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info@saltwatercedar.com

Therapist and human.

I’ve always been someone who feels things deeply. I care deeply about people, relationships, growth, and creating spaces where others feel comfortable enough to be real. While I value professionalism and strong clinical foundations, I also believe therapy works best when it feels genuine, relational, and unfiltered.

Education

Diploma
Child and Youth Care


Focused on relational practice, attachment, child and adolescent development, emotional wellbeing, behavioural support, family systems, trauma-informed care, and supporting children, youth, and families within community  settings.

Bachelor's of Arts
Psychology


Deep exploration of human behaviour, mental health, emotional processes, attachment, relationships, cognition, and psychological theory across the lifespan, providing a foundational understanding of the complexity of human experience and wellbeing.

Masters of Arts
Counselling Psychology


Comprehensive advanced clinical training in counselling and psychotherapy theory, including a comprehensive clinical internship supporting individuals, couples, youth, and families navigating emotional, relational, and life challenges.

Post Masters
Commitment to Growth


I value ongoing learning, reflection, and professional growth, and believe good therapy requires both humility and continued curiosity. I remain committed to deepening my knowledge through ongoing education, clinical supervision, consultation, and training to ensure my work remains thoughtful, ethical, relational, and responsive to the evolving needs of the people I support.




My Background


I was born and raised on Vancouver Island and have always felt deeply connected to the values, and groundedness of the West Coast. I’m an eldest daughter and eldest granddaughter (if you know, you know). Somewhere along the way, that translated into becoming a high-functioning recovering perfectionist, chronic over-responsibilizer, and what my family lovingly referred to as “the one that never stops.” It turns out carrying too much, moving too fast, and trying to hold everything together is both a skillset and a nervous system response.


I’m also a partner, sister, proud aunty, dog mom, and someone who values relationships, humour, honesty, and meaningful connection very deeply. My life experiences have given me a close understanding of the complexities many people quietly navigate within themselves and their families. Mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, OCD, and substance use, are just a few of the complexities that have touched my family system in various ways, and have shaped my understanding of resilience, coping, caregiving, and the very human ways people attempt to survive pain and disconnection.


I was also diagnosed with breast cancer as a young adult, an experience that profoundly shaped my relationship with my body, identity, health, and sense of self. Navigating surgeries, medically induced menopause, survivorship, grief, uncertainty, and the long-term emotional and physical impacts of cancer gave me a deeply personal understanding of what it means to rebuild yourself while life continues moving around you. It also strengthened my passion for supporting those navigating identity shifts, burnout, physical changes, health experiences, and reconnecting with themselves in compassionate and sustainable ways.


Throughout my life, I have also carried a strong appreciation for Indigenous values, relationships, and ways of knowing and being - something deeply influenced by my late grandfather and reinforced through both personal relationships and years of community-based work. Ideas around connection, reciprocity, community care, relational accountability, and understanding people within the context of their lived experiences continue to shape both who I am.


My professional path has always centered around people, relationships, advocacy, and supporting others through complex life experiences. Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked across frontline youth care, residential trauma support, addiction recovery, education, leadership, crisis intervention, community programming, and counselling roles. These experiences continue to deeply shape the way I connect with people and understand the systems, relationships, and survival strategies that impact mental health and wellbeing.


I began my career working directly with children, youth, and families within residential care and community-based settings, supporting young people with extensive trauma histories, mental health concerns, substance use challenges, behavioural complexities, family instability, and experiences of systemic disconnection. Much of this work involved walking alongside youth through highly vulnerable moments, helping create safety, stability, emotional regulation, trust, life skills, and connection in environments where many had experienced very little consistency or felt sense of belonging. 


Over time, my work evolved into leadership and systems-focused roles, including serving in General Manager and Director level roles where I developed and oversaw trauma-informed programming, staff development, crisis management, policy work, practicum programs, and collaborative care planning. 


For the past several years, my work has also included advocacy and leadership within Indigenous education and community systems, supporting Coast Salish children, youth, adults, and families while working collaboratively with Chief and Council, and regional, provincial, and federal partners. This work has strengthened my understanding of systemic barriers, intergenerational trauma, relational accountability, community care, and the importance of advocacy that remains grounded in relationships and lived realities.


