Renée Willis: Freed & On Fire

01/29/2026

Feeling stuck or overwhelmed? You’re not alone. Visit my new website to discover how Freed & On Fire Counselling integrates neuroscience and the practice of learning how to be loved healthy to help you reclaim your clarity and confidence. Your journey to grounded clarity and actionable change starts now

About Freed and On Fire Counselling

At Freed and On Fire Counselling, healing begins with emotional safety. This is a space where your story is held with care, your voice is honoured, and your transformation is deeply supported.

Founded, 2009, by trauma-informed counsellor Renée Willis, Freed and On Fire is more than a practice — it’s a philosophy. It’s about liberation from what no longer serves you, and the quiet ignition of what’s always been within. Whether you’re navigating grief, trauma, identity, or life transitions, you’ll be met with grounded compassion, clear guidance, and a belief in your capacity to grow.

Renée’s approach blends professional expertise with deep emotional attunement. Every session is shaped by your needs, your pace, and your truth. You won’t find one-size-fits-all solutions here — only thoughtful, empowering support that honours your complexity.

This practice is built for real life. For the messy, beautiful, painful, powerful moments that shape us. For the people who are ready to feel more free, more clear, and more alive.

Freed and On Fire Counselling is where warmth meets clarity — and where you meet yourself.

Renée Willis, OCT, MS-Ed., CCP., CPT., PICP Bio-Signature, Owner and Founder of Freed And On Fire Counselling

905 536 8062

In person sessions available in London, Ontario.
Virtual Sessions are available for inside and outside Canada.

Professional trauma-informed counseling in London, Ontario for anxiety, trauma, relationships, and more. Compassionate support for your healing journey.

01/29/2026

And if that is how you feel it is likely because of unresolved trauma from the past, or it is because you live in a situation where a person is unhealthy and abusing you. And unfortunately is could mean both.

It's about being real, being seen, and your pain being measured. Which is a part of being loved well, healthy love.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
Renee

01/29/2026

Pick a lane, name that name a beautiful name that is personalized to you, and then stay in that lane. The world will tug, and try to pull you off your track and go to it's lane. That lane is not yours. I am not talking about being delusional, and not aware; I am talking about guarding your mind, and your spirit from things that are dark and can take over. Mr. Rodgers said something once that impacted me greatly and he said, 'when there is problems in the world, look to find the helpers' because there are always helpers. And I say in the lane that you choose for you, surround yourself with helpers and be a leader of helping others as well.

We are either making this world a better place or a more painful place. We are either making each room we enter a better one or a worst one. I am not saying we need to not be an advocate, I am most certainly saying we need brave hearts to advocate for others because that is all the healthy love.

Lead in love, walk in love, and know you are greatly loved.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
Renee

If it matters, it’ll reach me. If not, it was never my problem.

01/29/2026

Unless it's a trigger, it's the truth. It's neuroscience and it's about healthy love.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
Renee

Leave a 💙 if you agree.

01/28/2026

When we grew up in chaotic homes, we may have developed C-PTSD which in short is being under stress for a long period in our lives and how nervous systems are greatly affected, a part of our mind called the amygdala is hijack and stuck in the 'danger danger mode' which either shows up in hypervigilance or hypovigilance. And you know if you have one or the other because you are either on high alert all the time or exhausted and need to shut down.

Moving forward healing is titrated because it is neuroscience. It's not simply 'well now you know, do differently'. Saying something like that can harm the individual even more.

It is though about healthy love, having a calm nervous system and it feels amazing.

All the healthy love,
Renee

Watch what happens on a random Thursday when nothing exciting is happening. Are they present? Are they engaged? Or does their attention only show up when something interesting is going on?

Notice the pattern over weeks. Do they show up reliably or only when it's convenient? Do plans hold or constantly shift? Do commitments mean something or are they just well-intentioned ideas?

The micro-pattern of someone following through on small things tells you whether they'll show up for big things. Someone who can't be consistent with Tuesday dinner plans won't suddenly become reliable during a crisis.

Consistency isn't boring. It's the evidence that someone's words actually mean something and their presence in your life is something you can count on.

01/28/2026

I have had many conversations where adults can't remember much at all of their childhood. When we had to live in high stress environments, our brain was not able to take moments and store it in our long term memory. It's outstanding how many people still believe that their childhood was normal and yet suffer in many ways as an adult. And it makes sense because if it is all you knew, then you would not be able to compare healthy vrs unhealthy and that is why we normalize things that were not good and that is why we get in unhealthy relationships, have high anxiety, and other symptoms of suffering. It's yet again neuroscience and all about healthy love.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
That is the way of Freed And On Fire Counselling.

Renee

01/27/2026

01/27/2026

Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis is so important. Do not go to your child and talk about your problems with them. Never do this and never lean on them to help support you and be the counselor, parent, etc. They are a child and they do not have the bandwidth to do this job and if you put them in this position, it will create emotional pain for them that will last a lifetime. It's neuroscience and it is about healthy love.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
Renee

01/26/2026

How many of us hear, 'quit your crying or I'll give you something to cry about!". And we normalized it. And we normalized so much more because it is all we know and we expect our parents to love us in healthy ways yet we never felt safe or seen. And we suffered then and every day since in one way or another. So we need to pause, and stop this kind of treatment and call it neglect and abuse. We need to name it. 'You abused me', 'you emotionally neglected me as a child'.

It's now all about the healthy love.

Warmth, Clarity and YOU.
Renee

Never laugh at your child’s fears.
Not the dark. Not the nightmares. Not the monsters, the loud noises, the empty hallway, or the anxiety that shows up before school.

Fear isn’t a flaw to fix.
It’s not something to shut down, rush through, or make fun of.

Fear is something a child learns to move through, slowly, safely, with someone they trust nearby.

When you stay close instead of dismissing it, you teach them something powerful:
Fear doesn’t get smaller by being ignored.
It gets smaller when it’s faced with support.

Stand beside them.
Let them take small steps.
Resist the urge to push, tease, or toughen them up before they’re ready.

Courage isn’t born from shame.
It grows when fear is met with patience, reassurance, and repetition.

These fears don’t disappear because we pretend they aren’t real.
They fade when a child feels safe enough to face them, and safe enough comes from you.

Your role isn’t to force bravery.
It’s to walk with them until bravery shows up on its own.

Every time they face a fear and come out okay, their world gets bigger.
And fear?
It loses just a little more power.