Guiding Hearts

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Canada
Abbotsford, BC
Guiding Hearts

I provide compassionate and effective counseling services tailored to your unique needs. My Mission is to leave people feeling SAFE in everything I do.

With 10 years of experience, I bring a deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs that come with navigating life’s transitions & emotional landscapes. My goal when working with clients is to help them find a clear path to reducing symptoms and function better on a day-to-day basis. We work together to address the many conditions that coexist with anxiety and depression, while developing a plan of action that meets the goals we establish together. My other training is in abuse, domestic violence, youth, family, community based counselling, addictions & recovery and couples. My Promise to each of my clients and what they need most is:

CLARITY * KNOWLEDGE * COMMITMENT

Clarity is getting clear on the internal triggers and patterns of behaviour

Knowledge when it comes to treatment plans and techniques that have been proven to work when it comes to anxiety & depression. Commitment in showing up and working through the internal process of breaking those patterns and getting to the root cause.

12/21/2025

If you’re struggling with where you’re at right now — feeling grief, loss, loneliness, or disconnection — I invite you to pause for a moment.

Place one hand over your heart.
Take a slow breath in… and a gentle breath out.
Again — breathing in… and breathing out.

If it feels okay, softly close your eyes and simply become aware of your breath — not changing it, just noticing it.

If feelings of loneliness, grief, or loss arise, see if you can meet them with compassion rather than judgment.
Ask yourself: What kind of kindness or care do I need in this moment?

Breathe into that space.
Allow compassion to bring even a small sense of comfort, warmth, or love.

If tears come, let them.
Tears are not weakness — they are part of healing.

This is a safe moment to notice what’s present in your body.
You might become aware of sensations, emotions, or thoughts — all are welcome.

And gently, without pressure, you might ask:
• What would support me right now?
• What small behavior or action could help me care for myself in this difficult time?

There is no need to rush the answers.
Just breathing… noticing… and offering yourself the same compassion you would offer someone you love.

You are not alone in this moment. 🤍

12/21/2025

A little about my approach and the work I offer 🤍

As a Master Practitioner in Clinical Counselling, I offer a trauma-informed, client-centred approach rooted in safety, choice, and respect. My work integrates traditional talk therapy with gentle somatic awareness and expressive arts, recognizing that trauma is often held in the body as well as the mind — and that healing doesn’t always happen through words alone.

Sessions are collaborative and paced to each individual. Clients are always in control of how much they share and how they participate. Somatic and expressive practices are offered as optional supports for emotional regulation, insight, and reconnection. There is no expectation to be “artistic,” spiritual, or to engage in anything that doesn’t feel right.

My work remains within the scope of clinical counselling and trauma-informed practice. I do not diagnose medical conditions or provide medical treatment. Spirituality is always client-led; while I come from a faith-based background, no beliefs are imposed. If spirituality is meaningful to a client, it may be acknowledged at their request and in a way that aligns with their own values.

Above all, my intention is to offer a safe, grounded space where people feel supported, respected, and empowered to move toward greater clarity, resilience, and well-being — at their own pace.

—

Credentials & Training
• Master Practitioner in Clinical Counselling
• Trauma-Informed Practice
• Somatic-Informed & Expressive Arts Integration
• Chair Yoga Instructor & Yin-Yang Yoga Teacher
• 24 years’ experience in health and community care

12/21/2025

Winter Solstice Reflection 🌑✨

The Winter Solstice invites us to slow down and turn inward.
It’s a time to reflect on the year behind us—and to gently consider who we are becoming.

Today marks the longest night of the year, a reminder that even in darkness, something new is quietly forming.

I’ve been reading Be Your Future Self Now by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and it’s been a powerful companion for this season of reflection. The book speaks to the idea that our future isn’t something we wait for—it’s something we begin aligning with now, through intention, values, and small conscious choices.

As the year comes to a close, I’m taking time to ask myself:
• What did this year teach me?
• What have I released or outgrown?
• Who do I want to be one year from now—and what would my future self thank me for starting today?

The Solstice reminds us that light always returns.
But first, we honour the stillness.

Wishing you a gentle, reflective Solstice and a hopeful turning toward the days ahead.

✨

12/20/2025

When I wrote Steps to Loving You, I was tired.

Tired of the same patterns repeating.
Tired of the same situations showing up in different forms.
Tired of being on the emotional merry-go-round and wondering, why does this keep happening?

