QUALIFICATIONS

I am a registered psychologist living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where I have practiced for over 20 years. I have a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from the University of Calgary (I was Tom Strong's first Ph.D. student). As part of my graduate work, I completed two advanced internships in family therapy.  I worked within an outpatient family therapy program with the Calgary Health Authority (directed by Maureen Leahey and supervised by Loree Stout) during my Masters degree and I completed my Ph.D. internship at the Calgary Family Therapy Center (University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry directed and founded by Dr Karl Tomm and supervised by Allan Parry and Chee-Ping Tsai).

Since 2002 I have worked with families and individuals as a private practitioner in Calgary, AB.  I have also worked as a family therapist within the Calgary Regional Health Authority (CRHA) and continued my work at the Calgary Family Therapy Center in my role as a family therapist and clinical supervisor to graduate students. In addition to my post-graduate work, I have a background working with young people and their families in a variety of programs within the Calgary agency William Roper Hull.

More recently, I am completing my certification as an Equine Wellness Professional (supervised by Sue McIntosh from Healing Hooves). Within this role in my private practice, I offer therapy sessions where I work alongside my equine partners.  This extension of my work allows me to access the incredible opportunity of using the interactions and unique dispositions of horses as we navigate creative ways forward.

I also enjoy my role as a sessional professor and clinical supervisor. I have instructed core components to counselling at the graduate level such as counselling skills and intervention courses. I taught the final "capstone" course for the Master of Counselling online program at the University of Calgary for 7 years. The practical focus to my research has invited many opportunities for workshops or presentations where I offer ideas for new and experienced therapists. In my role as a Clinical Supervisor in the graduate internship program at the Calgary Family Therapy Centre I find I am invited to continuously engage in generative conversations with students in our research meetings, clinical discussion, live supervision and seminars.

In my doctoral research I investigated the details of helpful conversations in family therapy. This research won best counselling psychology dissertation in Canada from the Canadian Psychological Association. Since my doctorate I continue to publish my work in a variety of journals and books plus present at numerous conferences.  I find the practical nature of the methodological approach I use in my research affords continual avenues for investigation into how we can do our work in helpful ways.