My Approach

My approach to counselling is relational. I believe that deep meaningful connections, unconditional acceptance and secure, loving relationships are the greatest catalysts to positive therapeutic outcomes. I apply a strength-based, client-centred approach, from a trauma informed perspective to help develop and foster individuals’ inherent strengths to overcome challenges.

I support my clients to reach for their strengths, develop new ones, so they feel empowered, confident and in control of their lives as they progress to living a meaningful, fulfilling and valued life. I am passionate about recognising and respecting clients’ backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities and perspectives, and embrace diversity regardless of religious, cultural, sexual and political orientations.

Areas that I can help with include…

I can help if you are suffering from anxiety. Whether it's panic attacks, unrelenting worries or obsessive thoughts, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to live with anxiety and worry. For many anxiety issues, therapy is one of the most effective option. Unlike medication, therapy treats more than just the symptoms of the problem. Through counselling, I can help you uncover the underlying causes of your worries, help you learn strategies for coping, relaxing and problem solving, gain new perspectives for looking at situations in new and less frightening ways.

If your depression is keeping you from living the life you want to, through counselling I can help you work through the root of your depression, understand what your triggers are and why you feel a certain way. I can help you develop skills and insight to feel better, happier, more hopeful again, and help prevent depression from coming back. There is no one-size-fits-all treatment to cure depression; each person’s depression is as unique as the individual.

I can help you explore your thoughts and feelings relating to a traumatic experience, help you develop new coping skills so you can learn to manage your symptoms, reduce painful memories, feel safe again and move on with your life. When you’ve gone through or witnessed a traumatic experience, it can seem like you cannot let go of it. Whether the event happened recently or a long time ago, you can find a way to let go of painful memories, heal and move on.

A life purpose is an essential part of mental well-being. I can help you clarify values and goals to discover a life purpose. Without a meaningful purpose that guides us every day and over the course of our lifetime, making sense of suffering, resolving conflicts, making decisions and future plans become difficult. The lack of or an unclear life purpose can cause a general feeling of indifference toward life. A clear purpose and direction in life can help restructure even challenging situations into opportunities for growth and renewed motivation. I can help you explore or rediscover goals and motivations that can lead to a purposeful and meaningful life.

Self-esteem contributes greatly to mental well-being. It can prevent individuals from following their goals and dreams and finding fulfilling relationships. Self-esteem issues are often ingrained in harmful self-criticism. If lack of or low self-confidence, self-worth or esteem is causing feelings of self-doubt, shame and inadequacy, I can help you identify false beliefs rooted in negative self-talk, reduce self-criticism and increase self-compassion to improve self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem.

Race and racism can have psychological impacts and lead to trauma. It is possible that racial stress might not be your main concern, but could be contributing to your distress. I can help you explore and identify possible roles that racial stress and micro-aggressions might be playing in your life. I can help you with strategies to process and heal from hidden wounds of racial trauma.