I have maintained and deepened my passion for working with children and assisting families since I began working as a psychotherapist in 2000. I strive to facilitate the personal growth and healing in a non-directive way, in a manner that is empathetic, warm, and accepting. I see children as an essential component of a healthy family dynamic and strive to help them through their problems, anxieties, fears, and uncertainties by way of play, art, and sandplay therapy techniques. As a counsellor I am committed to affirming the potential and inner strength that my clients possess to help them make positive changes in their lives.
Areas of Specialization
I have over 20 years of experience working with children, adults, and families experiencing challenges. As such, I offer individual and group counselling to family members. As an immigrant I have a special interest and expertise in working with children and adults adapting to a new life in Canada, or planning to move outside of the country.
Expertise
I was a registered psychotherapist/psychologist in Brazil prior to moving to Canada to continue my professional development. In the course of my career I have worked with clients who were experiencing life transitions and undergoing processes of change, adaptation, stress, and loss. With this background, I am competent at working with clients who are experiencing:
- Loss of health, adaptation to medical treatments and therapies
- Life transitions
- Migration-related challenges (cultural and or geographical transitions – arriving and leaving)
- Loss of employment
- Career/educational transitions
- Bereavement
Clients come for therapy usually experiencing some of the following:
- Grief
- Anxiety
- Constant worries
- Depression
- Appetite problems
- Sleep problems
- Fatigue
- Pain
- Fears
- Loneliness
- Hopelessness
- Emotional dysregulation
In my private practice I see children 4 years and older, and adults of any age. I also see parents with children in session. Previously to moving to Vancouver and in addition to my private practice, I saw children individually and in groups at Family Services of Greater Victoria (former BC Families in Transition) from 2011 to 2020.
Since July 2021 my practice moved to Vancouver – BC.
Professional Training
I hold a Master of Arts (Counselling Psychology) degree from the University of Victoria (2012). Below there is a list of my professional development:
- Registered Clinical Counsellor since 2022
Canadian Certified Counsellor from 2013 until 2023 - Child Centred Play Therapy training – FSGV – Chris Conley, Victoria, BC
- Expressive Play Therapy training – JIBC – Justice Institute of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
- Expressive Arts Therapy (workshop with Dr. Bruce Tobin) – BC Families in Transition, Victoria, BC
- Family Therapy Theory and Practice – Victoria Child and Youth Mental Health
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents, Victoria Child and Youth Mental Health
- Intercultural Education and Training – UVic, Victoria, BC
- Group and Family Systems Therapy training – Sistemas Humanos, São Paulo, Brazil
- Working with couples: Building quality-loving relationships (workshop) – CEAF – Centro de Estudos e Assistência à Familia, São Paulo, Brazil
- The art of working with children in Family Therapy – Dr. Carmine Saccu, Instituto de Terapia Familiar de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Certified Clinical Supervised Practicum in the areas of: Family Therapy, Phenomenological & Existential Hospital Psychology, and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Universidade Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil (university degree in Clinical Psychology)
- BSc. Psychology – Universidade Paulista – São Paulo, Brazil
Creative Healing Counselling 