Counselling for children, youth, and young adults

I started my career in Texas, then moved to Canada thirty years ago. During that time, I've practiced many ways of providing therapy - solution focused therapy, family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, parent child interaction therapy, Indigenous cultural sensitivity training, critical incident stress debriefing, suicide intervention and so on. It's a long list.  What I've learned is that most people want to be listened to, to learn how to cope with life's stressors, how to help their children/family members and to live a more balanced life.
I believe in providing people with the means of learning skills, how to access resources both external and internal and how to move forward from the challenges that might be leading them to feel stuck. There's no magic in therapy or therapists. Being in nature, humour, sharing a cup of tea, listening to music and stepping away from what stresses you for an hour or so can be the start of a good therapeutic relationship and the healing process. In order to facilitate the journey to better mental health, I believe in using  approaches that focus on connections with family, community, spirituality and nature. For children, that usually means learning to self regulate through play and other forms of self expression. Play and self expression are good for adults too.