Specializing in the treatment of / resource development for:
anxiety / trauma / depression / grief / stress / performance
Maybe you are struggling after having faced an overwhelmingly difficult experience (an accident? a terrible loss? a terrible disappointment?).. Maybe something has shifted about your performance or confidence and you want to get back to your best game. Maybe you have always struggled with anxiety (or depression) and want to finally change that.
relationships / sexuality
individuals, couples, & families
Work with individuals, couples, & families: I specialize in relationship counselling for wherever you are in your relationship spectrum… married and facing difficulties or sensing trouble and wishing to prevent it; single and longing for a long-term romantic relationship; coupled or single and ambivalent; single and hooking up; married and contemplating separation; opening up or already consensually non-monogamous; already separated or divorced or facing a complicated divorce; or maybe simply looking for a meaningful shift.
Work with parents: I am also able to support new parents, and parents of young children / teenagers who may be afflicted by some of the unique challenges connected to their parenting / family role.
Children and Youth: As families or parents approach me with concerns about their young we collectively decide on a plan to move forward and which may involve individual sessions with children and teens as well as sessions including parents and families themselves.
Adult children / Families / Intergenerational & Cross-cultural challenges: Interestingly
sometimes adult children reach out for support. They may be children of immigrant or first-generation parents attempting to remain connected despite multiple cross-generational and cultural challenges. Or they may be as Canadian as Canadians may be and simply challenged by complicated family relationships. In such cases the families become the client while I help to mediate difficul
t conversations that may range from issues related to finances and marital partners and the multiplicity of potential issues in-between.
If you have the time and inclination, check out my recent article On Intimacy and Sexual Relationships, for a bit more of my approach to relationship and sex therapy.
Training and influences:
My approach to relationship and sex therapy is informed by many years of clinical experience, formal training, and influences from attachment theory; emotionally-focused therapy; John Gottman’s, and Esther Perel’s integrative approaches to sexual relationships; as well as family systems. It is also informed by my trauma-sensitive framework and therefore safest for working with those facing the repercussions of inter-generational issues and high-conflict dynamics, both in couples and families.
cross-cultural challenges / identity
My personal journey and clinical experience have served to support many in their journey towards making a cross-cultural relationship work, and/or in establishing themselves in a new cultural/national/social environment.
If you wish to give yourself (or your relationship / family) a best shot towards cross-culturally oriented goals come see me for a consultation to find out more about what may be considered and planned.
Some of the techniques and approaches which have served to inform my work:
EMDR
+ Tapping for resource development
+ Trauma processing
+ Performance enhancement (one of the most innovative uses of EMDR – from reduction of performance anxiety to the enhancement of skillful performance – a bit more info here & here)
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
+ Attachment repair
+ Mindfulness-oriented interventions for trauma
+ Emotional regulation
+ Stress management
+ Confidence
Attachment Theory + Emotionally-Focused Therapy + DBT
Family Systems + Internal Family Systems
Hypnosis (in training)
Psychoanalysis + Object Relations theories (early training – still ongoing 😏)
I will also see clients in Portuguese or Spanish if preferred.
Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish 😉
