I am a Registered Psychologist (#2376) and a Marriage and Family Therapist (#30699) who has been working with individuals, couples, children, families, and groups since 1995.
I am also trained in EMDR and use EMDR to treat a variety of clinical issues.
In addition to therapy, I have a special interest in teaching Pre-marital workshops and parenting workshops.
Why did I become a psychologist?
I knew I wanted to be a psychologist in grade seven. I have a clear memory of the moment I decided: my two best friends were fighting, distressing me, and I was attempting to help them understand each other so we could get on with the business of being friends again.
The beginnings of my interest in psychology, or why people do the things they do, are rooted in my experience of living in a blended family. My parents divorced when I was three. My step-dad entered the picture a year later, but he never really accepted me and my sister; he was perpetually distant and impossibly to connect with, and I felt rejected. I spent much of my childhood yearning for him to demonstrate some kind of warm emotion for me. I wanted to “feel the love”, as all children do. I was responsible and stayed out of trouble. I did well enough in school, although sports was my thing. Yet the warm fuzzies never came. I couldn’t figure it out. So I would try harder, win more gold medals, do what was expected of me, and still he wouldn’t show approval. He didn’t come to a single in-town tournament, in fact. I would ponder what I knew of his past, speculate about his feelings (he certainly wouldn’t share them), sob when he disapproved of some minor infraction, and later get angry at the injustice of it all.
Our relationship did not improve over time. In fact, it got worse. At 19, I had my “defining moment” – that moment when you break free of other’s expectations and stand up for yourself. The “No” welled up from somewhere deep inside me and our relationship changed forever. Gone was his outward disapproval. Gone (mostly) was my need for his approval. Remaining however, was my interest in human behavior.
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