Credentials:   Getting credentialed is an excellent training process, and I'm continually doing so as part of ongoing professional development; but it doesn't mean much if the therapist hasn't done his or her own personal work.

In fact if the therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist hasn't done their own personal work, they are hindered in effectiveness, limited in empathy, and possibly even ethically challenged (the liklihood of counter transferance goes way up if a therapist hasn't dealt with their own issues first!).

In contrast, a person who's been down to the dark places of their life, who's mucked around up close and personal with depression, anxiety, panic attack, rage, despair, addiction, sexual abuse, and their siblings makes a far better therapist than the one who's only been a tourist to those swamplands of humanity. I respect a therapist who bears the scars of wounds healed by his or her cohorts and colleagues. I don't want a voyeur as a therapist, I want a blooded veteran. I don't want a scholar, researcher, dilettante or academic for a therapist, I want someone who knows from the gut what the landscape feels like down there in the stink. That is why the better training programs demand that trainees practice on each other! And not just a few times in class; but over a long period to tackle real issues - no role playing allowed! So when a new client says to me 'how do you know this' I say because I've been there, here's my experience of what you're going thru.

As for official training and skills: I'm certified as a psychotherapist by the Ontario Association of Consultants, Counsellors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists. I'm a trainer of interpersonal and conflict resolution skills since the early 1980s. I'm finishing up the training as a Transactional Analyst (TA) and am studying for the certification exams. I'm trained and certified as a Redecision Therapist by the Southeast Institute for Family Therapy. I'm trained and certified as a Cognitive Behavior Therapist, by the Cleveland Centre of Cognitive Therapy. I am a Certified Advanced Nurtured Heart Approach practitioner, I've received advanced training in Motivational Interviewing, and I've received energy psychotherapy training in both Advanced Integrative Therapy and Healing the Light Body School's Illumination Process. I have a physical sciences B.Sc. from the University of Guelph and a social sciences M.A. from the University of Waterloo.

From 1980 until 1994 I owned and operated a software development company specializing in micro computer business applications. I've lost count of the number of programming languages I mastered and the number of operating systems I worked in; however by 1993 I was ready for a major change. Having been a psychotherapy client since 1975, and having a keen intellectual and emotional interest in the therapy process, choosing psychotherapy as a second career was not as big a leap as one might expect. I hired a psychotherapy trainer/mentor and 18 months later opened a practice. I've been doing ongoing advanced training ever since; and loving every minute of it.

OK, that's enough about me. If you are interested in changing your life in some manner, and you either want a referral to a therapist in your area, or you want to engage with me as your Psychotherapist, go to the contact page by clicking here.   And by the way, that's where you'll see a photo of me and optionally hear me say a few things.