Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy

🩵🙌💜

As a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Registered Nurse, I help women find relief from stress, anxiety and overwhelm so that they can live a healthier, more balanced, and meaningful life.

As a Nurse-Counsellor, I can help you with:

Creating change: I'm dedicated to supporting women in discovering their strengths, cultivating self-acceptance, and unlocking their capacity for lasting change and personal growth. By reframing limiting core beliefs, creating emotional resilience, and strengthening your sense of self, you can break free from limiting patterns and unlock new possibilities for change.

Health and wellness: I combine my nursing expertise with my counselling skills to help clients improve their overall wellbeing, create healthier habits, and to reduce stress. I have additional training in emotional eating, lifestyle change, and obesity management.

Anxiety and depression: The therapies I use are evidence-based for the treatment of anxiety, depression and trauma. I can also support you in a holistic approach such as by integrating lifestyle changes, creative outlets, or spiritual practices into your life.

Trauma: I help clients heal the effects of trauma by guiding and supporting them in how to regulate their nervous system, re-establish a sense of safety and trust, and improve their relationships and social engagement.

Chronic disease support and management: I help clients living with chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, to improve their health with lifestyle interventions, and to tend to their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.


If you there is something in your life that you think I could help you with, book a free 15-minute inquiry call through my website. I am located in Qualicum, and am also available through Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy

One of my favourite counselling concepts is the idea that people have a natural “growth force” within them that acts as an internal source of healing, guidance, and fulfillment. This idea about how we see our clients takes a positive view of human nature, believing that we all have what it takes to grow, heal, and become. When the natural growth-oriented potential within us is met with the growth-oriented conditions of a counselling relationship, people move towards wholeness and healing (Corey, 2022).

Yet, one of our biggest challenges in life is re-connecting, and trusting, this natural resource within us. We tend to forget how strong we are. We tend to forget what we are capable of. We tend to take on a negative or harsh perspective of ourselves. Dr. James Hollis (2023), a Jungian analyst, writes in one of his books, that although we are all naturally born with the internal resources we need for our life’s journey, we tend to forget our strengths and abilities, and lose contact with our innate internal guidance system. Rather than remembering who we really are and what we’re made of, we instead focus on our limitations, and lose trust in ourselves.

How many of us limit ourselves because of a negative belief about ourselves? Or how many of us get stuck in the same unhealthy cycles because of fear-based reactions? How would your life change if you were more connected to your inner strengths, if you believed in yourself, or had more self-acceptance?

To me, this is one of the greatest joys of counselling; helping people re-connect with their inner strengths and to see themselves as worthy, competent, and strong. Real change can happen when we strengthen our sense of self and see ourselves in a new light.

If this speaks to you, please visit my website to book a free 15-minute inquiry call.



Sources:

Corey, G. (2022). Theory and practice of counseling & psychotherapy (7th ed.). Cengage.

Hollis, J. (2023). A life of meaning: Relocating your center of spiritual gravity. Sounds True.

🤔Wondering if the 🌱💊you are (or aren’t) taking are supporting your Wellness goals ⁉️

➡️Consider booking a Natural Health Supplement Consultation with Cindy Walker, Registered Nutritional Therapist & certified Natural Product Advisor for a Customized 🌱💊 Plan to optimize your 💸 & ⏳

💻Book Online https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

✔️services covered by most Health Insurance Providers

🚨Save this post for later🚨

Journalling ✍🏻 can be a very useful tool in addressing eating disorders (and many other conditions!)

Making notes of your thoughts 💭, emotions and even the environment 🌳 around you can help uncover details about your eating habits that you never knew!

It can help identify potential triggers, and subconscious beliefs about food and yourself.

Being aware of these triggers and beliefs can help reframe and redirect your thoughts 💭 and build habits.

