MY APPROACH:

Choosing a counsellor can be a challenging task, so here is a brief overview of what you can expect from our meetings:

- a relational approach: Gestalt emphasizes relationality in the here and now. For example, it brings attention to how counsellor and client meet in the present moment — and to what unfolds between them as they do so. I may inquire what the client is experiencing while telling their story, and which emotions arise in them as they speak. Through this approach, it becomes possible to bring relational patterns into the immediate awareness of our encounter, allowing counsellor and client to find creative ways to work through them together.

- an embodied approach: often people are disconnected from their bodily experience, as most individuals are socialized in a culture that attributes the greatest value to thoughts and words. Paying attention to sensations and impulses can sometimes offer a different way of understanding what is happening in you, and can help bring greater connection between body and mind. This unfolds as client and counsellor together turn their attention toward their felt sensations, attuning to what emerges, and what knowledge the body may hold.

- a socially aware approach: every individual has a unique socio-cultural background, and this profoundly shapes how they relate to the world and how the world relates to them. These backgrounds inevitably enter the counselling room, carried by both client and counsellor. Therefore our work will involve an ongoing inquiry into how our unique identities intersect, and what can be revealed, created, or deepened in the space between them. This commitment to reflexive engagement with social context is underpinned by my dedication to working—and living—in an anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, and anti-exploitative manner.