About Me
I grew up in the Okanagan Valley in BC and moved to Saskatoon in 2019. After a shame inducing attempt at coming out as bisexual to my friends as a pre-teen, I went back into the closet, and never told my friends or family, until my early 20s. Thankfully, sex and sexual desire were somewhat normalized in my household growing up, but despite that, shame on many fronts persisted and I did not enter adulthood with the robust skills and knowledge to navigate my own identity, or sexual health and relationships more generally.
This changed when I began to immerse myself in the field of sexual health. With that, I became aware of how widespread and deeply ingrained sex negativity is in our culture, and as my own shame dissipated, my passion for talking about, educating, and normalizing sex grew. I bring that passion to my practice and I am honoured to walk alongside people as we bring what is often shrouded in silence into the light.
I was drawn to social work for a number of reasons, in addition to my work in sexual health. Ultimately, I found much professional and personal fulfillment when in support of others. In both my adolescence and adulthood, my own lived experience of mental health challenges have helped me believe in the power of witnessed vulnerability and people's capacity for change.
A few years ago, my young children were both diagnosed with autism and life became an increasingly demanding flurry of appointments. I left my health care career for private practice. With increased flexibility and control over my time, it also allowed me to return to sexual health and sexuality as a central focus of my career.
When I'm not working, I'm often hanging out and exploring with my partner and kids. I love to read about history and current events, watch HBO shows, listen to music, indulge in Saskatoon's food scene, and travel. I occasionally play roller derby, run, and camp.
My Approach
I work from a person-centred approach that is trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and holistic, with an emphasis on a biopsychosocial assessment. The relationship between client and counsellor is of utmost importance, and I strive to create a space between us that is non-judgmental, authentic, and collaborative.
I am curious, analytical, and remain up-to-date on evidence based practices. I am constantly reading and expanding my breadth of knowledge.
As an eclectic practitioner, I draw from numerous therapies to best meet your specific needs and goals. The theories I employ are depending on the type of therapy you're looking for. With individuals, I like to draw from cognitive-behavioural, emotion-focused, acceptance and commitment, solution-focused, and relational therapies.
In couples and sex therapy, I draw mostly from emotion-focused, cognitive-behavioural, Gottman method, narrative, and Imago relationship therapies.
I tend to integrate a mix of unstructured and more structured sessions, depending on what we agree treatment to look like, and with consideration of your goals. Short-term individual, couples, and sex therapies are often more structured, whereas more long-term counselling tends to be more, though not entirely, unstructured. Overall, I move flexibility between more and less structured depending on your needs as a client.
Professional Background
I completed by Bachelor of Arts Honours at Queen's University in Ontario. I graduated with distinction and majored in history, with a focus on gender and sexuality. For all of my four years there, I volunteered at the Sexual Health Resource Centre. There, I provided campus wide sex education, acted as a peer counsellor, and eventually became its Executive Director. My work there ignited a passion in me that led to a sharp turn in my career plans. Initially, I was planning to pursue academia as a historian. That changed because I wanted to work more directly supporting people, which I had discovered a knack for. I turned to social work, and enrolled in the clinically focused Master of Social Work program at the University of British Columbia, where I received training in numerous counselling modalities. I graduated in 2016.
After graduating, I found a job in health care social work, and eventually settled in palliative and oncology care for a number of years. My work was an honour and incredibly meaningful to me. I especially enjoyed working with people around the complexities of relationship management, and intimacy and connection as they navigated major illness or end of life.
When I moved to private practice, in addition to a focus on grief and loss, I worked towards advancing my education and competency in couples therapy, sex therapy, and gender and sexual identities, which I now primarily specialize in.
Most recently, I am one course away from a certificate in couple and family counselling through Wilfred Laurier University. I am also currently enrolled in the Advanced Sex Therapy certificate program through the University of Michigan. This intensive, year-long, program is part of my training towards AASECT certification.
AASECT, or the Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, is the preeminent organization that upholds the professional standards for sexual health in North America. It is the gold standard of certification for practicing sex therapists. It takes a few years to gain certification and is quite rigorous in its requirements. There are only a handful of AASECT certified sex therapists in Canada, and currently none in Saskatchewan. I am working under the supervision of an AASECT Certified Sex Therapy Supervisor and hope to gain certification in the next few years. I am a Registered Social Worker with the Saskatchewan Association of Social Workers (SASW) in good standing.