Before training in psychotherapy, I pursued academic degrees in art and philosophy, and I remain active in the literary & visual arts communities. These interests give me energy and language for asking big questions that I find central to therapy, like: What motivates us, and what limits us? How do we share experience? What risks do we take by expressing ourselves? How free can we imagine becoming? 

Clinically, my therapeutic orientation is relational. This mode of therapy understands that our characters and our outlooks develop through experiences with other people —and that it’s with others, again, that we can best undo the habits and patterns that stifle us. On this model, the relationship between client and therapist becomes an important forum for addressing old patterns and ongoing conflicts with new perspective and compassion. 

I'm inspired and informed by other theories as well, like psychoanalysis and trauma theory; these attune me to the importance of early attachments, the workings of the subconscious, and the impacts of severe and/or repeated experiences of powerlessness.

Meanwhile, I’m wary of how “wellness” is too often approached: I resist the idea that a meaningful life is one of perfect happiness and constant productivity. Instead, I hope to help clients forge a sense of self that is fulfilling because it's authentic, nuanced, and expansive.  Committed to social justice, I also strive to be sensitive to the ways cultural biases and systemic oppression impact the emotional health of individuals. Though therapy can't right systemic wrongs, I believe that attending to the feelings inflamed by injustice and oppression  —from rage and fear to guilt and shame— is crucial for both survival, resistance, and reparation.

I am a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and am a clinical member of the Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy. I hold a DipTIRP from the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy, and have also studied at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, the Argyle Institute of Human Relations, and the Wilfrid Laurier Faculty of Social Work. I participate regularly in workshops and conferences, and maintain regular (and confidential) case supervision with advanced clinicians.