I have completed a 5-year diploma and practical apprenticeship in psycho-dynamic psychotherapy. This training included the requirement of being in therapy myself, and so I deeply understand how intimidating and challenging it can be. But I also know just how fascinating and how much fun therapy is if you approach it with the right attitude.
My academic background is in philosophy, but my therapy practice is informed by many different disciplines like Zen Buddhism and western theology, music, art, and literature, quantum physics and chaos theory, and sociology and anthropology.
My personal background is equally diverse. My parents are both immigrants from different countries (Scotland/Jamaica) who met and made a life together in Canada. I myself have lived in a number of countries and have learned a new language (German) in adult life. So even though I don’t look it, I’m multi-ethnic (or bi-racial, if you prefer that term), multi-lingual, and multi-cultural. Canada is home for me, but like many first-generation Canadians, the complexity of my experience often makes it difficult to feel like I belong.
In many ways, however, I feel like this is the ideal position for a therapist to work from. No two people or cultures are alike, and for me, constantly shifting between identities has made me sensitive to the psychological subtleties of being a complex person in a complex world.
In working with people with both “simple” and “complicated” personal and family histories, my repeated experience has been that creating space for and making sense of these stories is the essence of effective therapy. Knowing yourself and what makes you you sets a solid foundation on which to build the person you want to be, and life you want to live. This is my own experience, and I hope it will be yours, too.
Contact Me for a Consultation
I am always happy to have a no-cost introductory conversation with anyone. So if you’re interested, please feel free to send me a note using the contact box in the sidebar on the left, or the form on my Contact Page.
Consultations are always no cost and no obligation and are really about you getting a feel for what it will be like for us to work together. Please have a look at my Consultations Page if you’d like more information about how I approach a first therapy conversation.