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WHO I HELP…

• Adults with Grief and Loss.

• Children and adolescents (both neurodivergent and neurotypical) struggling with anxiety, identity, intrusive thoughts, and social hardships. Those making sense of their future and their place in this world.

• Adults struggling with anxiety, depression, life transitions, relationship challenges, emotional regulation, anger, and self-esteem.

HOW I WORK…

Person-Centred Therapy is about creating the right psychological environment for change. Whether with adults or with young people, deep understanding and radical acceptance (from the counsellor) are the basis for this environment to thrive.

• Understanding comes about through curiosity, generous listening, checking in, and working together to make sense of your lived experience, as you see and feel it. There are great depths to this.

• Acceptance - The world and people around us always seem to want us to change. As counsellor, I will meet your yearning for change with an embodied acceptance of who you are in this moment. There is a curious magic to the connection and healing that deep acceptance brings.

• Techniques - If it serves our work together, I will draw from modalities including the Dual-Process Model for Grief, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectic Behavioural Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Mindfulness and Holistic Therapy, and Ecotherapy. I also incorporate psychoeducation on neuroscience, grief as learning, development in young people, parenting, trauma, and traditional ways of being, into our work together.

ABOUT ME…

I immigrated from South Africa a decade ago for a better life for my two, now teenage sons. I’m grateful to live in the beautiful trees of North Vancouver.

• I volunteer at Hospice, helping people die a good death (which is different for each person), and hold space for family members who are going through a significant loss in their life.

• I also work as a peer, helping people with substance use, mental health, and homelessness challenges with the Vancouver Coastal Health outreach team on the North Shore. Where I provide 1:1 support with clients, group therapy sessions, and relationship building.

• Being a father is my most important role. I practice mindful walking and running in the forest with nature 3 to 5 times per week. I stop often and I connect with the trees. I love the colours of the sky. I sing, chant, and play the guitar. I value kindness, giving, responsibility, learning, and laughter.

WHAT DOES UBUNTU MEAN?

Pronounced “ooboontoo”

Ubuntu means “I am because we are” It comes from the African proverb: “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu“ - a person is a person through other people”.

Ubuntu is a feeling. There is a sweetness, and an openness of heart to Ubuntu. We help one another. We feel the interconnectedness with ourselves, each other, with the land and the whole world. In the Sub-Saharan African cultures where ubuntu originated, connection is valued, and isolation is a responsibility of the community not the just the individual.

Ubuntu is why I do the work I do. Actively taking responsibility for caring about each other makes life rich in meaning. I am also grateful for the times I have been on the other side, receiving support - those experiences have given me a deep compassion and respect for how hard it can sometimes feel to be a person in this world.

Book a free 15-minute consultation to see if we’re a good fit.

(Click read more to view) WHO I HELP… Adults with Grief and Loss. Children an... Read More