Work Experience

Counsellor
Simon Fraser University – Burnaby, British Columbia
Vocational and personal counseling both individual and group; liaison with other university student support services and academic departments; community outreach presentations; attendance and presentations at national conferences of counselors, deans, advisers; media interviews.

Continuing Studies Co-ordinator
Simon Fraser University – Burnaby, British Columbia
Responsible for recruiting faculty, advertising short courses, scheduling and all other administrative arrangements related to initiating and developing a program of credit free courses (16 courses)

Co-ordinator of Research
Simon Fraser University – Burnaby, British Columbia
Department of Continuing Studies: evaluative research on the effectiveness of extension credit programs.

Co-ordinator of Healing Services
Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Services – Victoria, British Columbia
Responsible for supervision of individual and group counseling services to survivors of current and historical sexual abuse; supervision of the volunteer training programs; development of written materials re services offered; community liaison with police, attorney general’s office, medical community, colleges and university faculty seeking practicum placements for students; supervision of practicum students; attendance at board meetings and participation in decisions about governance of the center.

Auxiliary Psychologist
Saanich Mental Health Centre – Victoria, British Columbia
Responsible for adult outpatient treatment through individual and group psychotherapy. This included clinical assessment, attendance at and participation in interdisciplinary case planning meetings, and community outreach programs as well as availability for media interviews.

Co-ordinator of Counselling Services
Victoria Divorce and Separation Centre – Victoria, British Columbia
Supervised counselors doing individual and group counseling with adults in the process of a separation or divorce. I prepared materials for parents on the unique needs of children in different age groups adjusting to family transitions. I supervised counselors hired to facilitate the children’s “Caught in the Middle” groups. I directed the administrative arrangements for scheduling and ordering healthy snacks for the groups. I also did the intake interviews with each parent and child wishing to participate in a group. Finally, I was a facilitator of a few of the children’s and adult groups.

Instructor, Graduate Studies
lectureAntioch University      Vancouver, British Columbia
1. Humanistic Psychology
2. Stability and Change in the Individual and Society

Instructor
University of Victoria – Victoria, British Columbia
Undergraduate course, Group Process
Graduate seminar, Gender Fair Counselling

Instructor
Douglas College – Surrey, British Columbia
Psychology and Behavioral Studies

*Private Practice
Self-employed in Victoria, Vancouver and Fraser Valley, British Columbia

I have been in part-time or full-time private practice for the larger part of my career (1976–present). I have offered many workshops and seminars throughout the province. I have been very successful in motivating clients to make self-care and wellness a priority. I have produced clear, concise self-help articles to supplement and reinforce gains made in individual and group treatment. I am known for in-depth, brief psychotherapy that is healing and empowering in a way that assures optimal use of any and all other consultations with health service providers.

I co-edited Women Look at Psychiatry with Dorothy E. Smith and contributed two chapters to the anthology. The book is a critique of traditional psychiatry and exposes the psychiatric oppression women experience at the hands of many psychiatrists.

conferenceIn the course of my career, I have been an invited speaker at numerous Conferences including:

  • University of New Mexico. “Integrating Masculine and Feminine Energy”, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Calgary, Alberta, “Women’s Spirituality”, Psychologists Association of Alberta
  • London, Ontario, “Begin Action”, Women in Colleges & Universities, Third National Conference”
  • University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Fifth Annual Women Helping Women Conference: Women to Women: A lifetime of Health , “The Emotional Roots of Physical Disorder”, jointly sponsored by the Federation of Medical Women of Canada and the Women’s Studies Department
  • Canadian Guidance and Counseling Association
    • “Extended Effects of Various Treatment Modalities” with Dr. Charles Brassfield
    • “Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Aspects of Vocational and Personality Tests”
    • “Life Planning Skills” with John Breen
    • “Becoming a Non-Sexist Counsellor”
    • “Emotional Self-Defence Groups for Women”
  • British Columbia Teachers Federation
    • “The Art of Emotional Self Defence”