My Passion For This Work

I always knew I wanted to become a therapist, but I didn’t actually know that I knew until one summer evening several years ago while at my cousins wedding. During a conversation with some distant relatives I found out their eldest daughter – whom I hadn’t seen since we were little girls – was in school to become a chiropractor. Now up until then I had spent some time looking at the process of becoming a therapist, but had felt really overwhelmed and discouraged by how much work it was going to be, and I didn’t know if I had the courage or strength to do what it was going to take to get there. Until this conversation. Until I found out that little doe-eyed, curly haired Sarah Brown was training to become a doctor of chiropractic medicine. And that’s all it took. I remembered thinking “If Sarah can do that, there’s no reason I can’t do this.” And from that point forward there was no turning back, and I don’t have one single regret.

I can’t express how much I love what I do. And my experience as a counsellor and as a person has shown me time and time again that within each individual lies courage, strength, resiliency, beauty, and the desire to love and be loved and connected to both themselves and others.

Sometimes, though we find ourselves lost in the fog and need to be supported, encouraged, and challenged to get our lives either back on track, or onto a new and more fulfilling, rewarding, and meaningful track.

I work from a person-centered, strength based, solution focused, mindfulness and cognitive behavioural (CBT) approach.

What this means is that I work alongside my clients and help support them to uncover or re-discover their inner strengths, their inner resources, and their inner courage as they work through the things in their lives that are getting in the way of feeling joy, fulfillment, connection, and happiness.

In my practice the clients I work with often start to feel better and notice positive changes in their mood and outlook on life, themselves, and their relationships quite quickly.

My goal as your therapist is to help you to achieve lasting and meaningful changes for the better. 

My Approach

I work with my clients from a person-centered, strength-based, solution focused, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioural (CBT) perspective. What does all this mean? Let’s break it down.

Person Centered: Our work together is about you and what you want for yourself and your life. Our relationship will be genuine, empathic, warm, caring, and non-judgemental.

Strength Based: This means that we will work together to uncover, discover, or rediscover your unique and particular strengths and use them to empower and strengthen you on your life journey.

Solution Focused: This involves looking at what you want to be different right now, exploring and discovering what you want for yourself in the future, and what steps we will take to make this happen. It also entails looking at the things in your life that you want to continue to have happen and how to have more of what you do want, and thus less of what you don’t want.

Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a big buzzword right now and most people get a little scared when they hear it because they think they are going to be expected to sit and meditate in full lotus position for hours on end everyday until they reach enlightenment. That’s not the case. Practicing mindfulness can be much simpler than that. Mindfulness is really just about learning to be present. To notice and experience what’s happening right now – not getting stuck in regretting the past, or fearing the future. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This involves looking at and often challenging and restructuring those beliefs, thoughts, and choices we make that are keeping us ‘stuck’ where we don’t want to be stuck. This results in the creation of new perspectives, and understandings, and the strength to make choices that lead to greater happiness, peace, joy, and emotional freedom.

I know that each individual is unique and because our time together is about you, my role is to meet you where you are at and come alongside you on your journey toward discovering, creating, and working toward what you want for yourself and for your life.

Our work together can be to help and support you in working through a specific concern or challenge, or we can work more in-depth if you would like to focus on deeper exploration, healing, and discovery.

This deeper work will focus on shifting the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours that seem to be holding you back or preventing you from living how you want to live and feeling how you want to feel.

Sometimes people come for counselling or coaching and they’re not just sure of the precise reason or specific problem – they just know that things don’t feel quite right, or they want more for themselves and for their lives.

You don’t have to have a reason, or a major problem to meet. Coming to figure out what’s off and working together to get things on is reason enough.

I know that it takes a lot of strength and courage to reach out of help and support, and here you are making the choice to take the first step.

My Background

I specialize in treating anxiety and depression, low self-esteem, and chronic stress, I also work with those who are facing career or life transitions and decisions, and those looking to improve their their communication skills, or their boundary setting abilities.

Since giving birth to my first daughter a few years ago and going through all of the ups and downs that come with being a new parent, I also have a very special place in my heart for working with new moms who are struggling with postpartum blues, depression, and anxiety. Being a new parent is NOT easy and no matter how prepared we thought we may have been, it can be such a big struggle emotionally, mentally, and physically – even for the toughest of women.

I also have a background in career counselling from my work in a college counselling department, have worked with loved ones of individuals struggling with addiction, and have experience in addictions counselling in both the individual and group format from my work in an addictions treatment center and a local community health clinic.

I have also done extensive work with women and men looking to build their self-confidence and understand, deal with, and resolve that which is preventing them from feeling the way they want to feel and living the way they want to live.