Michelle is a lifelong learner and promotes growth by offering a safe, accepting atmosphere to ensure clients feel heard, validated, and empowered. She has a wealth of knowledge around advocating for clients, striving to support, encourage, educate, and empower them. Michelle believes in working together with clients to promote self-care, to help strengthen awareness, communication and increase personal growth towards healing within themselves and their relationships. Michelle believes that a therapeutic relationship between the client and therapist is very important. Trust, acceptance, and care should be unconditional, and they are all important parts in the working relationship.

Michelle is a Certified Counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA). She has completed a Master of Education (MEd) in Counselling Psychology as well as a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Manitoba.

Michelle has a Certified Therapy Dog, Willow, that she works with in schools, nursing homes and in her therapeutic practice with clients. There have been many “PAWS-itive” benefits observed including helping clients feel calmer, decreasing stress and anxiety, building social skills, and helping to teach life skills. Willow has helped with increasing happiness, empathy, confidence, expressing feelings, and building self-esteem with the individuals she has worked alongside. She has put a smile on many faces and benefits from this engagement too. She loves being around people.

Areas of Specialty:  caregiver-child relational conflict, neurodiversity, trauma, complex emotions, educational stressors