Poiesis Counselling

03/22/2024

Prepping for teaching my Sociology of Family class at usask. Each class I use a picture from the awkward family portraits website at the beginning of my PowerPoint slides. Just a fun way to start the class. This gem is up for tomorrows class slides 😂 portraits

03/12/2024

Can you see those tiny specks in the sky? While out for a walk today and I heard a familiar noise and it was (as they say) music to my ears!! The honk of the geese returning home after the winter! (only time I like Canadian geese honking) 😉 now where are those pelicans?!!

03/04/2024

10/25/2023

After much thought and conversations with colleagues, Poiesis counselling will be providing short-term (limited) counselling to self-identifying women, children & youth who are impacted by the violence in Israel and Gaza. This will be based on referral primarily as capacity is limited. Feel free to share with anyone who may benefit. P.S. If you want to know more about how I am approaching this logistically and ethically feel free to reach out :)

10/21/2023

Night time ponderings…sometimes I lay in bed asking myself the strangest why questions. I find that in the space between awake and sleep my brain seems to question what it did not at the time. This may seem impressively philosophical but usually they are outright strange, tonight my pondering fell somewhere in the middle. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one!

10/19/2023

This is what incorporating trauma informed creative expression is all about! There is something powerful in creating a new reality, even for just one moment as you create something new through a medium such as art.

10/15/2023

Saw one of the most incredible women I know. She oversaw operations that resulted over 10,000 people being released from forced labour in India through legal reform. So lovely to see you again!

10/13/2023

During a recent training a colleague shared a visualization exercise they really like. I like it too and all the fall leaves are a great reminder for me to do it whenever I need. In the exercise, you visualize a tree, filled with leaves, standing tall over a gently flowing river. I like to imagine the tree with beautiful fall colours and those crispy leaves ready to fall. Imagine yourself sitting by the tree watching the river run by. Tune into what’s going on inside, how your body feels, your breath, what you can hear, maybe the smell of the fall air. As worries enter your mind put them each on a leave and imagine those leaves floating down from the tree and floating away down the river. I like to do this exercise for as long as I need until my body feels relaxed and my mind settled. Try it out! Happy Friday!

09/21/2023

Adding another tool to my clinical toolkit for working with folks who have experienced trauma…Taking Trauma Focused CBT certification training over the next couple days.
What is TF-CBT?
“TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents impacted by trauma and their parents or caregivers. It is a components-based treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles and techniques.
(NCTSN)”
Training is so important to me, first to better serve people I work with and because I am a big nerd 🤓💕

07/18/2023

Being a social worker practicing in the area of trauma, I often worry about my children experiencing something traumatic and having to live with the lasting impact of that trauma. When my daughter was hospitalized last winter for RSV, I was worried that this would be the event that traumatized her for the rest of her life. It was traumatic. She could have died. She was terrified. I was terrified. AND she was not traumatized. She was surrounded by safe people who were scared too, who felt alongside her, who held her in her often delirious state. Someone put it like this, and it will forever ring in my ears when a difficult situation comes along and I have that fear once again. They said “there is a difference between a traumatic event and being traumatized by an event”. For my daughter that difference was safe and loving people in her life. Early intervention and support in traumatizing events is so important and can be a game changer for kids, teens, and adults alike.

07/13/2023

In working with children and youth, I have spoken to many teachers and EA’s working with students who are struggling with their mental health. Often they have expressed feeling helpless, not knowing how to help them. I like to share the concept in this quote, that connection and relationship is critical to healing. That is something anyone can do to help! The weight of struggling that children, youth, or anyone for that matter, is not yours do carry and you don’t need to be a therapist to help. Take a breath, you can help by offering relationship and connection.

07/11/2023