I bring to my practice over twenty years of experience as a Registered Nurse in both hospital and community settings. I have provided care across the life span and have extensive experience working with families. As a childbirth educator I have prepared hundreds of couples for pregnancy and birth as well as life after birth. This included work with pregnant and parenting teens as well as their parents. I have post-RN specialty certification in Maternal-Infant-Child Healthcare. I also have a Bachelor of Arts in Religion degree. My graduate education includes a Master of Arts in Counselling degree. My education and training in nursing, counselling and psychology, as well as theology and spirituality ensures that I understand and treat clients from a truly holistic perspective. To ensure professional competency, I am committed to ongoing continuing education as well as supervision for my counselling practice.
In addition to my counselling practice, I am currently on faculty at a local college where I teach nursing, mostly mental health. Also, because of my passion for young families, I do volunteer work with them.
My governing bodies, to whom I am accountable for competent and ethical practice, bring third party accountability for my clients. I am registered with the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (www.nurses.ab.ca). I am also an associate member of the Professional Association of Canadian Christian Counsellors (www.PACCC.ca).
My practice is guided by the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses as well as the Code of Ethics and the Principles of Practice and Statement of Beliefs of the Professional Association of Canadian Christian Counsellors.
Theoretical Orientation to Therapy
Depending on your issues, needs and past experiences, I use a variety of approaches that are practical, holistic, and psychoeducational. My theoretical perspective is shaped by the McGill Model of Nursing. I draw on psychodynamic and attachment theory, and incorporate emotion-focused therapy, cognitive-behaviour therapy, interpersonal therapy, Christian counselling as well as solution-focused therapy into counselling as appropriate. For couples' therapy and marriage workshops I use research by Dr. John Gottman and emotion-focused therapy for couples which has been validated by twenty years of research. With emotion-focused therapy 90% of couples show significant improvement and 70-75% of couples make a recovery.
Beliefs and Values
The foundation of my practice is care and compassion with respect for the intrinsic worth of each person. I respect and promote each individual's right to be informed and make choices. I believe we always have a choice and our choices have consequences.
I believe that counselling is a collaborative effort where clients bring their pain, needs, desire for healing as well as their strengths, potentials and resources for growth and I bring my care, knowledge, skills, and experience.
The physical, emotional, mental, relational and spiritual dimensions of human beings are intricately related. Physical disorders may have a psychological or spiritual base. Thoughts and emotions can cause physical distress and lead to behaviours that contribute to ongoing or further problems.
Even though we are individual selves, we are in relationship with other people and interdependent. While only one person in the family may be involved in counselling, I recognize the influence of the family on the individual as well as the effect of the individual on the family. Because each person is a part of a larger whole of family and society, changes in an individual lead to changes in relationships.
I consider spirituality an important resource in healing. When desired by the client, I incorporate spiritual interventions in the therapeutic process from which strength and hope may be derived and spiritual needs met. While a Christian worldview and values inform my practice, I welcome people of all faith backgrounds, or no religious background, and will not impose my beliefs on you.
I believe in helping the whole person by integrating the various dimensions of a person's life into a treatment plan to enable the attainment of the highest possible level of health. Interventions may involve the body, mind or spirit with the goal of enhancing the healing of the whole person.
I believe that healing is possible even when there is no cure or the circumstances of life cannot be changed. Healing is a dynamic, life-long journey in becoming whole. It is about growth rather than a return to a previous state. It is about building on strengths and learning new ways to deal with the challenges of life.
