North-Central Alberta (Westlock, Athabasca, and Beyond)
WELCOME!
A BIT ABOUT ME
"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise."
- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949
My parents were ecologists - my dad of eminence and my mum with artist eyes. They raised me amid wilderness and academia, with a soul-deep connection to our living planet. I was taught to respect the interaction between plants and animals and the place they call home. "The Balance of Nature," my parents said.
And the balance was in trouble, I sensed even then.
Seeking options and solutions, I set off on a path that led me, in time, from ecologist to women's mental health therapist. It's women's wellbeing that is core to a sustainable future, I concluded. The health of our living planet requires women living satisfying, connected, and empowered lives.
Climate change
Today, I am a women's counselling therapist, specializing in trauma and working mostly with rural women. Rural women - a culture with unique experiences, perspectives, values and connection to the Land. As a rural woman myself, I cherish my life in Alberta's countryside. But, daily now, I witness climate impacts and ecological devastation.
Oh, I know the distress of climate change. I feel the pain. The fear. The uncertainty. Accordingly, I'm reaching out to like-minded others. And I can tell you first-hand that healthy connection helps.
My offering
As a concerned citizen and established trauma (and addictions) therapist, I'm now offering the healthy connection and appropriate therapy needed to navigate the climate crisis. I'm providing the support required to openly express concerns, locate resources, explore issues, heal wounds, and find the right path. And always, too, I am helping clients learn how to calm both their body and mind.
That is, I am offering climate-trauma therapy that helps frayed nervous systems - body-based (somatic) therapy. Body-based therapy for body-based trauma - appropriate support! It asks not what's wrong with you but what happened to you and listens to your body's knowing as well as your words. It is science-based and informative, gentle, and effective.
In fact, it's how I help protect our living planet today - one nervous system at a time. Because body-based therapy regulates our nervous system and heals our wounds not just symptoms, it fosters lifelong change. Important! It also promotes wellbeing, healthy relationships, and resilience - and, therefore, a satisfied, connected, and empowered life.
Body-based self-care is vital, too. In addition to offering body-based therapy, I coach body-based self-care. Rooted in our healthy nervous system, body-based self-care is the action we can take to ensure healthy body, mind, and spirit. It allows us to live in the moment amid calm, ease, and self-awareness. It cultivates the inner peace necessary to live consciously, think clearly, and work collectively to ensure a sustainable planet.
Our healthy planet requires our healthy selves.
A BIT ABOUT (CLIMATE) TRAUMA
Trauma is our body's emotional and psychological response to an overwhelming and uncontrollable experience. It is the fear and helplessness we feel when we encounter "Too much. Too soon. Too fast. Too long." Danger!
More specifically, when our body perceives danger, its systems rev up to protect us (fight-flight-freeze-fawn "survival response") and settle down when all's safe. Activation and calm, activation and calm: it's how our nervous system flows normally. Ever vigilant and instantly responsive, our healthy nervous system is said to be "regulated."
A regulated nervous system results in sense of calm, ease, and self-awareness. It is the experience of "being in the moment" and present to ourselves, our relationships, and our immediate world. It allows us to think clearly and, therefore, to live "consciously," making sound choices and taking responsibility for our lives versus responding instinctively or automatically.
But sometimes our nervous system is dysregulated.
That means sometimes our body gets stuck in high gear. Why? Because sometimes the danger is way "too much or too soon or too fast or too long" for our body to appropriately respond to the danger or return to its balance. Our body remains charged, in survival mode. Fight-flight-freeze response. And we experience physical, psychological, and emotional outcomes like panic attacks, scattered thoughts, and disruptive emotions.
Think climate crisis. No wonder anxiety, depression, and despair are on the upswing (even denial - the fawn of flight-flight-freeze-fawn)! No wonder challenges associated with emotional stress are on the rise - like relationship struggles, communication problems, domestic violence, substance abuse, decision-making challenges, and life transitions.
No, it's not weird. In fact, it's anything but weird: it's the understood impact of trauma on our nervous system. It's our body's natural response to the overwhelming and uncontrollable event called climate change.
PHOTO ABOVE
Me - amid the ceaseless deforestation of industrial agriculture
(Near Phantom River Refuge)