Along with teaching spiritual skills to bring out children’s natural gifts, I bring twenty years of knowledge and experience as an educator working with children in many different learning settings. Often, I teach children spiritual tools so they can use them to support their own healing. With practice, children generally start to actively identify and use their gifts, thus increasing their self-confidence. There are so many competing voices out there giving parents mixed messages about their role and how they “should” be raising their children. This causes a lot of anxiety in parents and children alike. When we don’t have access to our inner compasses as individuals, it’s hard to know what is “right” for us and our children. When we are embroiled in the busyness of parenting, the job is often too all-encompassing to take time out to get a hawk’s eye view of what might be going on in parent-child dynamics. Having a compassionate, experienced guide who is able to help parents navigate making the changes needed within themselves and their families to create more harmony can be a huge game changer.
How Parents Benefit:
- Clearing away patterns of behaviour and thought that are harmful
- Learning about the normal developmental stages all children go through and how to parent with that knowledge–instead of working against it
- Healing harmful lineage patterns that are interfering with development of healthy parenting practices
- Healing intergenerational trauma so it doesn’t get passed onto children
- Strengthening your trust and connection to your inner compass as a parent
- Practicing forgiveness as a way of letting go of past baggage and mistakes
- Resolving past life issues that are impacting your current life
- Stopping the energy drain from relationships that are not healthy and life-giving
- Increasing overall energy and well-being
- Support without judgement
- Grieving strategies
How Children Benefit:
- Clearing away patterns of behaviour and thought that are harmful
- Learning spiritual skills to bring out natural gifts
- Identifying learning environments, resources, and strategies that work for individual needs
- Learning what emotions and energy are teaching and how to work with them (good for highly sensitive children)
- Reconnecting with the spiritual energy of life
- Celebrating life’s transitions via Rites of Passage and other earth-based ceremonies
- Regaining sovereignty over your life and the decisions you make for yourself
- Resolving past life issues that are impacting your current life
- Meeting and forming relationships with your personal circle of ancestral, animal totem and spirit guides
- Increasing overall energy and well-being
- Supporting the grieving process during and after life transitions
*A Note on Unschooling
Un-schooling may not be for everyone but I do suspect more families will begin looking for alternatives to conventional schooling in the future. (In fact, racialized families have been walking out of schools in higher numbers recently to find more life-affirming options for their children in order to stop institutionalized trauma in its tracks.) I am always open to talk to anyone who is genuinely interested in this path. I’ve been at it since 2004 and have seen the ways this has benefitted so many educators, parents, and learners. It’s not a decision parents take lightly; they have to sacrifice time, resources, career opportunities, and money to do it well. Most families who make this choice are not independently wealthy–contrary to popular belief, most are single-income, middle class households. I’ve even worked with homeless families living in shelters. Many parents get creative (working from home, downsizing, and/or starting businesses) and really take their lives down to the bare bones to give this option to their children. Many parents are also tired of the rat race and this is a way of getting themselves out of the relentless consumer cycles that are causing them to work so hard every day. Many felt they were missing their kids’ childhoods and felt disconnected from the people they love most. Un-schooling is one way to take back our lives and our precious time on this planet.
Professional Credentials:
Level One Satir Family Counseling Program
Trauma Informed Parenting and Education (various courses via Alberta Child and Family Services, University of British Columbia, Mount Royal University, and University of Calgary)
Working with children in education and spiritual settings with specific and high needs who have been diagnosed with some of the following: Autism, AD/HD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, PTSD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Sensory Processing issues–to name a few.
Bachelor of Education from Simon Fraser University (2001) with minors in English, History, and Curriculum Development.