Poiesis Counselling

Prepping for teaching my Sociology of Family class at usask. Each class I use a picture from the awkward family portraits website at the beginning of my PowerPoint slides. Just a fun way to start the class. This gem is up for tomorrows class slides 😂 portraits

Can you see those tiny specks in the sky? While out for a walk today and I heard a familiar noise and it was (as they say) music to my ears!! The honk of the geese returning home after the winter! (only time I like Canadian geese honking) 😉 now where are those pelicans?!!

Night time ponderings…sometimes I lay in bed asking myself the strangest why questions. I find that in the space between awake and sleep my brain seems to question what it did not at the time. This may seem impressively philosophical but usually they are outright strange, tonight my pondering fell somewhere in the middle. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one!

This is what incorporating trauma informed creative expression is all about! There is something powerful in creating a new reality, even for just one moment as you create something new through a medium such as art.

Saw one of the most incredible women I know. She oversaw operations that resulted over 10,000 people being released from forced labour in India through legal reform. So lovely to see you again!

During a recent training a colleague shared a visualization exercise they really like. I like it too and all the fall leaves are a great reminder for me to do it whenever I need. In the exercise, you visualize a tree, filled with leaves, standing tall over a gently flowing river. I like to imagine the tree with beautiful fall colours and those crispy leaves ready to fall. Imagine yourself sitting by the tree watching the river run by. Tune into what’s going on inside, how your body feels, your breath, what you can hear, maybe the smell of the fall air. As worries enter your mind put them each on a leave and imagine those leaves floating down from the tree and floating away down the river. I like to do this exercise for as long as I need until my body feels relaxed and my mind settled. Try it out! Happy Friday!

Adding another tool to my clinical toolkit for working with folks who have experienced trauma…Taking Trauma Focused CBT certification training over the next couple days.
What is TF-CBT?
“TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents impacted by trauma and their parents or caregivers. It is a components-based treatment model that incorporates trauma-sensitive interventions with cognitive behavioral, family, and humanistic principles and techniques.
(NCTSN)”
Training is so important to me, first to better serve people I work with and because I am a big nerd 🤓💕

Being a social worker practicing in the area of trauma, I often worry about my children experiencing something traumatic and having to live with the lasting impact of that trauma. When my daughter was hospitalized last winter for RSV, I was worried that this would be the event that traumatized her for the rest of her life. It was traumatic. She could have died. She was terrified. I was terrified. AND she was not traumatized. She was surrounded by safe people who were scared too, who felt alongside her, who held her in her often delirious state. Someone put it like this, and it will forever ring in my ears when a difficult situation comes along and I have that fear once again. They said “there is a difference between a traumatic event and being traumatized by an event”. For my daughter that difference was safe and loving people in her life. Early intervention and support in traumatizing events is so important and can be a game changer for kids, teens, and adults alike.

In working with children and youth, I have spoken to many teachers and EA’s working with students who are struggling with their mental health. Often they have expressed feeling helpless, not knowing how to help them. I like to share the concept in this quote, that connection and relationship is critical to healing. That is something anyone can do to help! The weight of struggling that children, youth, or anyone for that matter, is not yours do carry and you don’t need to be a therapist to help. Take a breath, you can help by offering relationship and connection.

Momma! Look at me! My 3 year old daughter is always shouting “Momma! Look at me!” before proudly showing me the newest thing she has learned to do with her body. She loves to dance, to jump, to climb without a care for how she looks and when I praise her for what she is doing she beams with pride and tells me how strong she is or how good she is at whatever she has just done….and…she believes it! I find myself hoping she never looses that confidence but also grieving the fact that at some point that confidence is often stolen. While our kids grow to realize they are not the best in the world at everything, how can we help them maintain that sense of confidence and self worth?

