Grace is an experienced, caring counsellor and social worker with a passion for helping people manage life difficulties.  With a background in child welfare, she offers over 15 years of experience in family-centered, strengths-based work with children, youth, and families. Grace specializes in engaging families in telling their stories in order to identify their strengths, worries, trauma histories, and stressors.  She recognizes that respect, listening, and helping individuals to find their own solutions is important for their mental health and well-being. Using solution-focused and brief therapy approaches, Grace partners with families to create a safe, empowering relationship and help them solve problems, create safety for children, and improve their lives.  

Grace completed a Master of Social Work Degree at the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Social Work at York University. Her professional experiences include hospital social work in a rehabilitation setting, including working with issues such as stress, grief and loss, terminal illness and palliative care, depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviour  Recently, Grace has supported patients recovering from Covid-19 and their families to help them manage the psychological, behavioural, and social aspects of illness, using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy strategies, grief counselling, crisis intervention, and assessing for suicidal risk.  

Grace is a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and engages in ongoing education in accordance with the requirements of her College. She is also is a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers. During her graduate studies, Grace completed professional training in providing psychosocial assessment and supportive clinical social work. 

Grace also brings valuable lived experience to her counselling practice, as she has supported a parent with a diagnosed mental illness. Grace is a parent to a sixteen-year-old son and brings to her practice an understanding of both the joys and challenges of child rearing. She believes that resilience can be developed through self-awareness, self-care, mindfulness, and having a hopeful outlook.  

For relaxation, Grace enjoys reading and going for walks.