Like all of us, I didn’t come from a perfect family — none of us do.
Some families’ struggles are visible.
Others are quieter, more subtle.
But dysfunction exists in every family system.

And when we enter relationships, we bring all of it with us — our beliefs, our wounds, our learned patterns, our unmet needs.

Writing that book required me to slow down and ask myself some hard questions:
What are my core beliefs?
What am I carrying forward unconsciously?
How do I want to show up — for myself and for others?

I was raised in a faith rooted in compassion, humility, and loving others as ourselves — not seeing ourselves as above or below anyone else. Because the moment we feel inferior or superior, conflict begins.

That realization shifted something for me.

I chose to start showing up differently for myself.
Not to fix everything — but to become more aware.
More honest.
More grounded in who I am and what I value.

Sometimes healing isn’t about changing the past.
It’s about recognizing patterns, returning to our core, and choosing a new way forward.

And sometimes healing really is as simple — and as hard — as saying:

“I just choose to respond differently now.”

That choice isn’t easy.
Especially when we’re facing the same challenges.
The same relationships.
The same familiar dynamics.

There can be fear in that moment.
Anxiety.
Sometimes shame.
The quiet question of what happens if I don’t react the way I always have?

But when we choose to respond differently, something shifts.
And often, the people around us don’t know how to respond to that — because change disrupts familiar patterns, even unhealthy ones.

Still, this is where healing begins.
Not by controlling others.
But by choosing awareness, presence, and responsibility for how we show up.

Responding differently doesn’t mean it’s easy.
It means you’re growing.

🤍

12/20/2025

It’s easy to point fingers — especially when we’ve been hurt.
It’s even easier when part of the conflict was instigated, stirred, or misunderstood, and then turned back on us.

But real healing begins when we’re willing to look at ourselves.

Whether it shows up as lateral violence with friends, family, or coworkers — or simply in how we treat the people we say we love — healing asks something uncomfortable of us:

honest self-reflection.

That means looking at the patterns we carry.
The reactions we repeat.
Even the shadow parts we’d rather not see — the ones we project onto others instead of recognizing within ourselves.

This isn’t about blame.
It’s about responsibility.

Because when we can compassionately take inventory of ourselves, that’s when healing begins.
That’s how we start to forgive ourselves — and eventually, forgive others.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean people need to remain in our lives.
It means we no longer allow the wound to control us.

Trauma is layered — like an onion.
Anger, sadness, mistrust, intrusive memories… they don’t disappear overnight.
Healing takes time.

But the first step is often this simple (and this brave):
“I don’t want to live in these patterns anymore.”

Life isn’t always fair.
But we can choose what we have influence over — our thoughts, our actions, our behaviors.
We can become more present.
More aware of how we show up in relationships, at work, and in everyday moments.

So my invitation to you is this:
Don’t wait.

Counseling is not a weakness — it’s a gift.
A space to safely explore the deeper pain points that keep us stuck, and to begin moving forward with clarity, compassion, and choice.

Healing starts within.
And loving self truly does create positive change.

🤍

12/15/2025

When the Holidays Bring Sadness or Loss

If you’re feeling sadness, grief, or a deep sense of loss this year, one of the most important things you can do is show up for yourself with compassion.

Notice how you speak to yourself.
The way we talk to ourselves often isn’t how we would speak to a dear friend who is hurting. We minimize our pain. We push through. We tell ourselves to be strong. And in doing so, we sometimes miss our own grief, our sorrow, our anxiety, or our depression.

This season invites something different.

If you’ve lost someone you love, allow yourself to remember them with kindness.
Light a candle.
Say their name.
Write them a letter.
Do something gentle that honours the love that still lives in you.

Self-compassion is not weakness.
Self-care is not selfish.
It is an act of tenderness toward a heart that has carried much.

You don’t have to fix the pain.
You don’t have to rush the healing.
You just have to meet yourself where you are — with the same care you would offer someone you love.

12/15/2025

Holiday Reminder: A Call to Compassion

The holidays can be an incredibly difficult time for many people.

For those who have experienced great loss or trauma…
For those affected by flooding, car accidents, intimate partner violence, or domestic abuse…
For those who are separated from family, struggling within their family, or spending the holidays alone…
For those carrying grief, sadness, anxiety, or depression that feels heavier at this time of year.

So many unseen struggles surface during the holidays.

My invitation to you is this:
If you notice someone who seems to be struggling—pause. See them. Reach out.

