Powerful pathways towards healing.

 
 
 
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.”
— Mary Oliver, excerpt from Wild Geese (1986)
 

Hi, I’m Clare.

I’m a therapist providing individual care for people (18+) out of Ottawa, Ontario, the traditional, unceded territories of the Anishinaabe Algonquin nation. 

I came to this role after extensive experience working in educational settings, both at the secondary and post-secondary level. For me, the most transformative experiences in this work took place when I was just chatting with someone as they explored who they were, how they got there, and where they wanted to go.  

From here I returned to school and completed a master’s degree in Social Work at Carleton University. I also hold an MA in History from Trent University. In both degrees my research and writing focussed on the connections between race, class, gender, colonialism, and systemic oppressions in Canada’s labour markets, immigration systems and educational institutions. 

This knowledge frames both my professional and personal life and is a lens I apply to my own privilege as a white, cis-gendered social worker who is a settler on this land. As a profession, Social Work has a lot to contend with in upholding systems of harm, both historically and contemporaneously, and that responsibility falls on each of us who hold this designation.  

I am a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and the Ontario Association of Social Workers. I also engage in bi-weekly supervision, both individual and group, and I am the co-founder of an Ottawa-based anti-racism and anti-oppression working group for private practitioners.

Approach —

In my work, I provide a trauma-informed space for people to unpack their stories, so that together we can begin to create new pathways forward. 

My therapeutic approach is grounded in an understanding of the nervous system and how the complexities of our experiences impact our bodies and our brains. This means I move beyond exploring just what our minds are saying and incorporate how our struggles manifest in our bodies as well. This connection not only provides insight into what we are struggling with, but also powerful pathways for healing.

With this approach also comes a deep understanding of the structural causes of individual pain. This means that I do not pathologize, but rather rely on the individual and their lived experience to make meaning of where they find themselves and where it is that they would like to go.

My approach draws on somatic-based practices including Brainspotting; Internal Family Systems and Somatic Experiencing.