As an Indigenous woman I value the connection and healing that occurs while working with other Indigenous women.  I see the courage and vulnerability it takes to walk in that door.  I wouldn’t ask from you, what I haven’t done myself in terms of soul-searching and looking for hope, growth and healing.
For some people it can help knowing that I am from Cowichan Tribes and understand the gifts and challenges of living with the complexities that exist in our small interconnected Indigenous communities.

My hope in counselling is for each person to find and reconnect to their own inner wisdom and light. My Uncle Eugene Harry is a Shaker Church Minister.  He lit a candle and told me that much like the candle – each of us are born with a pure light inside of us.  That light is innocence, goodness and our spirit within.  He said we see that innocence in a babies eyes, and over a lifetime a child can grow and experience hurt, pain, bullying, violence, Indian Residential School, be in MCFD care.   That each of those layers of hurt can darken the light.  HOWEVER, our spirit never dies!  And healing is peeling back each of the layers and making new choices for ourselves.  So that we can be our authentic self – the pure human spirit we were always meant to be.  This guides me in who I am and what I do.  I light a candle everyday to remember that the work I do is guided by a higher power and each one of us are more than our pain patterns.

When you are making a decision of who to choose for a counsellor – trust your gut.  A counsellors style and who they are need to speak to your heart and then it can speak to your soul – that’s where healing happens.

Speaking of choices…I am an approved Mental Health provider by the First Nations Health Authority.  Which means my one-to-one-counselling services are covered by the FNHA for status First Nations people.  I am one of the very few Indigenous counsellors on the list of hundreds of
Mental Health Providers.