What Guides This Work...
How I Work
My approach is eclectic and person-centred which simply means there is no one-size-fits-all method here. I draw on trauma-informed practice, expressive arts, and the simple, powerful idea that the creative process itself can be healing. I come from the belief that it's not just what we make, but how we make it.
I follow your lead. Some sessions might involve deep conversation and/or some psychoeducation alongside artmaking; others might be almost entirely non-verbal with the art doing the work that words can't yet reach.
Both are valid and both are art therapy at work.
Who I Work With
I welcome people of all ages — from young children just beginning to find their voice, through teenagers navigating big transitions, to adults working through life's harder chapters. Drawing on nearly 25 years as an educator, I'm equally at home with an eight-year-old as I am with an 80-year-old.
I also love working with people who simply feel "stuck" facing what I think of as the dams in the river of life, whether small or large. Sometimes the work is about big healing. Sometimes it's simply about finding flow again.
Art Therapy has shown particular promise in supporting people navigating:
Trauma
ADHD
Autism Spectrum
Neurodivergence
Depression
Chronic Stress
Self-Esteem
Grief and Loss
PTSD
Anxiety
Addictions & Substance Use
Self-Improvement
Life Transitions
Emotional Regulation & Coping Skills
You are the expert on your own experience. My role is simply to walk alongside you.
Art is our one true global language. It knows no nation; it favours no race; and it acknowledges no class. It speaks to our need to reveal, heal, and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us imagine what is possible.
- Richard Kamier -
Rivers, Place, and Responsibility
River Run takes its name seriously. The Green, Birkenhead, and Lillooet Rivers run through this valley as living teachers — flowing, adaptive, persistent, sometimes turbulent, and always moving toward something. I think about art therapy in much the same way: not a straight line, but a current that finds its way, sometimes through obstacles, sometimes around them, and always forward.
This work also happens on specific land — the ancestral and unceded territories of the Lil'wat and N'Quatqua Nations, both members of the St'át'imc Nation. Practicing here means continually learning what it means to be a respectful guest: to listen, to stay curious, and to hold space with humility for the histories and knowledge that existed here long before, and far beyond, this studio.
I certainly don't claim to have this fully figured out. It's ongoing work for me, and for River Run as a whole.