Joy Levesque - Counsellor

08/17/2023

Second annual Pembroke Youth Try-it EXPO!!
August 26th, 2023
10am-2pm @ the PMC Arena
⚽️🏀⚾️🏐🏒⛳️🥋🛹⛸⛷🏂🏊‍♂️🧗‍♂️🚴‍♂️🎨🎭🎼🥁🎮
This event will be showcasing the incredible variety of local sport, activity clubs, and service & interest groups that Pembroke has to offer.
Youth will have the opportunity to discover new sports and activities and learn more about all the services that we have here in Pembroke!
We will also have food vendors and entertainment for all to enjoy. This should be a fun filled day for young people and their families.

08/17/2023

08/16/2023

This webinar was so good! 🎯

08/16/2023

Posted • .culture.rebel

One of the biggest concerns clients come to us with is how they can still purse health without dieting 🤔

We LOVE to help our clients explore what health means to them, discuss the social determinants of health, & help them find health-promoting behaviors outside of dieting!❤️

Some of these behaviors include:

✅focusing on quality sleep & rest
✅moving your body in a way that feels joyful when it feels right to you
✅exploring coping tools to help you manage stress
✅adding in foods using gentle nutrition that aligns with your health values
✅spending time with people that support you & bring joy to your life
✅discovering new interests & hobbies outside of food & health
✅and so many more!

In our signature group coaching program we help clients to pursue health without dieting using an intuitive eating framework!

👉 A benefit of healing your relationship with food & becoming an intuitive eater is that you leave the stress of struggling with food behind! 👏

If you are ready to heal your relationship with food, we would encourage you to apply to group coaching! Our next cohort kicks off on 8/15 & spots are filling on a first come, first serve basis!

Apply today ⭐️ link in bio ⭐️

After you apply, Bonnie will personally review your application & send you an email after with next steps + how to secure your spot if you’re a good fit.❤️

08/16/2023

📢📢 Counsellor Rob is accepting new clients! 📢📢

Robert offers customized, cost-effective mental wellness and counselling support to persons of all ages including individuals, families, and couples.

😌Robert has extensive experience working with clients of various neurotypes that are looking for additional support with emotional regulation, interpersonal skills, and distress tolerance.

He can offer direct support to children & youth as well as parenting / co-parenting support for caregivers to develop strategies for improving self-confidence, distress tolerance, self-regulation in children, youth, and families as a whole. 👐

Additionally, Robert has training and experience in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (groups and individual approaches), anger-management, as well as couples counselling through The Gottman Institute.

No coverage? Ask us about our sliding scale! 🤩

🔍Visit our website to schedule a consult or book an appointment with Rob.

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08/15/2023

From the The Regulated Classroom, some ideas about co-regulation:

08/15/2023

08/15/2023

Addiction is an attempt to soothe and avoid. In years of working within substance abuse, one pattern is clear: deep pain.

When we’re in pain, it’s a *natural* response to want to soothe. When we haven’t learned how to self soothe in healthy ways, we’ll do it in any way we can. Through food, gaming, po*******hy, shopping, alcohol etc.

This is why addiction is an adaption. Not a choice.

Addiction becomes destructive because the soothing creates more shame. Yes, we get to temporary dissociate, numb, or distract, but afterwards we feel the internal disgust. The pain is back. The temporary avoidance has faded and we have to face ourselves again.

In 2019, a study was published from two decades of researched showed childhood trauma has the primary driver of addition and mental illness. Which is why it’s important to focus on healing of the inner child and younger developmental parts. To take responsibility to reparent ourselves.

In short: to fully develop.

A core part of reparenting is self care, self compassion, and learning new ways to cope. This is a journey or a daily practice. Without this there is no recovery. This piece is important because *many* people who struggle with addiction are technically sober but have just picked up another addiction (typically one that is more societally accepted) to take its place.

In a collective society of adults who have not leaned how to cope, addiction is the result.

