Awareness. Nourishment. Transformation.

As someone who is ever curious about human nature and the inner workings of our hearts and minds, I am so grateful to be doing this work. I deeply appreciate getting to walk alongside my clients on their journeys as they process hard emotions, gain new insights, feel more freedom, and discover the core of who they are. And I’ve been there too. I explore my own internal world on an ongoing basis, including areas of suffering, ever working toward healing that ripples out and allows me to be in service to others and this precious planet.

I have lived on unceded Snuneymuxw territory on Vancouver Island for over a decade and am blessed to be building relationship with this beautiful land. I grew up on the foothills of the Rocky mountains in Treaty 6 territory where the Athabasca River, expansive mountain views, trails, and wildflower-covered hillsides in summer helped shape my upbringing. That is where my love for hiking, paddling, skiing, biking, and exploring took root. I have ancestry from Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England and am a white settler on Turtle Island, which brings unearned privileges and responsibilities that I am committed to taking seriously. I relish learning and practicing land-based skills that some of my ancestors once knew well (like basket-weaving, hide-tanning, wild-crafting, and herbalism)! A guiding purpose that threads through my life is to deepen my relationship with the natural world around me. This means remembering what it means to live with reverence, respect, and reciprocity with the land and the original stewards of the land, recognizing and attempting to repair effects of colonization including in my own mind, and rediscovering my place in the web of life. The well-being of humans and the well-being of our communities and ecosystems are inseparably woven together and I aim to support healing and regeneration within these systems.

Training & Experience 

I completed a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology at the University of Victoria, and a Psychology degree at the University of Alberta. I have been training for over 10 years in both the Hakomi Method of assisted self-discovery, and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP). I also completed earlier training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and have participated in recent trainings in Ecotherapy/Nature-Based Therapy and Climate-Aware Therapy. I am also trained to provide clinical supervision to developing counsellors and therapists.

Prior to offering my work through Wild Tending Psychotherapy, I spent over a decade working in a University Counselling Department with amazing students with diverse backgrounds, ages, and topics of exploration. My clients have taught me so much. Themes of conversations that I’ve held space for include anxiety, interpersonal challenges, relationship endings, addictions, perfectionism, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, issues with mood and depression, grief and loss, life transitions, gender identity, sexuality, parenting, chronic illness, low self-esteem, living with neurodivergence, isolation, issues with food and body image, burnout, and trauma in many forms. Foundational in all of these sessions, I draw on in-depth training that has provided an understanding of how people develop, how we adapt to challenges, how emotions work, why we get stuck, and how transformational change can happen. You can find a safe harbour with me.  

Thank you for considering sharing your journey with me.