As a person-centered therapist, Mary’s intention is to bring mindfulness, empathy and compassion to client sessions, often tuning into their emotional experiences and beliefs. She offers guidance, support, and curiosity as she works with clients to explore, unpack, and recreate their self-perceptions in a strengths-forward direction and in a way that opens up more possibilities. She has faith in people’s incredible capacity to heal, grow and, in time, to flourish and considers it an honour to participate in that process through her counselling work.
The counselling modalities that she gravitates toward are:
As a lifelong feminist educator and scholar, Mary listens for language that limits or constrains, and looks for empowering narratives that resist conditioned norms for all genders, including men. She has worked in queer-affirming spaces for more than three decades and is a committed ally. She draws knowledge and awareness of illness and disability from having navigated her own years-long healing journey from chronic fatigue syndrome.
Mary completed her Honours degree in Psychology at Mount Saint Vincent University, where she returned in the early 90s as a full-time faculty member in Psychology and in Women and Gender Studies. In the intervening years, she completed a Master’s and PhD in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University, which gives her a sensitivity to the workings of historical, community, and familial factors in shaping people’s lives. She is now very grateful to be completing her MA in Counseling Psychology at Yorkville University and embarking on a new adventure.
