About Me

My name is Clara.  I have both a Bachelors degree and Masters degree in Social Work.  As a very young child I identified that I wanted to be a psychiatrist, and what I meant by that was that I wanted to be a therapist.  I have deep compassion for my clients and it means a great deal to me when they honour me with their stories.  I like to spend the first session exploring what brought them to my office, in order to see how I feel I can best help them; after this I share my ideas so that we may form a treatment plan together.  I provide education on the therapies I practice, so my clients can understand how they help and what our work together will look like. 

My choice to become a Social Worker has shaped my approach, helping me to be very client-centred, to grasp the significant effects of oppression, discrimination, and marginalization, and to appreciate complex systems within families, for instance.  My work in community mental health has also given me a strong background in assessing and treating mental illness, mental health challenges, and addiction.  However, I do not make diagnoses or prescribe medication.

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I have experience with interdisciplinary practice and collaboration, carrying out detailed mental health assessments, writing letters on behalf of clients which provide my clinical impressions, assisting clients in crisis, working with caregivers as appropriate, and creating unbiased reports.  I am also trained as a group therapist and am skilled at designing and delivering presentations and workshops.

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