If you're not sure where to start, try these prompts and see where they take you 🗺🧭

Remember... there's no right or wrong way to journal 🩵

2 reflexology appointments have just come available for this Wednesday August 14th with Heather Burton! You can book easily online at www.rmtparksville.com or call the clinic at 2505865642 to save your spot.
Hope to see you in the clinic soon 🌻🦶🌞

😂Got tight, sore Muscles from traveling ⁉️

Cindy Walker, RNT has the solution…

🗺️👎the Weary Traveller (or Hostess ) Be-Gone Kit

Includes:
🧺Nutrition travel tips eDocument and sample(s)
💪Travel size Massage tool and demonstration
🧖‍♀️15 minute Energy Rebalancing Session

✔️services covered by most Health Insurance Providers

🫶Book Online https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

🥱🗺️ Are you a Weary Traveller (or Hostess)⁉️

@
Cindy Walker, RNT introduces your MUST HAVE Nutritional & Energy Rebalancing Tips & Tools to thrive this Summer

➡️ Each Quick Start Kit includes; Nutritional travel eDocument tips and sample(s), travel size Myofascial
Massage tool and demonstration PLUS 15 minute Energy Rebalancing Session.

✔️covered by most Health Insurance Providers

🫶Book Online https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

Being aware of your personal “resiliency moments” can serve as a really helpful resource to find relief from difficult thoughts, emotions, and stress. They can act like a “safe haven”, or a refuge, when you are experiencing something that is hard to tolerate. Resiliency moments are stored in our nervous system, and we can re-experience them to regulate our thoughts and emotions. To discover one of your “resiliency moments”, think back to a moment in time when you felt safe, engaged, and connected. Perhaps it was a time when you felt enlivened, deeply cared for, accepted, empowered, lighthearted, creative, or compassionate. It is not unusual for people to not have many of these types of moments to draw upon. However, even if it was just a glimmer of a moment, such as when you are petting an animal or watching a sunset, it can serve as a resiliency moment.

There are four elements to a resiliency moment. These are body sensation, image, feeling, and thought. As you think back to your resiliency moment, look for the element that is easiest to remember and access. Then write down a sentence or two that describes the element (the body sensation, image, feeling, or thought that you experienced in that moment). Do the same for each of the other three elements. Soon you will have a brief paragraph that captures the essence of your resiliency moment. Lastly, give it a title.

When needed, you can re-read your resiliency moment to help create more regulation and calm in your nervous system when experiencing difficult thoughts, emotions, and circumstances.

This technique is grounded in Emotionally Focused Therapy and Polyvagal Theory.

They are both designed to help you create new patterns in how you think, feel and act, create a stronger sense of self, heal trauma, balance emotions, and live with a greater sense of strength and meaning.

To learn more about Feminine Fortress Counselling, or to schedule a free 15-minute inquiry call with me, please visit my website (link in bio). I am also available through Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy

Taylor Christensen - RMT has some available openings Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. Go to www.rmtparksville.com to easily book online 24/7.
Happy summer time vibes everyone 🌻🍉🌞⛱️💆🏾‍♂️

🪻🍋Lavender Lemonade is a calming yet refreshing healthier hydration combo drink

Cindy Walker, Registered Nutritional Therpist says it’s absolutely the BEST way to beat the heat 🥵

She invites you to CHILL with this ultimate Summertime drink recipe 🕶️☀️

INGREDIENTS:
• 6 cups water
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup light-colored local honey
• ⅓ cup dried lavender
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice, strained

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Bring water and honey to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Gently crush the lavender in a mortar and pestle or in a bowl with a meat tenderizer. Add the crushed lavender to the pot then remove it from the heat.
3. Cover, refrigerate, and steep for 2 hours.
4. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve.
5. Stir in the lemon juice and serve over ice.

💻🤝For more Nutrition & Energy Rebalancing Services

🫶Book Online https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

✔️covered by most Health Insurance Providers

💜

Have you ever found that when you try to change a pattern that is not serving you well, you are met with stress, anxiety, or fear? When we try to change a pattern, it often first leads us to a place of unknown. We know what we want to leave behind, but we might not know exactly where we’re going. For example, perhaps you are working towards breaking a pattern of emotional eating. But, when you take the first steps to breaking the pattern, you experience discomfort while you try to establish a healthier pattern. Changing an emotional, mental, or behavioural pattern typically causes a period of discomfort before we begin establishing a healthier way of being.

To help with this, one of my favourite practices is using imagery to support ourselves as we create healthy change in our lives. This comes from Polyvagal Theory, a counselling theory that empowers people to harness the power of the nervous system to create new patterns, and and achieve a greater sense of connection and vitality. With this practice, we can create an “image for change”. When we connect with our inner self, we can find an image that will regulate our nervous system and support us through our period of growth. Who doesn’t love that?!?

