Practice information:

Vernon Playroom Opening Early 2024! Waitlist Open Now – Email for Details!

At Pathways Play Therapy Services, my mission is to support children’s mental and emotional wellbeing, strengthen their attachments, and increase their connection to self. As a play therapist and child counsellor, I work exclusively with children and those who care about them.

My approach is based in an understanding of the brain and nervous system, attachment, mindfulness, and regulation. This means that I will support your child at a deeper level, working with them to process the challenging behaviours, emotions, and thoughts that are causing distress. I will teach them new ways to regulate their emotions, sensory needs, and energy, and give them skills that they can use day-to-day.

Just as importantly, I will also partner with you to make sense of the struggles your child is facing and uncover ways to help them live a more joyful and fulfilled life.

Underlying my approach is the belief that play therapy needs to be anti-racist and inclusive. This means that my work is centered on partnering with you and your family to ensure that your child can be seen, supported and empowered in all their identities.

My ultimate goal is for your child to get to be their own healthy and connected one-of-a-kind self, and for you to feel supported as we help them get there.

I support children ages 2-8 years old with:

• behavioural challenges and outbursts
• foster and kinship care experiences
• traumatic experiences
• family conflict and separation
• emotional sensitivity
• anger
• attention and hyperactivity
• sensory processing overwhelm
• identity
• gender expression and exploration
• anxiety and worries
• sadness and depression
• learning differences
• social navigation
• challenging transitions (living with a new family, parental divorce, going to a new school, etc.).

About Me

I am a white, cisgender, allistic, able-bodied play therapist, Mom, and settler currently living and practicing on the unceded, ancestral and tradition territory of the Sqilxʷ/Syilx (Okanagan Nation).

I am a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association and a BC Registered Play Therapist (BCRPT) with the BC Play Therapy Association. I am also a Certified Synergetic Play Therapist & Supervisor with the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute.

I have worked with children, youth, and families for over 20 years, with a focus on child and youth mental health, including infant and early years mental health, family preservation, and foster and kinship care.

What to Expect: Coming to the Playroom

To provide your child with the opportunity to work through behavioural and emotional challenges in the ways that feel most congruent to them, the Pathways playroom is equipped with toys, games, art materials, a sandtray, regulation tools, and even a swing and a trampoline!

Appointments

All child appointments are offered in-person at the playroom with COVID-19 protocols in place.

All parent appointments are offered either over secure video or phone.

Extended Health Coverage

Partial coverage for therapy is possible through extended health benefit providers who include coverage for therapy with a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC).