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Look around my website and if you have any comments

or questions, please feel free to contact me. I hope to

see you again! Check back later for new updates to the

website. There’s much more to come!

Contact me by telephone: 250.228.4330 or by email: sharonthomas1@live.com

I have an office in Parksville, B.C.

  I have had many years experience working as a Counsellor, Health Educator, Facilitator and Manager. My passion is in the area of self-development and the improvement of the health and welfare of individuals, families, children, and community. My background in Health Education and later Counselling Psychology prepared me for this work however, it was working with clients that kept my passion alive.

     Working from a personal, supportive, and integrative approach, I use my knowledge and skills to help individuals and groups self-evaluate and learn new skills and strategies in communication, healthy relationships, and healthy living. My definition of health is broad and includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. My philosophy is based on an open heart, emotional intelligence, and self-responsibility.

      As I moved away from management towards the counselling area the prevalence of trauma in the lives of many individuals became obvious to me. As I worked with youth in high schools and the communities I realized that children who had experienced trauma in their early years where much more at risk for many problems including mental health problems and addictions both as adolescents and adults. Working with First Nations youth and adults and also in a woman’s shelter convinced me that the trauma was at the heart of most people's pain and suffering. I continued to study and work in this area including proactive work in suicide prevention and parenting. 

      My education has included several modalities such as cognitive-behavioral including mindfulness, Adlerian, Satir, Gestalt, etc., however it wasn’t until I did training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) that I started to see a real difference in treating trauma and trauma related illnesses including somatic illness.

     EMDR is a relatively new psychotherapy used to treat troubling symptoms, such as anxiety, guilt, anger, depression, panic, sleep disturbance, and flashbacks that are the result of traumatic experiences. Traditional therapies have met with limited success in treating victims of trauma. EMDR has been proven effective in reducing the chronic symptoms which follow trauma and successfully used to treat many problems including PTSD, anxiety, depression, phobias, complicated grief, sexual abuse, panic attacks, peak performance, performance anxiety, addictions, etc..

     Whether EMDR is an appropriate therapy for you or not will be decided by you and the therapist. You shouldn’t undertake any course of treatment, EMDR included, when your life circumstances and financial resources will not allow you to work safely and bring the therapy to a reasonable conclusion. Even though EMDR can yield results in a short time, you need to be prepared to follow through with the full course of treatment. (1. P. 95-96)

(1. Adapted from Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Basic Training, British Columbia School of Professional Psychology)

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