More about me

I identify as a cisgender, white settler; my pronouns are she/her. I came into this world from a confluence of migrations across Canada and the US to the prairies in Treaty 6 territory. My ancestors were uninvited settlers to this continent, hailing from Scotland, Ireland, and England and making their home in New Brunswick, Canada and Virginia, USA. Most recently, my paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Serbia to Canada where my grandmother was born. I acknowledge my family legacy as an uninvited guest on the territory of the Snuneymuxw Nation.

I grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and I have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2008. I was drawn to counselling as a career following the death of my mother in a car accident. I sought out psychotherapy to help me explore my grief.

Death continued to haunt me and I lost my mentor, an incredibly caring man who had instilled me with a sense of purpose around my career. Eventually, I found myself at the Haven Institute on Gabriola Island and embarked on a decade long journey of self-discovery and psychoeducational training.

As I got to know myself, and started to discover my emotional landscape, it became clear that I needed to make significant changes in my life. My passion for psychology and personal growth could not be ignored and I began the process of shifting my career to mental health.

My previous academic background and career was in environmental science and geomatics (the study of the earth’s surface). My deep loving for the environment and natural ecosystems is core to my identity. I believe people are tied to the environments they live in and I am concerned with the mental health impacts of environmental degradation and ecosystem change.