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, this season is an opportunity to give, to share, and to love.
Not out of obligation.
Not with expectations.
But simply from a place of compassion and care for one another’s mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

Check in on someone.
Invite someone over who might be alone.
Offer a warm conversation.
Share a meal.
Give a small gift card to someone you see struggling—on the street, or a senior who may have no family.
Sit with someone who has lost a spouse, a child, or a loved one.

Love doesn’t have to be loud or perfect.
Sometimes it’s quiet.
Sometimes it’s just showing up.

And while we should practice kindness every day of the year, the holidays are a powerful reminder that simple acts of love can ease someone’s burden—sometimes more than we’ll ever know.

12/15/2025

Tonight, my heart is heavy.

I stand for love — the kind I was raised with: love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does not mean we all agree. It means we choose humanity over hatred.

My heart goes out to the Jewish community in Bondi Beach, Australia, who were simply gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah — a sacred reminder that light overcomes darkness.

Violence driven by hatred toward people because of their faith, identity, or existence is not love. It is a loss of our shared humanity.

We all need to ask ourselves:
What kind of world do we want to live in — one led by love, or one consumed by hate?

People with hardened, bitter, and angry hearts are hurting deeply. They need healing. They need love — not more violence.

Tonight, I pray for peace.
For comfort for those grieving.
For light where there is darkness.
For hearts to soften.

🤍

12/15/2025

Flooding affects more than land — it affects people.

My heart is with everyone in Sumas Prairie right now — especially the many farming families, and all those whose homes, work, and sense of security have been disrupted by flooding.

This kind of event takes a toll emotionally and mentally. Stress, fear, grief, exhaustion, and overwhelm are normal responses to an abnormal situation.

If you’re struggling, please reach out.
If you know someone in Sumas Prairie, check in on them.

As a trauma-informed counsellor, I’m here to support those who need it most during times like these. You don’t have to go through this alone.

Strong communities are built on care. 🤍

12/09/2025

Steps to Loving You: Creating Positive Change**

I wanted to take a moment to share something close to my heart — my book, Steps to Loving You: Creating Positive Change.

This book was originally born out of a workshop I was creating for girls aged 12–17. But as I started writing, I realized the messages weren’t just for youth — they were for anyone who has ever struggled to love themselves from the inside out.

So it became a book.
And today, it has become part of the foundation of the work I do with single women 40+ who have been through trauma, loss, life transitions, and emotional exhaustion. (I have worked with 20+ also).

Before I became a clinical counselor, I was a long term care aide, hairdresser and makeup artist. I loved helping women feel beautiful. But even then, I knew the deeper truth:

Beauty and healing don’t start on the outside — they start within.

That’s why my first business was called Love From the Inside.
That message shaped everything I’ve done since.

We can’t keep running from our past.
We can’t keep repeating the same emotional patterns.
We can’t keep trying to fix our lives from the outside in.

Sometimes healing starts by slowing down, turning inward, and asking ourselves:
What do I need to love within me?
What do I need to let go of?
What patterns am I ready to break?

Steps to Loving You is a gentle guide for anyone ready to stop running, face themselves with compassion, and create real, lasting change.

I believe every woman deserves that chance — to rise, to heal, and to return home to herself.

I’m grateful to have found this new singing group Lenzspot and I’m excited to share more of my journey with you. 💛

If you’d like a copy of the book or want to know more, just let me know. I’d love to connect.

12/09/2025

I’ve witnessed lateral violence firsthand. I once found myself caught in the middle of a situation where old trauma spilled sideways onto me—suddenly and intensely. I wasn’t part of the original conflict, but I felt the impact of it.

That experience taught me something important:
lateral violence isn’t about the person in front of you.
It’s about the pain behind them.

When people carry deep, generational wounds, those emotions often come out sideways. Not because they’re bad people, but because their hurt has never had space to heal.

I learned that what happened wasn’t personal—it was historical.
I had stepped into the ripple effects of unspoken trauma.

Trauma seeks expression.
If it can’t go up or out, it goes sideways.

This is why trauma-informed care, reconciliation, and honest conversations matter.
They give pain somewhere safe to land so communities can begin to truly heal.

I share this not to blame, but to show the human story beneath conflict—and the hope that comes when we understand it.

Hashtags:
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12/08/2025

Healing Lateral Violence among Indigenous communities

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2632 Pauline Street
Abbotsford, BC
V2S0C9

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Monday

2pm - 6pm

Website

https://www.guiding-hearts.com/

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