“As humans, we are on a life-long quest to feel safe.” ~Dr. Stephen Porges

My clients regularly say my greatest skill is that I am a safe companion for the journey of life. My goal is to welcome and empower you to discover your own unique gifts, opportunities, and calling for a meaningful life that contributes to a just and flourishing world.

I am passionate about cultivating an integrated life. I’m a perceptive and relentlessly curious listener, ready to ask the right question at the right time to spark dynamic insight, transformation, hope, and courage. I will help you discern what your next step is and gather the resources to take that next step in your life’s adventure.

I am a clinical philosopher and mental health counsellor. I bring thirty years of experience providing leadership, mentoring, and counselling in corporate, higher education, non-profit, and clinical settings. I draw on Twelve-Step insights, holistic spirituality/mindfulness habits, and trauma-informed embodiment practices for individual, relational, and communal health and well-being. I am guided by my on-going study of research-based therapeutic interventions.

My Approach:

“Trauma forces ordinary people to become philosophers.” ~Samuel Balentine

Typical mental health professionals have “therapies” used for the “treatment” of “symptoms” and diagnosed “illnesses.” I start from a different place. It’s really quite simple: Life was going along just fine for you (or so you thought). And then, something started to not go well. Maybe it started small, like a little pebble in your shoe. But now, over time, you’ve found yourself in a very confusing, disorienting, and painful place. And maybe that confusion is making it hard to think well, or the disorientation is having a big impact on you physically, or the pain is making it hard to deal with your emotions or relationships.

As a clinical philosopher, I take a holistic approach to you and your life-situation. We will look at your personal history as well as your network of relationships (psycho-social). We will examine how your mind and body relate (psycho-somatic). And we’ll explore the messages and stories that guide your life and provide you with meaning and purpose (psycho-spiritual). By taking this comprehensive approach, you will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the reality of yourself and your life. Then, you will have a good basis for deciding how to take the next step. Complex feelings and thoughts can be identified, reflected upon, and metabolized.

I am also a research philosopher at universities in Canada, England, and Northern Ireland. I study the power of civic institutions (including the trauma that results from abuse of power) and supervise doctoral research on how private belief takes public shape in culture and society. 

Services:

As a clinical philosopher and mental health counsellor, I draw on a vast array of research knowledge and practical experience. Philosophy is the scientific reflection on the deep wisdom traditions of human culture and society. Maybe you need to explore what is the uniquely Good/True/Beautiful that you’re being called to pursue and share with the world. Maybe your questions are more about human experience: Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? Or, maybe you are facing an ethical dilemma: Why am I here? What should I do? 

This work is supported by specific training in the following areas:

• Somatic Experiencing: A gentle practice for responding to and healing the trauma of overwhelm and shutdown pioneered by Dr. Peter Levine.

• Certified Hypnotherapist (Trauma Specialization) and Mindfulness Meditation practitioner: The utilization of altered states of consciousness to achieve dynamic insight and change.

• Systems-Based and Prepare-Enrich relationship counsellor