Hello and welcome. My name is Sheena Marques, and I am a practicum student with the enhanced learning division at Aspire Too. This practicum is the final step in my Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University, but it is by no means the last step in my learning.
While I have worked in the helping field for well over a decade, this program and this year mark massive life changes. I became a student again. I’ve had to balance school and full-time employment. I have had to challenge long-held beliefs through deep self-reflection, and, in the middle of all that, I became a mom. Sometimes, I have all the confidence in the world, other times, I can’t find a shred of it. Change is hard, but I can do hard things. The thing is, I don’t do the hard stuff on my own anymore. I have family, friends and even my own counsellor to help me through it all.
You might be here because of some complex changes that are happening and you can’t control, or changes that you are considering but don’t know where to start. Or it’s just kind of scary, and you could use some support. Asking for and accepting help was probably one of the most challenging changes, and that’s normal. Why is it so hard to ask for help, though? There is a lot to that question, and everyone will answer it a bit differently, but most will probably agree that asking for help feels vulnerable. As Brene Brown has said, vulnerability means risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure. It takes courage to step into that space. That is why, as a counsellor, my priority is to provide a safe and trusting space to allow you to step into that vulnerable place and activate your innate healing potential.
It might help to alleviate some of that uncertainty by explaining how I approach therapy. First and foremost, you’re in the driver’s seat! You can think of me as the signs on the road letting you know there is a curve or a turning point up ahead, guiding you to your goal safely. We will do a lot more than talk, though. I use an experiential approach called Gestalt psychotherapy as the foundation of my interventions. At its core, the Gestalt approach recognizes that the more we try to make ourselves fit in a mould, the more fragmented we become. Thus, we will work on knowing and accepting your own truth to build wholeness. I mentioned that it is an experiential approach, which means we will use the therapy session to create and sometimes recreate experiences that will help you attune to your own thoughts, feelings, and sensations, finding insights that support your growth.
I work out of the Aspire Too Saskatoon office, offering individual counselling at a reduced cost of up to $40.00 per one-hour session, and I would be honoured to work with you on your healing journey. Please phone the front office at 306-382-2391 for more information or to book an appointment. Whether you contact me to schedule an appointment, choose a different counsellor or find healing some other way, I commend your courage in exploring options and finding support.