Our treatment process

The human brain has the amazing capacity to change and heal, with support and tools in the right area, you can make the transformation to a stronger, healthier you!

Expressive Arts Therapy

This a cutting edge approach to addressing life’s challenges. The experience of expressive arts might be the creation of a painting, writing of a poem, music or simply a movement of the hand.

Within these creative expressions lie opportunities to open space to expanding ideas and beliefs. These are stories of possibilities. These are the sounds when meaning is echoed in suffering. We may delight in the surprise that emerges from ones work with the image, the word, the song.

EXAT can take many forms and can be done individually and for any issue including grief, anxiety, anger, trauma, just to name a few. Or it can take place in a group session, where process and healing happen within the group. Finally expressive arts can be a modality that is used in both a training element for professionals who want to build on their own practice or as a team building event or exercise.

“Art gave me words when my voice was stuck.” – anonymous

Kids Counselling

Is Anxiety and difficult behaviour holding your child back? It’s time to level the playing field and give them the skills they need to thrive under pressure. Up-scale your parenting to help your child manage difficult feelings and emotions.

You need an emotional interpreter who not only knows how to identify the problem, but how to address the root causes – or, specifically, the story. Young people are incredible storytellers, but when that story is disruptive or destructive, it can affect his or her ability to move past an event and be in the present.

Carrie incorporates hands on learning with art materials to express feelings and emotions in a visual way. Kids don’t want to talk, they want to do, expressive arts can give your child a voice.

Your child or teen will leave the session with emotionally focused art that they create! Carrie then teaches parents how to use it as a tool to help kids get grounded.

Truth Is: You are a good parent and want to give your child every opportunity. Save yourself years of frustration and take the next step.

Individual Counselling

Are you looking for individual counselling that is unique and different than traditional talk therapy? Expressive Arts Therapy may be the key for your growth and personal development.

Do you remember the last time you felt triggered, evoked, poked by a past event in the present day? Chances are, your body went into survival mode and you felt the need to fight, freeze, or flee rather than think, review, and reflect. In order to engage in traditional talk therapy, known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), we need to access our thinking brains. However, extensive research has shown that when we are triggered, our thinking brains go offline.

Therapies that only focus on thoughts or emotions, fail to address the ways in which trauma is stored in the body. The deeper healing work then goes untouched and the root cause unexplored. You may walk out of a session thinking, ‘that just didn’t work for me’. Using a trauma-specific approach, I work with the whole person to help calm the survival and emotional part of the brain first, so we can then access the thinking brain … and create lasting, change. How you ask…EMDR.

My areas of expertise include:

  • Trauma
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Anxiety
  • Depression

Workshops

I come to you and deliver a workshop designed to meet your needs. Some examples include; Igniting the Fire Within (Find Your Passion), Moving Through Grief and Loss, Building Self Esteem and Self Confidence.

Workshops with Storytelling Figures

Join us in a workshop to explore your inner self by creating a funky, unique figure with wires, foam, thread, wool, fabrics and many, many trinkets, buttons, and beads.

Once your figure comes alive, takes shape spend some time getting to know him or her and creating his/her/it’s story. You will be amazed at what comes out during this process. This process works well when looking at making changes in ones life, building self esteem or self confidence or healing from some past trauma.

Contact me today to learn how to join a workshop. Or get 5-6 people together to create and build and have your own private session. Excellent idea for a team retreat or staff development day. We can create in your space or mine.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a technique focuses on the past, present, and future to help the brain reprocess negative memories and neutralize triggers. This alleviates emotional distress, sensations of ‘stuckness’, and related symptoms of mental unease.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a 3-pronged therapy that focuses on the past, present, and future to help the brain desensitize and reprocess negative memories from the past and neutralize triggers. As a result of reprocessing past memories, emotional distress, sensations of ‘stuckness’, and related symptoms of mental unease are alleviated.

Carrie is one of the few counsellors in Northwest Ontario using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing when working with children.

Intensive Therapy Program

Clients experience a comprehensive and structured approach to healing and growth. The therapist’s support spans a full working day, and the program begins with a thorough evaluation of the client’s history and goals. It is tailored to each individual’s needs, ensuring a sense of security and coping skills are in place before delving into trauma processing.

In an intensive therapy program, clients receive one-on-one therapeutic attention from their therapist throughout a full working day during a retreat. The process begins with an orientation and an in-depth exploration of the client’s personal history, current situation, strengths, challenges, and goals. For children under 12, caregivers may be involved based on their preferences. A joint assessment is made to identify effective strategies for progress, including therapeutic actions and real-life practices. Clients may initially work on establishing a sense of security, stabilization, and coping skills before delving into processing trauma and loss memories.

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