$55 CDN (plus GST)

When I first decided to move from teaching to counselling as a career, my primary driver was that I wanted to do less marking and less prep. I essentially wanted to do less unpaid overtime and I wanted the financial raise that comes from completing a Masters Degree program in the school system. 

After a few years of teaching, students started coming to see me after school to ‘talk.’ After 45 minutes or so, I’d need to shoo them out of my classroom so I could get back to the business of teaching. 

Then, in February 2005, I was in a significant car accident that left me riddled with back pain. For 2 years, I tried so many modalities for healing: massage therapy, kinesiology, physiotherapy, medication and more. Nothing was working. 

In September 2006, I started the Masters Degree program in Counselling Psychology at UVIC. 

In April 2007, I was referred to a muscular-skeletal specialist. These scans showed that there was nothing physical of concern. The doctor asked me if I had ever experienced a traumatic incident. I told her that I had. She explained how the body will hold onto trauma from the past and suggested counselling. 

As counsellors in training, we had to participate in triads, where one person is the counsellor, another is the client and the other is the observer. Many topics were off-limits but car accidents were not on that list. 

Within 3 months of participating in the counselling triads, my back pain dissipated and I settled with my insurance company after 2 years of other therapies. 

This is Neuroplasticity in Progress. The brain’s ability to change itself absolutely blows my mind! I went from being motivated by time/work/life balance to the deep belief that counselling can work and that I can help facilitate real change in others’ lives. 

All counselling sessions happen over Zoom. Please note that at this time, my services are not claimable on extended benefits.