Meet Kathy.

She/Her
Inclusion and disability advocate.
Lover of sunshine, travel, chocolate, and live music.
Free spirit.
Mom.
Libra.

Let’s get personal together.
Here’s my story: much like you, I can appreciate “life is hard”. I’ve had my fair share of obstacles. My parents (shout out to my #1 fans), will vouch to say that I have indeed had a lifetime of experiential learning to make me equipped to work as a psychotherapist today. I am a home-grown, small town Thorold South (Niagara Region), white female (daughter of, and ancestry to, European immigrants), trying to understand life … just like you. 

Like a salmon swimming upstream, I fought against the currents of cultural, religious, academic, familial, and personal expectations to gain the knowledge and grow into the person I am today. I am grateful (so grateful!) for my experiences, struggles, triumphs, and the people in my path who helped me pursue and navigate my own journey because it has equipped me to help you, navigate yours. My journey, much like any other maiden voyage, was faced with one million and thirty-six obstacles along the way (that’s a lot of obstacles). En route to today, I’ve made a lot of academic and personal stops to make sense of my experiences, which I believe will help you make sense of yours.

Interested in understanding how the brain informs people’s behaviour, I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. It was at this time in my life I wanted to work in prisons with people characterized as “psychopaths”. Instead, I worked as a teaching assistant, psychometrist, administrative assistant, research coordinator, and rehabilitation educator for individuals who experienced an acquired brain injury (‘acquired’ as in…not born with). I learned a ton about what the human brain is capable of doing (and not doing) as well as the power it has to control every facet of our lived experience to keep us alive. This taught me that … no one is actually crazy (and, that psychopathology wasn’t exactly what I thought it was!).

Then, I did the next right thing in academia during the millennium and completed a Master’s degree (in Education). Given that we know so much about how the brain controls (or can’t control) behaviour during development - I was ambitious to learn what teachers knew about the ways in which a brain injury or disability can interfere with learning, development, and behaviour. 

The bottom line: All people need more knowledge!

I wanted to figure out the best way to deliver that knowledge. I went on to McMaster and completed my PhD in Rehabilitation Science. I sought to learn about the factors important for building teachers’ knowledge and capacity to teach all children (like all of them, together, in the same room) more inclusively and equitably … because no two people are the same, period. And that is amazing!

Over the years, I met a countless number of amazing people and was provided with invaluable opportunities. As a free spirit, I had to explore them all and accept the outcomes of my decisions to follow my own “non-traditional” life path. During my PhD I had the opportunity to take on extra courses, teach in the pre-service Faculty of Education at Brock University (formerly known as teacher’s college). I was #blessed with employment at our local hospital, at which time I also became a full-time registered psychotherapist, and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where I have the privilege of supervising medical learners enrolled in the DeGroote School of Medicine. 

At this destination point in my journey, I have embarked on this part-time entrepreneurship to finance my next philanthropic goal of building health care capacity in marginalized communities (as in, taking a year off to volunteer my time) so that we can all keep helping one another heal and move forward on our journeys.  

On my own life-long expedition I’ve picked up many souvenirs in the form of knowledge, experiences, relationships with people, and lessons that serve as a reminder that living a happy and fulfilling life is made up of so many important factors (seriously, so many factors!). Factors that are based on biological, social, historical, cultural, ethnic, racial, experiential, generational, and spiritual elements. 

Ah, the spiritual piece!
How non-conventional given the bio-medical model health care providers are trained in. Amidst my academic life-long learning, I’ve been fortunate to travel as well as meet travellers from other countries who studied with me (at some point) over the last decade in my southern Ontario lecture, lab, or seminar rooms.

Through these experiences I’ve learned that the world is our real classroom and where true learning and growth takes place.

I’ve recognized that core to who we think we are lays our curiosity about why we are even here (like, right now, on this planet). Raised Roman Catholic (and a retired altar girl) I do believe in the holy trinity. BUT, I also believe in science, the big bang, the unknown, in the seen and unseen energy, life source; and intuitive forces that guide, unite, and connect us to the past, present, future, and to the nature that surrounds us. We all have an internal compass and beliefs about existence that guide us in the human experience we share together. Whether those belief systems about creation are grounded in religion, native and cultural beliefs, or believed to be non-existent; these beliefs and values are part of our experience, the decisions we make, are central to who you think you are, and are part of the holistic psychotherapeutic approach I use.

These are the trinkets that I take forward into the therapy room when I listen and strive to empower others to keep navigating their own journey.