There is no health without mental health.
Mental and emotional wellness are essential for living a happy, fulfilling and productive life.
Mental wellness includes positive self-regard, fulfilling social relationships, meaningful work, productivity, goal achievement, good physical health, and proactive stress management.
Mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, are not brain-based phenomena. They are a result of multiple factors, including the health of our bodies and brains, our home and work environment, our mindset, personal beliefs and experiences, and our social relationships, among others.
Therefore truly addressing mental health concerns involves taking whole-body, person-centred view.
How I Approach Mental Health Conditions:
Case taking: I am interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of how you are as a person. We spend over 60 minutes together at each appointment to form a therapeutic relationship and make sure we both have a thorough understanding of all the pieces that influence your health.
Diagnoses are valuable they remind us that it’s not because there is something wrong with us. They make us feel less alone. In addition to knowing what is going on with you, I talk with you to understand how the diagnosis occurs in your life.
Uncovering Root Causes: I look at mental health conditions as symptoms, rather than disease. Together we try to understand what biological, psychological, social and environmental factors may be influencing your mood and mental functioning.
Digestion: The digestive system is often at the seat of mental health conditions. We look at the health of your microbiome, and rule out any gut infections, inflammatory gut conditions, like leaky gut, and food sensitivities.
Nutrition: Ensuring that the proper building blocks are in place for optimal mental and emotional health.
Counselling: I have additional training in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing.
Stress and Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis: We talk about stress, burnout and how cortisol, the stress hormone may be contributing to your symptoms.
Hormones: Our hormones have the ability to profoundly impact our mood. From our blood sugar, to our stress hormones, to the hormones that impact our fertility and mentstrual cycles, I look and test for signs of hormonal imbalance.
Amino acids and Nutritional Supplementation: To help balance neurotransmitters in the brain.
Mitochondrial Health: Our mitochondria are the energy-generators of our cells. Impaired mitochondrial function in the brain may contribute to mental health symptoms, and chronic inflammation.
Herbal Therapies: Herbs are particularly helpful for improving hormonal, mitochondrial, and neurotransmitter balance, for lowering inflammation, improving stress resilience, and healing the digestive system.
Research: Mental health research is an exciting field. I stay on top of current and emerging therapeutic tools, like heat therapy, mindfulness and self-compassion.
Conditions Treated:
ADD | ADHD | Addictions | Anxiety| Body Image | Bipolar Disorder | Depression | Eating Disorders | OCD| Panic Disorder | PMS | PMDD | PTSD | Self-Criticism | Self-Esteem| Stress Management | Children and Youth
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Mental Health Articles
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Self-Care and Political Warfare
I was in an emotional crisis. My partner and I were fighting. It was my fault and the anxiety I endured from the confrontation was compounded by a deep sense of guilt and shame. I felt powerless as I waited for him to reach out to me so we could fix the problem while...
Healing Within the Therapeutic Relationship
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Gratitude Journal Part 2
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Dear Medical Doctor, I am a naturopathic physician. On a Facebook page hosted by some peers in my profession, a young naturopathic doctor expressed distress at having her attempt to forge ties with one of her patients' medical doctor thwarted. Needing her patient to...
Gratitude Journal
im grateful for long flowing skirts that blow in the summer breeze and weather that's appropriate for wearing them. im grateful for the spanish language and the smiling people who speak it and the songs sung in it with deep, crooning voices. im grateful for playlists...
On trust, control, yerba mate and other interesting things
"There are a lot of things up in the air in my life right now." My friend, S, told me as we sat on the grass enjoying the first of two yerba mate-and-chit-chat experiences I'd partake in in the following two days. "I just have to trust that things will eventually...
How to Train Your Dragon
I woke up in the middle of the night to find the dragon lying in my bed. Snoring politely, he looked very small, about the size of a beagle. He was staying on his side of the bed, so I tried to get back to sleep. I'd met this beast before and knew he often brought...