The image above is a replica of an “image for change” that I recently drew for myself in my journal. As you can see, we don’t have to be artistically talented to create an empowering image. In fact, being overly focused on creating a technically beautiful image can be a barrier. All we need to do is allow our creative minds to capture the essence of our personal “image for change”. Once we have captured the essence of it, we can post it somewhere where we’ll see it frequently, and use it as one of our empowering resources for growth.

A personal note on my image. I liked that my sun is the shape of a doorway. To me, that represents a doorway to opportunities for growth, connection, and meaning.

Book a free 15-minute consultation for counselling through my website 🌿🌲

I am also available through Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy

Who is needing a massage?

Available RMT appointments this week for last minute opportunities. Go to www.rmtparksville.com to book online 24/7 to save your spot!

Happy Summer and last of week of school everyone 🌞

Free 1 hour workshop on June 25th from 7-8pm. Join in and sign up😊🙏🙌

Join me for a free 1-hour workshop: How to Transform Negative Thoughts and Emotions

Workshop Highlights:
This is an introductory workshop that will help you to:
- Learn about how your biology affects your thoughts, emotions and behaviours
- Learn how to create healthier emotional, mental and behavioural patterns
- Learn how to re-connect with peace, joy, and purpose
- Learn how to re-connect with the person you want to be

Details:
- Tuesday, June 25th from 7-8pm
- Hosted over Zoom
- Bring paper and pencil (You will be guided through an activity, but you will do it on your own and do not need to share it!)
- Email Kirstin to RSVP at [email protected]
- This will be a small group event, space is limited

Hosted by Kirstin McKinnon, Registered Clinical Counsellor
Feminine Fortress Counselling
Email to RSVP: [email protected]

⬆️🍽️🧘🏼‍♀️

Do you struggle to maintain your Wellness Goals during the Summer months ⁉️

Then I invite 🫵 to join me, Cindy Walker RNT…

➡️ Learn the TOP 3 Summer MUST Do’s

💻🤝Online & In-person Coaching & Accountibility

✔️Services covered by most Health Insurance Providers

🙏🏻Booking is NOW OPEN https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

😫Stress can do a number on your digestive system

🚽Causing issues like; gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation &&& weight gain 😕

✅As a Registered Nutritional Therapist Cindy Walker incorporates; sound therapy with singing bowls & tuning forks into ALL her Nutritional sessions & group programs to ⬆️Gut health

👍Services covered by most Health Insurance Providers

🙏🏻Book Online at https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15 (https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/15)

Taylor Christensen RMT has opened his days and extended his shifts to make more opportunities for everyone to get in for some self care time!
Taylor is available starting June 17th, Monday through Thursday, 9 am till 5 pm.
To save your spot, you can easily book using this link https://rmtparksville.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/23/treatment/15 or go to www.rmtparksville.com to book online 24/7.
Taylor is looking forward to seeing you all in clinic.

Join Kirstin McKinnon and sign up for her FREE one hour workshop on Creating Emotional Balance 🙌🌀 ♎️

Join me for a free 1-hour workshop: Creating Emotional Balance

Workshop Highlights:
This is an introductory workshop that will help you to:
- Learn about how your biology can overtake your thoughts, emotions and behaviours
- Learn how to your nervous system and emotions
- Learn how to create healthier emotional, mental and behavioural patterns
- Learn how to re-connect with peace, joy, and purpose
- Learn how to re-connect with the person you want to be

Details:
- Tuesday, June 4th from 7-8pm
- Hosted over Zoom
- Bring paper and pencil (You will be guided through an activity, but you will do it on your own and do not need to share it!)
- Email Kirstin to RSVP at [email protected]
- This will be a small group event, space is limited

Hosted by Kirstin McKinnon, Registered Clinical Counsellor
Feminine Fortress Counselling
Email to RSVP: [email protected]

Rachel McBryan RD, Registered Dietitian🙌🍏

🌺🌲⛰️

What speaks to your soul and fills your heart? What are the “glimmers” that bring you back to peace, joy, and meaning, and that re-connect you with the person you long to be?

