My practice rests on my belief that as human beings, we must begin with relationship. Whether you are my client or a professional colleague, I want for us to start with a warm, thoughtful, and respectful connection.
In our initial session you can expect that we will begin with your giving informed consent to participate. Usually I will have offered you the opportunity to review in advance the information that needs to be covered in the session. It is really important that you have a thorough understanding of what you are entering into – including issues like risks and limitations, for example – and that we have the patience to discuss those things as thoroughly as we need to.
Beyond that, your initial session provides us both with the opportunity to learn about each other. I will be especially interested in the difficulties you are experiencing, who you are as a unique individual including your strengths and resources, and your goals for our session(s). You will have the opportunity to get a sense of me, how I work and what I’m like as a human being, and of course, to ask whatever questions you might have for me at the outset. One of our early tasks is to decide together whether we are a good enough “fit” to work together. If not, I will try to refer you to someone more suitable or suggest an alternative resource.
My style in practice is fairly flexible: Length and frequency of sessions are dependent on the client’s needs. My initial training was multidisciplinary and collaborative, which has left me with the orientation to look at things from multiple perspectives. I was also trained to help in a variety of ways so, within the range of my own skills, I would use whatever approach would be the best fit for you. These are things we would discuss together and agree on before proceeding, and would then review periodically to make sure our efforts are being effective. If you have any concerns about your sessions, your progress, or our work together, please be sure to raise them with me.
Unfortunately, as the profession of psychology is not regulated in the Yukon, there is no local body to which clients can report their concerns about the ethics or competence of psychologists in the Territory. However, as I am registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO #2386), any concerns about my competence or ethics can be reported to the College at 800-489-8388 or cpo@cpo.on.ca.