I have worked with adults, youth and children, often with complex concerns and have a particular passion for working with parents in different contexts.
I have experience with acute, developmental, and intergenerational trauma; Dialectical Behavior Therapy; parenting support and groups; play therapy; pain management and medical psychology; therapeutic work in palliative care; and have worked broadly with psychiatric diagnoses.
I have guided clients through trauma; loss and grief; life transitions; struggles in relationships, life and work; existential concerns; and exploration and deeper understanding of themselves.
I use she/her pronouns and I support inclusivity of BIPOC and LGBTQ2S + and non-binary clients as well as all configurations of family structures.
BACKGROUND AND TRAINING
I was raised in South Africa where I completed my Masters Degree and training in Psychology at the University of Johannesburg and subsequently registered as a Clinical Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa in 2008. I have worked in several different inpatient and outpatient contexts and with a range of clients with various presenting problems and cultural backgrounds. As a joint clinical and academic appointee of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand, I spent two years working at a psychiatric training hospital in Johannesburg where I also trained and supervised community service and intern psychologists, psychiatry registrars and psychiatric nurses.
I registered as a Clinical Counsellor with the BCACC in 2015, shortly after moving to Vancouver, Canada.
For the last three and a half years, I have worked with youth, parents and families within the BC public health system. I have been providing Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) groups and individual therapy whilst working closely with an eminent DBT consult Team in Vancouver, and have worked intently with parents of youth who are struggling with suicidality and other high-risk behaviours in groups and individual consults.
I am passionate about learning and developing my clinical and theoretical skills and abilities and am engaged in continuous formal and informal ways of developing my education and practice including trainings and ongoing clinical supervision and consultation.
I am registered with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (#12671) and continue to maintain my registration as a Clinical Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (PS0104671).
Prior to my journey of working within mental health, I worked for several years as a fine artist and lecturer after having obtained my Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts through the University of the Witwatersrand in 1999.
At the heart of My practice is meeting the person in front of me as and where they are, and working with them to uncover unhelpful patterns that interfere with their ability to engage fully in life.
I am person-focused, empathic, patient, respectful and present in my work with clients, and am guided by a strong sense of integrity and ethics.
I integrate psychodynamic theory and practice with evidence-based interventions to better understand the client, while equipping them with skills to help them facilitate their own development and growth.
I acknowledge that I am privileged to live, work and play on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Watuth) Nations of the Coast Salish peoples who have cared for and nurtured the land for generations.