Currently accepting new client
My Story
Why "cultivate"? After graduating with my MSW and learning to better understand myself and my professional interests, so too did I grow to better understand my own mental health needs and goals. While my health and career have fluctuated and changed with time, one passion has remained a consistent anchor to wellness for me: the love of growing and tending plants. In fact, each picture shared on this website is of plants in my own green collection.
I have come to believe that so many of the tools and skills used to nurture a plant or garden and allow it to thrive, are the same tools and skills that allow our most important relationships to grow and thrive: the one with have with ourselves, and those we have with our closest loved ones. Patience. Hope. Adaptability. Acceptance. Compassion.
I strive to support all clients to cultivate self-awareness and self-compassion, to nurture the values that are true to them despite how these may conflict with pressures in their life, and to accept that growth is not a zero-sum journey, and instead changes with the seasons and conditions of our lives.
I work in a way that centers the same respect and open-mindedness that I appreciate when I am accessing support, while honouring that each person and couple is entirely unique. Maybe plants aren't the things that will anchor your wellness and support your goals, but I'd like to help you to find what will be!
OCSWSSW Registration Number: 824968
My Approach
I use an integrated approach to counselling in order to best cater to the needs of each individual client and each couple. I work from a client-centered and collaborative approach: this means that while I don't expect you to always have answers or perfect clarity about your goals and needs (I can help you find them!), I do ask that you actively participate in the process and share honest feedback with me about your experience and ways that it can be improved.
I draw on a range of modalities including narrative therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, emotions-focused therapy, expressive modalities, somatic work, existential therapy and LGBTQ+ Affirming therapy. Most predominantly I utilize Attachment Theory in my approach.
As a Queer therapist with my own mental health experiences, I ensure that my personal and professional values are aligned; as such, I will always work from anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, LGBTQ+ affirming standards of care.
Have any more questions about my approach? Feel free to reach out and I will be happy to answer! Or book a free consultation to see if Cultivate Counselling is right for you.