Andrea holds a Masters degree in Counselling and Spirituality, and has been practicing as a Registered Psychotherapist for over 12 years in both private and group settings. She works with adults and couples addressing both individual and relationship concerns. She has extensive training in the treatment of trauma and relationship issues, working from psychodynamic, somatic and attachment focused perspectives.
She has additional training in Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples and is a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. Underpinning her work is the belief that all people are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives, and that all of life’s events provide opportunities to explore our inherent value and beauty as human beings.
In her work with individuals, Andrea has a special interest in working with first responders, military veterans, and other populations frequently diagnosed with PTSD. She strives to provide both safety in the environment and within the relationship, built on attunement to the client’s needs and in-depth knowledge of their unique experiences. While sessions contribute to better symptom management, the larger goal is to help clients have a wider lens with which to view their past and present experiences so that they may hold themselves and their loved ones with greater awareness, patience, and compassion. Clients are guided to experience themselves from a more authentic and non-judgmental space.
Andrea is also dedicated to working with couples and believes our most profound healing and growth occurs within the context of our relationships to others, especially those we are most committed to. Couples often find themselves stuck in patterns of relating that eat away at core needs for autonomy, competence, and physical and emotional connection. Andrea has the skills and experience to guide couples to understand their relationship patterns and take better control of them, so they can better love themselves and their partners. When traumatic experiences are part of unhealthy relationship dynamics, Andrea helps couples approach their relationship concerns from a trauma informed perspective.
Andrea is passionate about continuing education, and is currently studying Self In Relationship Psychotherapy which is an in-depth, attachment focused modality that aims to help clients resolve long-standing relationship and mental health concerns by addressing chronically unmet needs within that individual’s most formative relationships. She is also a supervisor for other qualifying therapists and greatly enjoys the teaching and mentoring process. If pet-assisted therapy is of interest, Andrea happily works with her dog Rosie (only at Carleton Place, ON location) in helping clients to settle into the therapeutic process.
