Practice information:

Has illness taken away the activities that give your life meaning? Have you had traumatizing encounters with the medical system? Do you find yourself doubting your own experience of your body? Do you feel lazy when you respond to your body’s demands for rest? Do you have anxiety or depression caused by your illness? Has illness upended how you see yourself, how others see you, and what’s important to you? Do you feel embarrassed when your invisible illness becomes visible? Do you worry that you aren’t sick enough to be on disability or stop working or have a disabled parking pass? Have you lost relationships because of your illness? 

Reach out to me and together we can discover meaning and purpose amid your changing identities, abilities and relationships. We can find your peace and joy, not only in the face of loss, but often because of it. We can uncover how ableism & stigma influence the way you see yourself and your illness. We can unearth freedom using radical acceptance and self-compassion. Together, with non-judgement, authenticity (& humour), we can find a way through the grief & loss to a better life, even with illness.

I am a social worker, counsellor, mother, and writer living on Mayne Island. I provide online individual and group counselling for people (and their loved ones) living with chronic illnesses. An authentic, open, enthusiastic practitioner, I am passionate about uncovering the social roots of personal difficulties. My own experience of invisible chronic illnesses and my years of counselling people with illness have given me a deep understanding of the experiences & struggles of invisible illness.

Group counselling is at the heart of what I do. When therapy happens in a small group with skilled facilitators, participants are inspired to find new ways of solving their old problems. When we hear others speak about things that mirror our own experiences, our troubles transform from individual ones that we bear alone, to ones that we shoulder collectively. Rather than seeing our problems as aberrations that we must make disappear, we can begin to see them as intrinsic parts of the common human experience. Group therapy can also be more affordable than individual counselling and you may find that you make progress more quickly. 

I have recently left my job at a provincial program for people with ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Lyme Disease, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities to open a private practice. I am available for individual counselling and am running therapy groups for people with chronic illness starting this fall. You can find more information about these groups on my website that is linked here.