Carrie is a Registered Social Worker with over 10 years of experience. She is passionate about supporting mothers and parents during any stage of the perinatal period, from creating a birth plan for the baby’s delivery to providing treatment for anxiety, depression, grief and loss, difficulty bonding with the baby and stress in the couple relationship. Becoming a mother can feel isolating, overwhelming, lonely and overstimulating, and new mothers often struggle with feelings of guilt, shame, anger and a loss of self or identity. Carrie provides a safe space for processing these feelings and supports mothers to develop practical tools for coping and to build confidence meeting their child’s needs.
Carrie welcomes all parents to participate in therapy and has worked with fathers, 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. Carrie recognizes that not all parents are cisgender, heterosexual or Canadian-born and she welcomes parents of all identities, cultures and backgrounds to explore their parenting and mental health journey without judgement. Through a social justice lens, Carrie offers a therapeutic space that affirms and validates clients’ lived experiences of discrimination, injustice, and systemic and institutional oppression. She recognizes her own biases and privilege, and invites client feedback when she can do better.
In a counselling session with Carrie, you can expect a trauma-informed, relational and attachment-based lens that prioritizes safety, connection and client-led progress. She provides pyschoeducation about neuroscience to learn about your baby’s brain development and your own body’s neurobiology and stress response systems. It is common for trauma from the past to resurface after giving birth, and Carrie is there to make sense out of these changes while meeting each person where they’re at. Carrie helps you to break hurtful cycles of care and to cultivate your ability to set boundaries with others when needed. It is okay to tell your mother-in-law no when it’s not working for you.
Carrie also provides support navigating unhealthy relationships, including problems with violence, controlling behaviour and toxicity. Clients are invited to explore interpersonal struggles and to develop insight into what fosters a healthy, lasting relationship. Are you pushing away or attracting healthy relationships? Carrie helps cultivate insight into your ‘inner working model’ or ‘default settings’ that may be keeping you stuck in unhelpful and dysfunctional communication patterns. Carrie offers the Adult Attachment Interview as a therapeutic tool for growing insight into your interpersonal relationships, patterns and attachment style.
When she’s not working, Carrie is a mother to one little person and one very large Great Dane. She loves being outside in nature, reading fiction, travelling and trying new foods.
Summy is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and a Professional Art Therapist who graduated with a Master of Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy from Adler University. Summy has experience providing individual and couple/relationship psychotherapy services and group art therapy for adults of all ages. She also has experience working with children and adolescents using art therapy interventions and assessments.
Summy’s own lived experience has given her a deep understanding of the systemic and relational challenges we often face and the importance of connecting with our inner strengths. As an immigrant, she also experienced the pain of separation from her family and friends and the challenges of adjusting to a new country. She deeply understands the importance of self-compassion, empowerment, relational support, and the resilience that arises from vulnerability.
Summy is a parent and a partner who enjoys spending time with her family. However, she acknowledges that parenting can take its toll on the strongest people and relationships. Summy has training in positive discipline by Dr. Jane Nelsen as part of her Adlerian training. Positive discipline techniques and skill sets helped Summy personally and enabled her to assist her clients with parenting challenges successfully.
Summy is passionate about working with children, youth, and adults. She has worked successfully with clients struggling with relationship problems, divorce, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, grief and loss, anger management, parenting, self-esteem, substance use, parenting struggles, boundary setting and trauma.
Summy also provides couple counselling services using the Gottman therapy model. While working with couples, Summy focuses on helping couples improve their relationship and resolve conflicts. She supports couples facing various challenges, including communication issues, infidelity, trust issues, and differences in parenting styles. In couple therapy, Summy helps the couple identify patterns of behaviour and communication contribute to their challenges and works with them to develop new strategies for resolving conflicts and improving their relationship. She would also try to explore their individual and shared goals and values and work to rebuild trust and emotional connection in their relationships.
While working with her clients, Summy incorporates Internal Family System (IFS), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and Art Therapy approaches. In her counselling process, she utilizes other modalities such as Adlerian, trauma-informed care, mindfulness, attachment, and self-compassion. Working from a holistic, person-centred, strength-based lens, Summy focuses on the interconnection between emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and physical symptoms to heal the struggling mind and body.
Summy appreciates that each person’s journey through life is unique; therefore, her approach to counselling is primarily person-centred. She believes that authentic connection, empathy, and unconditional acceptance are essential in fostering the safety needed for healing to occur. As your therapist, Summy will help you uncover and explore your inner resources, navigate challenges, and help you attain your goals. She will gently guide you in connecting with your inner voice and finding the path that feels right for you.
Summy is honoured to help you live your most authentic story, and she looks forward to connecting with you.
