People pleasing is a common focus in my therapy practice. Often, people pleasing is rooted in early experiences of needing to stay helpful, agreeable, or emotionally attuned to others. This can be so exhausting and it’s no wonder you’re struggling.

In our work together, we’ll gently explore when and how your people-pleasing began, reasons how it became linked to your sense of worth, and the roles that safety, control, and connection continue to play….and where you want to go from here.

Food and body struggles aren’t just about what you eat or how you look. I’ve come to learn that those are often the places where deeper needs for control, safety, or relief show up.

In our work together, we won’t just focus on behaviours, we’ll look closely at the patterns you keep finding yourself in, the relationship you have with your body, and the emotional or relational experiences that shaped it. We’ll explore all of this with curiosity and compassion, moving at a pace that respects your safety and supports real, sustainable relationship with food and your body.

It’s important that you know that my work is guided by Health at Every Size® (HAES®) and anti-diet principles. Proper nutritional support is important when repairing our relationship with food. Dieticians bring specialized expertise in nutrition rehabilitation, medical safety, and can help clients rebuild trust with food in a practical, sustainable way so I may encourage exploring working with a dietician alongside our work.

Perfectionism often begins as a quiet promise to stay safe, to get it right, to be enough. Over time, what once helped you cope can become extremely heavy, shaping how you relate to productivity, worth, and achievement…and not to mention, REST!

I’m here to help you gently turn toward this pattern with curiosity and care. We’ll wonder together, what is the role of this perfectionist part? Together, we’ll make space for more self-acceptance (alongside a healthy dose of striving), and allowing what no longer serves you to slowly soften.

It can be really hard to acknowledge that your childhood didn’t meet all of your needs, especially when there was also care or love present. Validating what was missing can help you understand how you learned to adapt and how early attachment wounds continue to influence how you show up in relationships today.

I’ll support you in approaching these experiences gently, while holding more than one truth at once—there can be hurt alongside gratitude, and neither cancels the other. When we explore your past early relationships, we’ll focus on explaining vs. blaming.

Hurt and sadness are universal parts of the human experience, and yet, somewhere along the way, many of us have struggled with honouring the truth of these emotions. We encounter messages to move past, stuff down, or ignore what often needs attention the most.

Well, this often doesn’t work as the body has a way of telling the truth and will find outlets to make its emotional needs known.

I support people primarily navigating anticipatory or ambiguous loss and grief associated with the experience of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. If this is what you’re wanting to focus on together, please read more about the dementia counselling services I offer for care partners/families and people living with dementia.