Emotional coping skills, awareness, and self expression is the remedy

08/13/2023

Our culture’s conditioning around aging is so outdated. It’s carried over from when people lived to 50 years old. Life is long. We’re not dead after our 20’s. 50 is not old. It breaks my heart when people comment “it’s sad I’m just learning this at 52” no better time! Learning and growing is lifelong.

The secret to a fulfilled life is to drop all the unrealistic and sabotaging ideas about age. 30 under 30 awards are great, but how many people make their dreams come true and find their passion in mid life? Many. It’s sad how we have people setting for normalized complacency with an idea that change is for “young” people.

If you’ve made a shift later in life PLEASE SHARE IN THE COMMENTS. You’ll inspire someone. Let’s end the age dysfunction. It’s just not reality

08/13/2023

Birds are a way to connect with nature, which is associated with better body and brain health, research shows.

08/10/2023

We are now accepting intakes for our groups which are being offered starting in September. Groups are free to attend and are available to clients 17 years and older. Our groups are made accessible in both in person and virtual form. To complete an intake:
📞 613-629-4243
📨 info@rdfcc.ca

08/09/2023

RESOURCE ALERT

AMAZE - Age-appropriate puberty and s*x education videos

Real s*x ed info in fun, animated videos that give you all the answers you actually want to know about s*x, your body and relationships. We release new video...

08/08/2023

08/07/2023

There is nothing more emotionally devastating than the weight shame has on our lives. The desperation of hiding our shame fuels most of our controller’s behaviors keeping us from our rest and inner peace. Shame drives much of our futility which keeps us stuck and spinning on our most purposeful go...

08/07/2023

🌼Not everyone is meant to be in our lives to the end.

🌼So when someone brings pain, suffering, and disrespect to your life, let them go.

🌼If you choose, you may wish them well from afar.

🌼If it’s not possible to let them go completely, make sure you limit your energy and time spent in their presence.

🌼Remember you are worthy of respect.
You matter. Your life matters.

(You can’t change people, but you can change your proximity, reaction, and boundaries.-)

08/03/2023

💛 credit: Peace & Quiet

08/02/2023

👏

07/25/2023

What exactly is radical acceptance? I sometimes like to think of it as a CUT THE S**T skill 🔪💩

It means COMPLETELY, TOTALLY AND FULLY accepting difficult realities in our lives, exactly as they are, as openly and calmly as possible, not only with your mind but also your heart and body. And maybe with even your SOUL - it’s that complete!!

This takes out all the extra suffering we add in when we DENY/ AVOID/ FIGHT/ NUMB OUT reality- which only prolongs the difficult reality. Hence, cutting the s**t.
Is it easy? Not really. Nothing good for you in life is easy. It takes some grit for sure.

But it is a practice that we can get better at over time. Like me this past weekend, just accepting the CRAP out of the painful family situation I found myself in. It allowed me to do a bit of grieving, and then move into a place of calm, where I could think clearly about how I want to handle it in the future.

Was this the first time I tried acceptance? Hell no. But I feel like I am getting better at it, and this feels hopeful!

07/24/2023

Thank you The Therapist Parent for this reminder.

"There is so much more to behaviour than most people think. Children don’t try to upset us, there is usually something behind it. They are communicating their need through behaviour. If we look behind the behaviour we can see a child who is doing the best they can."
🎙️Learn more about how to help your child thrive in today’s world; subscribe to THE CHILD PSYCH PODCAST hosted by our co-founders, Tammy Schamuhn & Tania Johnson.

🎙️ This podcast brings you the top parenting & children’s mental health experts in the world. We will educate and inspire you with the most current research & strategies to help foster emotional resiliency & healing in your child or the children you work with.

🎙️Most importantly, we’re here because we need to raise a generation of children who don’t need to recover from their childhoods.

👉Listen Here: https://podcast.icphelps.com/

07/22/2023

Just a reminder, there are a lot of people who love without abusing.

