About Me
I’ve been practising psychotherapy for the better part of 5 years, and in that time I’ve worked with all kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds, on all kinds of problems. Before this I completed a 5-year, CRPO accredited training course in both the theory and practice of psychotherapy. This included two years in clinical supervision; working with clients and meeting regularly with a mentor/supervisor.
This training also included the requirement of being in therapy myself, and so I deeply understand both how challenging therapy is, but also how much fun it can be if you approach it with the right attitude.
My academic background is in philosophy, but my therapy practice borrows ideas from many different disciplines like western and eastern 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.
This perspective is also an important aspect of my approach to therapy, since we may all be individuals, but our lives and experiences are embedded in large and complex social constructs which have a direct effect on our bodies and minds. On top of this, 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.