Our nervous system is at the heart of how we will lour lives, how we respond or react to events, and the patterns we develop. Life events, trauma, stressors shape our nervous system to create conditioned patterns. They can also cause us to get us stuck in being in survival mode all the time. This can look like anxiety, depression, defensiveness, irritability, worry, self-criticism, avoidance, or shame. These conditioned, automatic patterns have huge influence on how we think, feel, and act. They can cause habits of behaviour such as overeating, staying small in relationships, not voicing your ideas at work, or conflict with others. They can shape our outward personality, but they do not need to define us. They are conditioned responses, and unfortunately, they estrange us from who we really are. They can make us feel ashamed of, or frustrated with, ourselves for being a certain way. They can take away the peace and joy we so want to feel in our lives.

It is important to recognize the role that our biology and life experiences play in creating these patterns. It is also important to know that we are not “fixed” beings. We can change, grow, and become. Just as our biology can make us form protective patterns, we also have the biology to create new patterns, new responses, and new ways of being so that we can have more peace, joy, and purpose in our lives, and ultimately, re-connect with who we really are.

You are not your patterns! When we develop practices that bring our nervous system back to a state of connection, awareness, and engagement, we find our way back to ourselves. This is where we can re-reconnect with our true self. This is where we re-connect with our inner compass, our inner source of wisdom, and our inner resources of perspective and compassion so that we can have a better relationship with ourselves and others. This is where we come home to ourselves.

You are the dream team! Thanks for taking such good care of our website! Congratulations on your Excellence Award, we are not surprised 💜💪☝️🤩💜

We're thrilled and honoured to announce that our small Vancouver Island digital agency has won a Web Excellence Award in the 'Web Design - Agriculture' category for our work on the new website for TCO Agromart Ltd.

Read the official press release here: https://bit.ly/4aqZG4t

"I am so proud of the work that our team has been doing the past year or more, I certainly couldn't do it alone and I am so grateful to have the support of this small, but mighty crew. Thank you!" - Mark Beuerman, Founder of WMWL

If your small business or organization needs help with its website, we're eager to help. Visit our website to learn more about how we can help.

Feminine Fortress Counselling with Kirstin McKinnon💜🙏💜

One of my favourite take-aways from Brené Brown’s audiobook, “Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice” is re-writting our SFD; aka “Sh*tty First Draft”. The SFD is the first narrative we tell ourselves when activated by an event. An example could be receiving an invitation to a social event, and the SFD is, “But I won’t know anyone there, and I won’t know what to say to the people I meet. They’ll think there’s something wrong with me. I don’t think I’ll go”.

Where did this SFD come from? Most people don’t know that these types of thoughts are initiated by our autonomic nervous system at an unconscious level. An event, which in this case is the invitation, activated the nervous system to go into fight or flight mode. The autonomic nervous system is the initiator of our automatic responses. It is the source from which our body sensations, emotions, thoughts, and behaviours arise. When we are in a survival state, such as the fight or flight state, the first narrative our mind creates typically contains one or more negative thoughts (also known as thinking traps or cognitive distortions). These types of thoughts are in service to fear and staying safe, not to living wholeheartedly or from a place of empowerment.

The SFD is often rooted in a scarcity mindset, not a mindset of growth and abundance. Common cognitive distortions are believing your thoughts are true just because you feel a certain way, focusing on the negatives while ignoring the positives, and predicting the worst possible outcome. This is why I love modalities such as polyvagal theory and emotionally focused therapy, because they are fantastic tools that help us to regulate our nervous system and our emotions and empower us to re-write our story. We don’t have to dwell inside our SFD. We can take up our imaginary pen and write a new narrative from a place of connection, awareness, and strength. When we change the narrative, we change the outcome.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and while many people are already delightfully making spa reservations, choosing bouquets, or looking forward to celebrating her over annual brunch, not everyone has this opportunity.

Some people have strained - or completely estranged - relationships with their mother, making this time of year complicated or stressful. And for many of us, our mother has passed – either recently or decades ago when we were just a child or a teen. As someone who experienced the loss of her mother in childhood, I get this one. I understand that the time around Mother’s Day can hold a large mix of emotions, and that when the people around us are booked all weekend with their mom and family events, it can be a lonely and isolating time.

