I am a Clinical and School Psychologist, working with children and adolescents, practicing in Toronto, Canada. I completed my doctorate in 2015 at York University in Clinical-Developmental Psychology. While completing my predoctoral internship with the British Columbia Public Service (Child and Youth Mental Health), I also completed a 250-hour hatha yoga teacher training at Moksana Yoga in Victoria, BC.  My personal experiences as well as a background in public health have resulted in my passion for prevention and early intervention, with a focus on community health and resilience. These interests also informed my dissertation research looking at the buffering impact of caregiver-infant interactions and attachment on the neurodevelopment of infants facing prenatal neurotoxin exposure and poverty in Costa Rica. This research was nominated for the York University dissertation prize.

I have come to believe and see that mindfulness has the capacity to prevent mental health problems and their worsening, and to promote healing and self-acceptance. The many significant benefits of mindfulness are now supported by decades of research evidence. My interest and passion for mindfulness developed from my longstanding practice in yoga and meditation, and the many positive ways in which mindfulness has deeply impacted my own life and the lives of many people I have worked with.  I have benefitted greatly from having a daily formal and informal practice of mindfulness meditation and yoga.  My practice and teachings are strongly influenced by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh (Plum Village) and Jon Kabat-Zinn (developer of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction/MBSR), as well as by teachers and mentors (past, present, and those yet to come) on this journey.

In addition to my work as a psychologist, I am a facilitator with the Ontario-based nonprofit Mindfulness Everyday and an independent mindfulness meditation and yoga teacher/consultant.  I have developed and adapted mindfulness-based therapy groups for parents, teens, and children. I also regularly provide training and consultation in mindfulness and mental health topics (e.g., on trauma, youth mental health) to parents, educators and health professionals.  I completed the MBSR in Mind-Body Medicine 8-day Training for Health Professionals in 2017, under the direction of Saki Santorelli, Judson Brewer & Florence Meleo-Meyer at UMASS Center for Mindfulness, as well as the MBSR Foundations training at Brown University in 2020.  I am a University of British Columbia Certified facilitator of the SMART (Stress Management And Resiliency Techniques) in Education 9-session Mindfulness course, having taught several cycles of the course to hundreds of educators and helping professionals, and a curator of the Mindful Living Weekend Retreat for Educators and Mental Health Practitioners. 

I consider myself to be a student for life and am dedicated to ongoing learning, mentorship, and personal and professional growth.

Some of my professional interests include: community psychology, trauma, attachment, early intervention, the integration of mind-body approaches in therapy, environmental health, educational and public health policy.

Personal interests (apart from mindfulness and yoga) include: spending time in nature as much as possible, hiking and mountain trekking, travelling, floral arranging, plant-based cooking and baking, volunteering on issues related to girls’/women’s empowerment and social justice, and bingeing on episodes of the Great British Baking Show.

 

Education

• PhD in Clinical-Developmental Psychology (York University, 2015)
• MA in Clinical-Developmental Psychology (York University, 2010)
• MSc in Epidemiology and public health (York University, 2008)
• Hon BA in Psychology (Glendon College, 2004)