Today at noon i begin a gruelling 2 weeks of writing and defending a series of comprehensive exams for my PhD. I started pursuing post-graduate training out of a love of learning and a commitment to better serve the people I support, and as the old adage goes, the more I learn the more I realize how more I have to learn! Im a big Hamilton fan, so manifesting this today and may have blasted the song “Alexander Hamilton” on repeat this morning!

Fathers Day can be hard. Here are some tips for navigating it. Thinking of everyone who finds Father’s Day difficult.

I find so much joy and hope working with children and youth. Here is another reason why!

Children and Youth is a passion of mine. This is one of many reasons I love working with these age groups!

…And to the clinicians who are those solo supports. Please know, it is an injustice to you too.

I guess this makes me a good therapist?! 🤷🏻‍♀️But seriously what makes a good therapist? What should you look for when seeking out help for yourself or a loved one? Well there is no one answer and there are amazing therapist that don’t have all these qualities but here are some important qualities to look for…
1. Experience and specific expertise in the issues you are seeking counselling for.
2. Someone who has education and additional professional training in the therapeutic approaches they practice in.
3. Someone who is professionally accountable in their counselling practice.
4. Someone who takes an approach that is a good fit for you.
5. They are someone you feel safe with.
6. Someone who practices self care. What qualities do you think are important to look for when people chose a therapist?

Taken from a University of Buffalo School of Social Work resource. Want to know more about what it means to be trauma informed? Here’s a great resource https://socialwork.buffalo.edu/social-research/institutes-centers/institute-on-trauma-and-trauma-informed-care/what-is-trauma-informed-care.html

Summer is meant to be fun, there is a growing anticipation in schools as the year comes to a close but not all kids are excited for summer. School can be a place of safety, support, and reprieve when struggling with their mental health or their home life. As a school counsellor I was often worried about the kids I was supporting and how they would cope during the summer. At this time of year school counsellors are coming up with support plans and strategies to help kids and teens cope over the summer break. Poiesis counselling can be one of those resources. We are experienced working closely with multidisciplinary school support teams so can collaborate (with consent) on how to provide the summer support kids and teens need.

And I can confirm, Costco was mayhem!

Hope you were able to get some sunlight this weekend and whatever else nourishes you. On the topic of houseplants and well-being, maybe it’s just me but I find there is a direct correlation between how well my plants are looking and how I am doing. When my plants are withered and brown it usually means I am not doing so well. Why? Because if I’m worn down, I tend to neglect my plants (as well as myself). Cue anyone who can’t keep their houseplants alive having a mild panic about what that means for them 😉 But seriously, it might not be your houseplants, but what are some simple indicators that tell you your worn down and need some TLC?

In honour of SK Sexual Violence Awareness Week -
This is an image from some arts based research I did exploring sexual violence prevention in a marginalized community in the Manila, Philippines. This life sized body map represents a participants experience of SV in their community and how they envision their community without SV. This simple image has such profound insights. One key finding was the important family is in the prevention of SV in their community. Findings showed that family members are often the perpetrators of SV and survivors are seen as betraying family if they speak up. At the same time due to the importance family plays in Filipino culture, if SV and perpetrates are recognized as the threat to family relationships rather than the survivor speaking out, then families can be one of the most powerful means of preventing SV. Though I haven’t done research into this in SK (yet) I wonder what impact it would have if we worked with families in prevention programs in addition to wonderful existing programs we have in schools. https://ourspace.uregina.ca/handle/10294/9273

When it comes to our kids well-being, wouldn’t it be nice if all we had to worry about was skinned knees?! Kids struggle with their mental health and while children can be resilient, they also need support. Resiliency is not avoiding pain or pretending things are okay. Kids learn resiliency when they have the safety to feel their emotions, work through them and gain the tools and coping skills to “bounce back”. When that opportunity and support is not there, then they just learn to survive - key difference.
I am passionate about working with kids because if we can intervene early with the mental health struggles they face or traumas they have experienced then we can reduce the long term impacts and give them the tools to thrive.

Poiesis Counselling updated their address.