If you are an adult bereaved in childhood, we published a very specific loss and grief resource on this topic in 2022 – called My Mother’s Story: Gone Too Soon. This anthology is a collection of both heartbreaking and hopeful stories about the healing journey of early mother loss, and is available on Amazon, at the Nanoose Library, or at the Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy center in Parksville. And as an added local bonus, six of the twenty contributing authors are from the Oceanside area.

You do not need to struggle with these thoughts or emotions alone. Together we can navigate difficult relationships or find ways to honour your Mom, whether she has ‘passed’ or is still very much present.

As a registered counsellor I offer three session formats: Online, in nature (walk and talk) or in-person in our shared space at Intuitive Touch Massage Therapy in Parksville.

Michelle Hohn, MA, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor
Workshop facilitator, co-editor and Contributing Author to the Amazon Bestselling Anthology My Mother’s Story: Gone Too Soon.

[email protected]

www.akashiccounselling.com

Have you had a session with Heather Burton Reflexologist? She offers such a unique, very healing and relaxing treatment.
Heather offers sessions on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the clinic! You can easily book with her online by going to Www.rmtparksville.com.

🙌Taylor Christensen RMT🙌 has opened his schedule to take on a whole new patient load offering appointments Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 am till 2pm. Go To www.rmtparksville.com to easily book 24/7 on our Jane online booking page.
Taylor is very excited to officially be a registered massage therapist and can’t wait to continue this healing journey!! Hope to see you all in the clinic soon!

🙌WELCOME 🙌Kirstin McKinnon Registered Clinical counsellor to our team! Kirstin is offering in person sessions on Wednesdays in the clinic. She is covered by most insurance providers to make it very convenient and affordable. Check your insurance provider for your specific coverage.

We are so grateful for her support in the clinic as well as our community. Kirstin is very excited to be joining our team and is looking forward to meeting you all. Here is a little bit about Kirstin, her journey and purpose!

Kirstin McKinnon RCC - Feminine Fortress Counselling

Kirstin McKinnon is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) who helps clients create more peace, purpose, and meaning in life, by means of learning how to tend to difficult emotions and reconnect with their inner source of wisdom. Kirstin believes that the purpose of counselling is to help clients create healthier mental, emotional, and behavioural patterns, expand their sense of inner authority, and become more aligned with their true, authentic self so that they can live more fully alive. To Kirstin, counselling should feel like a receptive, judgement-free conversation between two equals.
Kirstin’s career began as a Registered Nurse in 2006, where she worked in hospital and in public health. In 2011, Kirstin completed a master’s degree in nursing and became a Family Nurse Practitioner. Over time, she realized that the aspects she liked most about nursing were forming relationships with clients, helping them to find their strengths, and helping them cultivate better physical, mental, and emotional health. After 17 years of being in the nursing field, Kirstin decided to make a career shift to become a registered clinical counsellor.
In her free time, Kirstin enjoys being in nature with her dog and her partner, playing piano, singing, sewing, camping, and doing Tarot readings. She can’t resist cute animal videos and loves backyard chickens!

Registered Clinical Counsellors are often covered by extended medical plans. Check with your provider to see if RCC visits are covered by your plan.

Education
Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Victoria, 2006
Master’s in Nursing- Family Nurse Practitioner, University of Victoria, 2011
Advanced Obesity Management Program, 2017
Evidence-Based Health Coaching, 2018
Core counselling courses, Yorkville University & Athabasca University, 2023
Level 2 Certificate Course in Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, 2023
Counselling Skills Level 1, Vancouver Island University, 2023
Counselling Skills Level 2, Vancouver Island University, 2023
Level 1 Certificate Course in Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, 2023
Fundamentals of Emotionally Focused Therapy, 2023
Polyvagal Theory in Action with Deb Dana LCSW: Creating Safety and Connection with Trauma Clients, 2024
Visual Journaling: Drawing on the Healing Power of Self-Expression, 2024

To book with Kirstin, use this link to direct you to her booking page for online booking 24/7. https://femininefortress.janeapp.com/ /1

To look further into Kirstin, this is her website https://femininefortress.ca/