On a Personal Note… I often share the fact that my experiences, both in counselling and in my life in general, are what led me to pursue this career. And while that is very true, I’m not sure this phrase captures what I feel is important about that. What I feel is more important for my clients to understand—more important than just knowing how I ended up here—is the fact that my experiences have deeply impacted how I show up in my work, or what kind of counsellor I am. Some say that counsellors should be a blank slate, but I don’t believe that is true; I believe it benefits my clients for them to understand who I am.
On my experiences in counselling: Counselling, to me, is all about the therapeutic relationship, and this is because of my experiences in counselling over the past 15+ years. When I reflect on how my counsellors have supported me in healing and growing, I don’t immediately consider the interventions they used or the tools they provided me with. I think about how understood and safe I have felt; safe enough to share thoughts and feelings that didn’t even make sense to me yet, allowing me the opportunity to process and understand myself in a way that I would have struggled to on my own. As counsellors, we are trained to understand the therapy process and implement many different tools along the way; however, I believe the first step to this process being possible is an honest relationship between client and counsellor. And part of that is feeling that, as a client, there is another human in front of you—not just a clinician.
On my personal experiences: On the above note, I also would like to share a bit about who I am as a human and how this impacts my areas of interest as a counsellor:
Firstly, many of my life experiences have led me to feel passionate about working with clients who are generally struggling with anxiety, depression, or chronic pain. These are all things that have impacted my life in one way or another along the way.
Secondly, I come from a multi-cultural family. My father is Canadian and my mother is Brazilian, and I grew up lucky enough to learn English and Portuguese at the same time and visit my family in Brazil annually. I felt, overall, like my Brazilian culture was nurtured in my mother’s household and throughout my childhood in general. This has influenced my identity and my experiences in many ways—I have often felt like there are two different pieces to me that mesh together in a complex way. Not to mention, part of me tends to feel homesick, no matter what country I am in. All this to say, I am interested in working with clients who resonate with these experiences, coming from multicultural backgrounds or experiencing challenges or curiosities around their identities.
Another strong interest of mine is working with relationship navigation. My relationships impact every part of me, whether it be my identity, my worldview, my memories, my daily life… I have experienced many long-term friendships and romantic relationships and the joys and challenges that come from them. I have also experienced family challenges and estrangement and understand how this can impact someone’s life. For these reasons, I am passionate about supporting clients in navigating the relationships in their lives.
With all this being said… In my work, I do put my counsellor hat on, of course. The therapeutic relationship is extremely unique—The client is always, without a doubt, the focus of each session. But, this doesn’t mean that I take my human hat off. Who I am impacts my work, and my goal will always be for this to foster a genuine connection with my clients that allows them to feel connected, seen, and understood.