My Approach
Trauma-Informed, Attachment-Based Therapy for Adults Who Are Tired of Just Managing
You're not broken. You're protecting something.
Many of my clients don't come in thinking of themselves as "anxious people" or "traumatized." They come in exhausted from managing, performing, and holding it together. Underneath that exhaustion is almost always the same quiet belief: that something about them is fundamentally wrong.
I don't work from that assumption. I believe you're not broken, you're protecting something. Somewhere along the way, likely long before you had language for it, certain feelings weren't safe to have, so you learned to manage instead of feel. That strategy made sense once. It's probably also what's keeping you stuck now.
What This Looks Like in Session
I pay close attention to what's happening in real time:
The sigh you just let out.
The joke that follows the hard thing.
The moment your face says one thing and your words say another.
I name what I notice, directly but with care, because your body and language are usually further ahead than your conscious mind.
I'm a direct therapist. I won't sit back and wait for insight to arrive on its own, I'll help you see where to look, and where you can stop looking. I challenge, but I never shame. Most clients leave sessions feeling both confronted and, somehow, more at ease.
If this sounds like the kind of support you're looking for, I'd be glad to talk.
Theories and Techniques
My approach draws on several evidence-informed methods, tailored to your needs.
-
Attachment-based: understanding how early relationships will shape how you connect, trust, and protect yourself today.
-
Emotionally-Focused: working directly with the emotion in the room, not just talking about it.
-
Trauma-Informed Care: pacing the work so it proceeds in a way that centres your safety and autonomy.
-
Narrative Therapy: helping you separate your identity from the story you've been telling about yourself.
-
Parts Work: recognizing the different, often conflicting, parts of you that are all there for a reason.
-
Grounded throughout in a humanistic, person-centred lens.
I hold an Honours BA in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, and I'm a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the CRPO (license #18930), practising under the supervision of Kim Lawrence, RSW.
Who I Work With
I work most often with adults navigating anxiety, burnout, trauma, low self-esteem, people-pleasing, or a difficult relationship with a parent — along with couples ready to break old patterns, and clients looking for ADHD-affirming therapy. Sessions are available in-person in Kingston or through online therapy anywhere in Ontario.