for going deeper, but it means we don’t have to go alone anymore.

Educational Background and Training

I have worked in the field of addictions treatment since 2009. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Counselling Psychology from Adler University. I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors.

I bring an existential understanding of humanity built on a Person-Centered and Rogerian approach. I borrow from experiential approaches like Internal Family Systems (IFS) to emotional approaches like Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), to cognitive approaches like Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to offer the widest range of insights and tools that might make the most sense to someone. 

It’s important to me that while we look at barriers that are holding people back, we also celebrate how someone survived to get here, and explore who you are. Often, these barriers include depression, anxiety, expressing anger, communication struggles, burnout, neglect, or trouble relating to other people, or some felt combination. Many times, people come with a specific skill they’d like to learn more about and practice, from emotional regulation to less harmful coping skills, but others come without a specific idea in mind, other than wanting to change. Either is a fine place to start. The fact that someone reached out to have a conversation at all is the most important part.

Underneath the barriers we can see, there’s often some kind of deep hurt, or trauma. I draw on my training in Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) to understand and work with these deeper wounds.

Whatever your story, I want to listen with awe as you tell me about your life, the strength that got you here, and figure out how to help you move forward. Book a time to start having a conversation and teach me about you.