My background
Work Experience
I am in full-time private practice as of July 2016.
From 2012 to 2016 I was Lead Social Worker at Taddle Creek Family Health Team here in Toronto. I supervised a team of mental health counsellors. Our specialties included anxiety, depression and trauma.
From 2000 - 2012 I worked as a psychotherapist at the Women`s Health Centre of St. Joseph`s Health Centre in Toronto. The Women’s Health Centre offered counseling and psychotherapy to women survivors of interpersonal trauma, specifically partner abuse, childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, or war or refugee based trauma.
Prior to this I worked as a psychotherapist affiliated with shelters for abused women. I have also worked at a Sexual Assault Centre in Montreal in many capacities including as a psychotherapist, as co-ordinator of a 24-hour crisis line, and as a hospital emergency room sexual assault crisis counsellor.
I have worked at an addictions treatment centre, as a manager of a counselling program at a university, as a manager of an intergenerational literacy program, and finally as a manager of a Women’s Centre.
Education
- Master of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec 1997
Thesis: Empowering Abused Women as Mothers
Placement: McGill Domestic Violence Clinic, work with victims and perpetrators - Bachelor of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec 1996
- Master of Arts, Sociology (coursework), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland 1993
- Bachelor of Arts, Sociology & Women’s Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario 1989
Intensive Psychotherapy Training
- Fall 2017 - Winter 2018, in progress : Internal Family Systems Skills & Competencies Training, Derek Scott, Toronto
- April and July 2017 : The Heart Of Trauma: Healing Our Embodied Brains in the Context of Relationships, Immersion in Interpersonal Neurobiology, Bonnie Badenoch, Vancouver, Washington
- March 2015 : Mindful Self-compassion Intensive Training, Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, Kripalu, Massachusetts
- 2011-2013 : Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level Two, Attachment, Development & Trauma
- 2010-2011: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level One, Training for the Treatment of Trauma
- 2003: EMDR "Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing" Level One, by Sue Fraser
- 2003: Psychotherapy Training for the Dissociative Disorders by Dr. Claire Pain, at Mount Sinai Hospital through the auspices of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation
Other Trainings
- 2016 : Incubated in Rhythm: Moving with the Tempo of Our Inner World, Sand Tray Therapy & Trauma Training: Sand Tray Institute of New Mexico, Theresa Kestly and Bonnie Badenoch
- 2016: Narcissism and Infidelity: An Integrative Approach : Terry Real and Esther Perel
- 2016: Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy : Sue Johnson
- 2015: Health Quality Ontario Conference
- 2015: To Err is Human: Therapeutic Mistakes and Opportunities : Janina Fisher
- 2015: Food, Addiction, Obesity, Diabetes
- 2015: DBT Intensive
- 2010: TREP Assessment Instrument
- 2010: Non-Traditional Parenting Interventions – The Impact of Early Trauma on Parenting Roles & Parenting at a Distance
- 2010: What Works for Sex Workers: Providing Effective & Appropriate Services for Women & Trans People Working in the Sex Trade
- 2009: Becoming a Better Therapist or Organization: The Revolutionary Impact of Practice-Based Evidence
- 2008: Ontario Criminal Injuries Compensation Board Overview
- 2008: Pedophilia & Sexual Offending Against Children
- 2008: Self-Monitoring in Clinical Practice: A Challenge for Educators
- 2008: Seeking Safety: Trauma & Addictions Treatment Program Training
- 2008: The Nutritional Role in Mental Health Recovery
- 2008: Be Connected & Protected: The Cyber World: Information, Challenges & Implications
- 2008: Subpoenas and Third Party Records
- 2008: Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- 2007: Addressing the Consequences of Trauma: A Narrative Perspective, by Michael White
- 2006: Personality and Psychotherapy
- 2006: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Facilitating Meaningful Therapeutic Change
- 2006: Substance Abuse & Mental Health within a Trauma Framework
- 2005: Trauma and the Body by Pat Ogden
- 2001: Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
- 2001: Generation to Generation: Breaking the Intergenerational Cycle of Trauma
- 2001: Psychopharmacology & Trauma: An Integrated Approach