Schlinder is a caring, dedicated, and resourceful social worker who specializes in providing outstanding counselling and mental health services to youth, adults, and families using a strength-based and client-centered approach.  She brings over ten years of experience in supporting and empowering diverse clients with a wide range of needs including coping with and recovering from trauma, addiction, relationship issues, family difficulties, homelessness, and mental health challenges.  

Schlinder completed her Bachelor of Social Work at York University after completing the Social Service Worker Program at Humber College.  In order to provide the most effective service to her clients, Schlinder also completed a wide range of professional training in trauma, mental health, self-harm, and abuse.  In her counselling practice, she utilizes evidence-based approaches such as CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and a trauma-informed lens to help clients cope with and overcome difficulties.  With a deep commitment to serving, counselling, and advocating for people who have experienced marginalization and oppression, Schlinder’s approach to working with clients is respectful, collaborative, empowering, and uses an anti-oppressive lens.  

Schlinder is a naturally compassionate counsellor who shows genuine care and respect for each unique person she works with.  She believes deeply that every person deserves to be treated well and to live their best life. In her counselling practice, she cares about and advocates for each person’s wellbeing regardless of their identity.  She creates a safe, non-judgmental, caring environment which allows clients to feel welcome, heard, accepted, and free to share their authentic self.  It brings her great joy to help to empower her clients to build more resilience, strength, health, and success.  

Schlinder believes in the power of hope and has seen its transformative effects in helping people to build better lives for themselves and their loved ones.  She has learned that people maintain hope in difficult situations when they believe that they can manage the situation somehow.   To help her clients maintain hope and build their strengths, Schlinder is committed to supporting clients in learning the skills to change negative thoughts.  This leads to more positive emotions and more positive behaviours.  She enjoys supporting clients in learning to change their unhelpful thoughts and responses so that they can make more positive life changes, become more empowered and confident, and grow into their full potential.  

Schlinder is motivated by a deep commitment to advocating for those who have been deemed as less than by society due to their social location.  Her interest in social work and desire to become a counsellor started during high school when she was drawn to become friends with people who were experiencing marginalization.  She was deeply affected by how negatively they were treated and how they could respond to this unfair treatment. She came to realize that all human beings face difficulties and can be hurt in various ways by these experiences.  However, she also came to see that our interpretations of situations and our responses to difficulties are very important because these responses and interpretations can either help us to cope well, recover, and grow or they can create more distress and difficulties.  

Apart from work, Schlinder enjoys spending time outdoors and going for walks to clear her mind.  She also loves watching entertaining shows that bring laughter.

What does Resilience mean to Schlinder?

For Schlinder, resilience involves continually learning and practicing ways to keep life difficulties from overwhelming one’s emotional and mental peace and wellbeing.  Most of us know that life is not always easy.  However, remembering this during tough times helps us to develop greater patience, build greater ability to cope and adapt, and understand that “this too shall pass.”  When times are tough, it is helpful to remind ourselves that life presents everyone with experiences that are difficult to accept and cope with and that we all have the ability to learn new ways to face and overcome these difficulties.  This approach helps us to become stronger as a result of the challenges we face, to enlarge our perspectives, and also to protect and enhance our emotional and mental wellbeing.