Mental health and family services
Supporting youth and families through compassionate, relationship-based care, grounded in lived experience, professional training, and real-world insight.
Fostering and working with youth
In 2008, I felt called to expand my work beyond prevention and wellness programming and move more directly into supporting youth and families navigating complex challenges. To do this responsibly and skillfully, I returned to school and earned an Advanced Diploma in Child and Youth Care. This chapter marked a significant shift. My work became more hands-on, relational, and rooted in the realities families were facing every day.
During this time, I became a foster parent for youth, an experience that profoundly shaped my understanding of trauma, attachment, resilience, and the importance of consistent, compassionate support. Opening our home deepened my belief that meaningful change happens in relationships.
Professionally, I worked on the front lines at a residential treatment centre for youth, supporting young people navigating mental health challenges, behavioural concerns, and family disruption. The work was complex and at times heavy, but it was also deeply meaningful. I witnessed firsthand the strength and potential of youth when they are given structure, skill-building tools, and authentic connection.
Family support initiatives
In 2015, I stepped into private practice and opened a counselling service dedicated to supporting parents and youth. My approach integrated child and youth care principles with mindfulness-based strategies, emotional regulation tools, and restorative conversations.
That same year, I launched the Youth Empowerment Program, a mindfulness-based mental health group designed to equip young people with practical skills in stress management, self-awareness, communication, and resilience. The program created a strengths-based space where youth could build confidence and connection while learning how to navigate life’s challenges with greater self-control and clarity.
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This period also marked a personal turning point. For the first time, I publicly shared my own lived experience with mental illness. Speaking openly about severe depression and chronic pain was both vulnerable and liberating. I wanted families to know they were not alone and that recovery, growth, and meaningful contribution are possible even after profound struggle.
Out of that courage came my workbook, A Map to Limitless Parenting. In it, I share my story alongside the practical tools and frameworks that supported my own family. The intention was simple: to offer parents a roadmap grounded in compassion, accountability, and resilience. This chapter of my journey solidified something essential: when we combine professional training with lived experience, honesty, and heart, we create spaces where healing and empowerment can truly take root.
I still absolutely love working with parents and facilitating workshops for schools and organizations throughout Simcoe County.