Care Connect Psychotherapy & Counselling Services

10/25/2025

RESCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2!

Feels Like Home: Blackout Poetry Night ✨🖤

On Sunday, November 2 from 6 - 8pm, join me for an evening of quiet creativity and connection as we dive into the practice of blackout poetry, finding hidden stories within printed pages. Together, we’ll use markers, books, and our intuition to reveal poems that speak to our hopes, memories, and the parts of ourselves we’re ready to honour or release.

No experience with poetry or art is needed, just bring your curiousity and a willingness to see what unfolds. All materials will be provided, and you’ll leave with a one-of-a-kind piece of writing that carries your own voice.

Spaces are limited, so RSVP soon to save your spot (email at erika@care-connect.ca). Let’s gather, create, and discover what words are waiting for you.

Thanks so much to for providing non-alcoholic refreshments ✨️

10/17/2025

I'm beyond grateful to share that I’ve been accepted into the IFS Institute’s Level 1 training, commencing in Spring 2026! ✨️🎉

This program is deeply sought after and difficult to get into, so this acceptance feels both humbling and affirming. Me and my parts are feeling immense gratitude, excitement, and curiousity as I move closer to deepening my understanding of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a model that has deeply shaped both my personal healing and professional path.

Here’s to continued learning, self-leadership, and connection!

10/10/2025

Hope to see you there! 👋🏻

Paths of Courage Healing & Retreat Centre is doing an Open House on October 22nd between 2-4pm. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please contact Sally at the information below. There are limited spaces available for this awesome opportunity!

10/09/2025

Over the past 11 years, I’ve sat in well over ten therapy rooms, each one teaching me something different about what it means to feel safe enough to open up.

Some were filled with warmth and gentle light; others felt sterile or too quiet. Some had a chair placed just right, others left too much (or too little) space between. In each, I learned what allowed me to breathe a little deeper, what encouraged me to bring more of myself into the room.

Now, as a mental health professional, I carry those lessons into my own space. I think about the small things that make a big difference: soft lighting, grounding scents, a gentle tone, the sense that this room is ours for the hour.

Because therapy isn’t just about words...

It’s about atmosphere
It’s about co-regulation
It’s about creating a container where nervous systems can exhale, release

The therapeutic space, physical and emotional, is where trust begins. My goal is to offer a space that feels like a soft landing: where comfort, curiousity, and wholeness can coexist.

If you're interested, my books are still open! Please send a DM or email me at erika@care-connect.ca

09/26/2025

RESCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2!

Feels Like Home: Blackout Poetry Night ✨🖤

On Sunday, October 5 from 6 - 8pm, join me for an evening of quiet creativity and connection as we dive into the practice of blackout poetry, finding hidden stories within printed pages. Together, we’ll use markers, books, and our intuition to reveal poems that speak to our hopes, memories, and the parts of ourselves we’re ready to honour or release.

No experience with poetry or art is needed, just bring your curiousity and a willingness to see what unfolds. All materials will be provided, and you’ll leave with a one-of-a-kind piece of writing that carries your own voice.

Spaces are limited, so RSVP soon to save your spot! Let’s gather, create, and discover what words are waiting for you.

Thanks so much to for providing non-alcoholicrefreshments ✨️

09/23/2025

Take Back the Night 2025

Join us on Thursday, September 25th at 6:00 PM at Market Square in Belleville for a Rally, March, & Vigil as we gather in Strength, Unity, Power, and Community.

On this night, we will honor and lift up the voices that are too often silenced—those affected by oppression, marginalization, and violence. Together, we will stand in a circle of solidarity.

We warmly invite written submissions from survivors of sexual violence—stories, poems, reflections, or thoughts—to be shared in a collective booklet at the event. Contributors may remain anonymous or choose to share their name.

* Submission Deadline: Monday, September 22, 2025
* Submit to: natalieo@threeoaks.ca

Take Back the Night 2025 is proudly organized by:
Community Advocacy & Legal Centre, Red Cedars Shelter, Sexual Assault Centre for Quinte and District, Three Oaks Foundation, Victim Services HPELA, and the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Response Program through Quinte Health.

09/21/2025

Cycle breaking isn’t about rejecting where you come from, it’s about choosing to heal what has been carried for too long.

When we notice patterns of pain, silence, or survival that have shaped our families, we have an opportunity to pause and ask: ✨️Does this need to continue with me?✨️

Cycle breakers learn to set boundaries, grieve losses, and speak truths that may have been buried for generations. They nurture self-compassion where shame once lived, and plant new stories of safety, creativity, and connection.

This work is brave, and it’s tender. Some days it feels empowering; other days, exhausting. Both are part of the journey.

If you’re finding your way through intergenerational trauma, know that your effort matters. Healing ripples outward.

🌸 Here, you are supported as you rewrite the script with gentleness and care.

If you are in need, and want to work with someone who has experienced and been impacted by intergenerational trauma, consider reaching out for a free consult at erika@care-connect.ca

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09/12/2025

No one should face crisis alone. Since becoming a Victim Services HPELA Quick Response Program (VQRP) Counsellor in July, I have had the immense privilege of supporting individuals in restoring their sense of safety, dignity, and hope.

As a VQRP counsellor with Victim Services HPELA, I...

◽️Offer confidential, one-to-one counselling at a reduced rate
◽️ Help survivors access resources and safety plan
◽️Provide a safe, compassionate, and nonjudgmental space to process and heal

If you are in the Quinte Region and need of support, reach out at 613-771-1767

09/10/2025

Good Morning!

The Take Back the Night Committee is inviting written submissions from the community to help uplift the voices of survivors. To share your courage, strength and resilience with others.

We are warmly welcoming stories, poems, and reflections from survivors of sexual violence.

Submissions will be compiled into a booklet this year that will be shared at the Take Back the Night event on Thursday, September 25th at Market Square in Belleville.

Deadline for submissions is Monday, September 22nd , 2025 and will need to be submitted to natalieo@threeoaks.ca

Take Back the Night is proudly organized by:
Sexual Assault Centre for Quinte and District, Three Oaks Foundation, Victim Services HPELA, and the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Response Program through Quinte Health. Red Cedars, Community Advocacy & Legal Centre

09/03/2025

Back from vacation and ready to create! My youngest of clients remind me, time and time again, to reclaim my childlike sense of wonder. As an adult, I've always felt like a child at heart, tending to little Erika who had to grow up much too fast, but sometimes I lose sight of her amidst the hustle and bustle of "adult life."

These little moments remind me to slooooowwww down and embrace whimsy 🌱🐌🦋🐸

08/30/2025

"You are the expert of your own healing" and "The survivor is the expert of their own healing" - I distinctly remember hearing these words during my early days of working in community mental health. It was while I was training to become a crisis line counsellor for the Toronto R**e Crisis Centre back in 2019, and the words have stuck with me since. As a SA/DV survivor myself, these words resonated, providing hope as well as a capacity for change and growth I needed in order to become the helper I am now.

I'm certainly not the expert here, I'm here to tap into the innate wisdom that's been there all along.