Another reminder, if there’s abuse involved, there is no amount of good memories that will ever make that ok.

Free resources @ linktr.ee/natepost:
-Inner child journaling guide
-A survivors guide to trauma recovery
-Monthly blog with Q & A

I’m glad you’re here! 🫶🫶🫶

07/21/2023

This podcast is 👌🏻

One of the biggest obstacles to stay connected and calm in our parenting is the unresolved hurt we carry with us from childhood. Particularly the stories we haven’t examined and worked through.

Credit: Gabor Maté
🎙️Learn more about how to help your child thrive in today’s world; subscribe to THE CHILD PSYCH PODCAST hosted by our co-founders, Tammy Schamuhn & Tania Johnson.

🎙️ This podcast brings you the top parenting & children’s mental health experts in the world. We will educate and inspire you with the most current research & strategies to help foster emotional resiliency & healing in your child or the children you work with.

🎙️Most importantly, we’re here because we need to raise a generation of children who don’t need to recover from their childhoods.

👉Listen Here: https://podcast.icphelps.com/

07/20/2023

💜

07/20/2023

07/20/2023

You will experience a vast range of emotions throughout your lifetime, and it’s not uncommon to feel a dozen or more at any given moment. And some of them will be conflicting. Your feelings don’t fit in a box. They’re not meant to categorize themselves neatly, and there is no “perfect way of feeling.”⁣
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Emotions are like water. They change shapes, sizes, and sometimes their mass feels impossible to control. Sometimes they trickle neatly, and other times they pour. Learning to swim among these emotional experiences instead of attempting to control the flood is the key to peace.⁣
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But on the days you do find yourself sinking to the bottom of what feels like an endless ocean of emotion, look to the sun that breaks through the ripple of the surface. And remember that you are the sun. You are not the ocean of emotions, nor the one drowning in them. You are the observing sun, gazing down at what happens. You are the one with an expansive view of all that’s occurred. ⁣
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Maintain the awareness that sometimes you’ll swim the depths of waters and other days you’ll climb the highest peaks, and most days you will be perched perfectly on land. As the sun in your own landscape of life, recognize the value and beauty of the oceans but also appreciate that they are not the full picture.⁣
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As life’s terrain changes, continue doing your best no matter what you come across, but never forget that the hillsides, valleys, river banks, and mountain tops are merely scenery for the sun to enjoy. As long as you keep going, you can’t mess this up.⁣

07/19/2023

Sometimes when people feel disconnected from their emotions, it's harder to connect with others. It can be a survival response that has developed over time, like having a shield around their feelings to stay safe.

And it's also important to understand that having that shield can make it difficult to have strong and happy relationships with others. To make things better, we need to understand why we built that shield in the first place and take actions to change it.

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3rCXGFJ

07/19/2023

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07/15/2023

Fun fact: I love to zone out to reality shows, and a few nights ago a girl was explaining how she wanted to marry her boyfriend. She had been planning her wedding almost her entire life. She spent hours on Pinterest.

When he purposed, she threw herself into wedding planning.

And I couldn’t help but think: why do we leave people so excited about the proposal and planning. Without an education or awareness of relationship skills.

Why don’t we talk more about emotional regulation, active listening, and how to repair (or navigate) conflict.

It’s no wonder so many people feel disappointed, let down, or alone in their marriage. We don’t know how to actually connect. We don’t know how to create emotional intimacy. We don’t speak about maintaining a marriage— we speak about the fantasy of it all.

We do a massive disservice to our collective when we don’t have the cultural conversation and give the education needed to actually build relationships.

What do you all think?

07/12/2023

Appreciation post for my employer/work-family. Compassion lives here. Navigating a career with two littles has been an interesting feat. I would not be able to navigate the ongoing changes and illness(es) if it were not for my employer's responses; "don't stress, family first", "no problem at all", etc.

The family first movement is such an important one and I am so grateful to be apart of it

07/08/2023

06/25/2023

Who is here?! Drop a 🙌 in the comments