work: current & historical
As a psychotherapist, I use Gestalt therapy as a foundation with other research-based methods to find the best way to help my clients.
As a curious Sagittarius, I began asking “good questions” when I was a child (a good question was usually one that adults couldn’t answer!).
This tendency served me well in my 25-years as a qualitative researcher, consultant and trainer, whose job was to ask questions (in focus groups and in-depth interviews), carefully listen and observe, then write about what happened.
It also helps as a psychotherapist. I work intuitively, using a Gestalt approach as my foundation, and draw from other modalities as needed. These include: CBT (cognitive behavior therapy); DBT (dialectical behavior therapy); emotion-focused therapy; art therapy; psychodrama; dream interpretation; mindfulness and spirituality; the wisdom in 12-step programs; harm reduction; and the bio-psycho-social approach.
My job is to be with you and support you—to listen, to guide you to some awareness, and with your permission, to suggest things to try (experiments). The aim is to find what works for you.
I started developing workshops based on what was important for me to learn in my own recovery. The ‘No’ series of boundary-setting workshops began in 2002 via Toronto’s Learning Annex (2002-2003), the North York Women’s Centre (2007-2008), and the Gestalt Institute of Toronto (2007-2009).
Between 2011 and 2015, I co-lead various groups and workshops with colleagues on emotional eating (Hungry or Not, at the Gestalt Institute) and body image, with Vanity & Sanity, and then Love, Hate & Mirrors at Sheena’s Place.)
The idea for a women’s support group started at Christmas in 2014, with Holiday Blues. This progressed to various Talk-it-Out support groups and workshops for women lasting from 4-to-6 weeks, and included FADES: Food addiction and disordered eating support, which became ongoing. When the pandemic began, FADES continued online until summer 2023.
Most recently, during the pandemic I created an online training workshop for therapists on disordered eating, a lifelong goal. There is such a need for help in this area.