Throughout all of these roles one thing has remained consistent: I’ve always been drawn most strongly to the human side of the work. The relationships. The trust. The moments where people feel safe enough to let their guard down a little. While I value leadership and systems-level work, I ultimately felt pulled back toward therapeutic work that allows for deeper connection, slower conversations, and the privilege of walking alongside people.

Approach


My approach to therapy is relational, collaborative, trauma-informed, and nervous system-aware. I believe meaningful change often begins when we have enough safety, support, and space to slow down and better understand ourselves with greater compassion, clarity, and care.


I recognize that many emotional responses, coping strategies, and relational patterns develop as ways of adapting to stress, overwhelm, disconnection, or difficult life experiences. Rather than viewing these responses as something “wrong,” I aim to approach them with curiosity, care, and understanding.



Therapy with me is not about rushing toward quick answers or forcing change before you feel ready. I value creating a space that feels emotionally safe, collaborative, and grounded, where your experiences are honored at a pace that feels manageable and respectful of your capacity.


I believe clients are the experts of their own lives, and I aim to approach our work with curiosity, collaboration, and respect for your autonomy and lived experience. I will not push you where you are not ready to go. At the same time, I also recognize that growth can sometimes require gentle challenge, reflection, redirection, or exploring the patterns and protective strategies that may be keeping you stuck. My role is not simply to sit beside you passively, but to thoughtfully support, guide, and at times compassionately challenge you in ways that feel safe, attuned, and meaningful.


Our work may involve exploring thoughts, emotions, relationships, patterns, beliefs, body-based responses, and nervous system adaptations that have developed over time. Together, we can make space for both reflection and practical support while working toward meaningful and sustainable change.



My work is informed by person-centred, relational, attachment-aware, and trauma-informed approaches, alongside an interest in neuroscience, neuroplasticity, and nervous system regulation. I believe healing often involves both greater self-understanding and greater self-compassion - recognizing the ways people learn to survive, protect themselves, adapt, and seek connection throughout their lives.


I draw from an eclectic mix of evidence-based therapeutic approaches and adapt therapy to the unique needs, goals, and experiences of each client. Depending on the individual and the work we are doing together, this may include elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), inner child work, mindfulness-based approaches, somatic awareness, and emotionally focused or relational interventions.


Some therapeutic work may involve reflection, insight, emotional processing, and meaning-making, while other parts of healing may focus more on nervous system awareness, emotional regulation, coping strategies, communication patterns, relationships, or reconnecting with parts of yourself that have been shaped by stress, overwhelm, trauma, or difficult life experiences.


Rather than applying a rigid therapeutic model, I view therapy as collaborative, responsive, and deeply individualized - recognizing that different people may need different types of support, challenge, reflection, skill-building, or emotional processing at different times in their lives.


 

Experiences of stress, trauma, overwhelm, and disconnection are not held only in thoughts or emotions, but can also shape the nervous system and the body’s responses over time.

Some therapeutic work happens through reflection, language, and insight, while other parts of healing may involve noticing sensations, emotional responses, protective patterns, and the ways the body responds to stress or safety.


I value integrating both top-down and bottom-up approaches in therapy, supporting clients in building awareness, emotional understanding, regulation, and connection in ways that feel supportive and sustainable.



I believe therapy should feel steady, collaborative, and deeply human.

My approach is client-centred and grounded in the understanding that each person arrives with different experiences, needs, capacities, and ways of moving through the world. I value creating a space where clients feel emotionally safe, respected, and able to move at a pace that feels manageable and supportive for them.


At the same time, therapy is not always passive. While I deeply respect each client’s pace and autonomy, I also recognize that growth and healing sometimes require gentle challenge, reflection, or support in moving toward difficult conversations, emotions, or changes. When appropriate — and when a client feels open and ready — I may take a more active or directive role in helping explore patterns, build insight, strengthen coping strategies, or support meaningful movement forward.


You do not need to arrive with perfect words, clear goals, or everything figured out. My role is not to push, pathologize, or “fix,” but to walk alongside you with curiosity, compassion, honesty, and care while supporting the changes that feel important to you.