Services
Trauma symptoms occur when a person experiences a threat that overwhelms their nervous system's capacity for self-protection. Some examples of experiences that can sometimes lead to trauma symptoms include:
Motor vehicle accidents - Surgeries - Falls - Natural disasters - Inescapable attack Suffocation/choking/drowning - Physical injury - Childhood neglect/abuse
Horror, torture, war, and other human-made disasters - Sexual violence - Childbirth
Chronic, cumulative stress (e.g. due to poverty, racism, etc.)
I use Somatic Experiencing (SE) to treat physical and emotional trauma, PTSD, overwhelm, and stress-related conditions. The Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute describes SE as "a potent psychobiological method for resolving trauma symptoms and relieving chronic stress. It resets the nervous system, restores inner balance, enhances resilience to stress, and increases people's vitality, equanimity, and capacity to actively engage in life."
For more information about trauma and SE, check out these links:
Services Update
Please note that Coherence Counselling is not currently accepting new clients.
When we go through the enormous transition to becoming a parent, there is a lot that we gain, and a lot that we lose. Perinatal counselling is for parents, and folks on their way to becoming parents, who need some support with their mental or emotional well-being at any point from the moment they start considering conception through to about three years postpartum.
Examples of issues that perinatal counselling can help parents cope with include:
Depression, anxiety, or trauma during pregnancy - Fertility challenges - Miscarriage
Postpartum depression, anxiety, or trauma - Abortion - Stillbirth - Birth trauma Unwanted intrusive thoughts - Adoption - Time spent in NICU
Previous trauma triggered by pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding/parenting/etc.
My approach to perinatal counselling is holistic, compassionate, non-judgmental, attachment-oriented, and informed by years of experience supporting families as a birth & postpartum doula, social worker, and counsellor.
Strong, healthy bonds between infants and their caregivers set the stage for resilience and healthy development through a child's whole life. When parents or children experience significant stressors during pregnancy/birth/early postpartum, or parents have a history of difficult relationships with their own parents, or parents struggle with mental/emotional health challenges during pregnancy/birth/early postpartum, the integrity of those strong, healthy bonds can sometimes be disrupted.
If there has been some disruption in the attachment between you and your child, or your child has experienced trauma, some of the symptoms you might see in your infant or young child could include:
Excessive difficulty settling - New or excessive fears/avoidance behaviours
Irritability, withdrawal/shutdown/zoning out, and impulsive behaviours
Delayed developmental milestones - Unusual change/disruption in sleep patterns Exaggerated emotional responses - Regression to earlier developmental stages
Somatic complaints (e.g. headache, sore tummy)
In Child & Infant-Focused Family Therapy sessions, we will work together to support your infant/child to move through any traumatic stress "stuck" in their nervous system, and to establish or re-establish close, healthy connections between you and your child.
The romantic partners I typically work with are struggling in their relationship in part due to one of the perinatal concerns listed above, or a history of trauma for one of the partners. My approach to relationship therapy is trauma-informed and attachment-oriented.
I help romantic partners who have lost their sense of security and connection with each other to identify and address the roots of their challenges, and to find here-and-now strategies to begin finding their way back to each other.
Life presents us all with millions of crossroads, curveballs, and circumstances that are just plain hard. Sometimes it just gets to be too much to handle alone - we all need a little help from time to time. Counselling can help people experiencing depression, anxiety, grief & loss, and difficulty adjusting to their life circumstances. It can also help people work through previous difficult experiences that have had lingering effects on their thoughts, emotions, or how they see the world.
