Jamie is a queer, Indigenous therapist and registered social worker offering therapy that is compassionate, queer affirming, anti-racist, sex positive, body neutral, feminist, and trauma informed. Jamie works with youth (16+) and adults addressing a range of concerns including depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and intergenerational trauma. She is experienced in providing affirming support to those who are exploring gender and/or sexuality. Her treatment approach draws from evidence-based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Narrative Therapy.

Clients have described Jamie as warm, caring, empathic, supportive, funny and curious. Her warm sense of humour makes therapy less intimidating and her ability to integrate an awareness of mindfulness, mental health, addictions, and harm reduction strategies through both formal and informal, lived experience facilitates her ability to hold space for her client’s needs.

Jamie is a queer, Indigenous therapist and registered social worker offering therapy that is comp... Read More

Jacqueline is the founder and director of Breathe Mindfulness Centre and has worked as a Clinical Psychologist providing psychological assessment, counselling and other psychological services to the community of HRM for more than 29 years. She is a faculty member of the Atlantic Contemplative Centre and Past-President of the Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia (APNS).

Given the therapeutic benefits of contemplative principles and practices on emotional and mental well-being, she has undergone extensive personal and professional training in the areas of mindfulness, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindful eating, and mindful self-compassion resulting in being amongst the very few in the Atlantic provinces to obtain certification in these areas. She is also a RYT 200 Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher.

Jacqueline has had the privilege of being taught by some of the originators of western mindfulness-based therapies including Dr.’s Jon Kabat-Zinn, Zindel Segal and Christopher Germer. Admittedly, however, Jacqueline’s greatest inspiration and learning have come from her own personal practice of mindfulness, meditation and self-compassion – which continues to positively transform her relationships with herself, others and the world and reinforce her intention to offer this extraordinary opportunity to others.

Jacqueline is the founder and director of Breathe Mindfulness Centre and has worked as a Clinical... Read More

Wanda is a highly experienced and trained Clinical Social Worker who has worked over 30 years in mental health and addictions, family focused settings and medical social work. She specializes in a range of adult and family concerns that impact the quality of your life and general wellbeing such as relationship distress, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, medical illness, substance use and addictions, end-of-life planning, trauma, caregiver burnout and stress. Wanda brings her experienced, solution-focused perspective to assist couples in navigating the many challenges often faced. She strives to always take a client-centered approach, aiming to understand who you are as a person and the difficulties you are facing today to offer compassionate guidance that is tailored to your unique needs for present healing, growth, and wellbeing.

Wanda is trained in and draws from several evidence-based therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, Harm Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Strategies.

She was first introduced to mindfulness strategies while treating clients in mental health and developed her specific practice in Mexico. Some of her favourite practitioners are Thich Nhat Hahn, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and our very own Pema Chodron at Gampo Abby in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She is most mindful while walking her dogs or biking on the Harvest Trail and one of her favourite practices is “touching the earth” where she feels “big and small” at the same time!

Wanda is a highly experienced and trained Clinical Social Worker who has worked over 30 years in ... Read More

Dr. Michelle Tougas is a Registered Clinical Psychologist who works with youth and young adults, 12-25 years old. Michelle encourages her clients to build lives that emphasize caring for the mind and body. Her work focuses on striving toward value-based, mindful living.

Michelle aims to guide improvement in daily function and self-compassion for youth and young adults with Anxiety, Eating Disorders, Emotion Dysregulation, Depression/Low Mood, Interpersonal Communication Struggles, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Sleep Disruption, and Trauma. To support her clients and reach desired outcomes she draws from evidence-based therapeutic modalities, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), and Family-Based Therapy (FBT).

In addition to counselling and therapy, Michelle provides ADHD, Psycho-educational (Learning), OCD and Eating Disorder assessments for youth and young adults. With a focus on harnessing strengths, these comprehensive assessments are intended to gain personalized understanding and valuable insights into the unique challenges individuals face to develop meaningful strategies and effective interventions which foster academic success, a more engaged life and greater emotional well-being.

Michelle’s favourite sound is the rustling leaves on a windy day. Her calm place is down by the river, wrapped up in a cool breeze surrounded by forest. She enjoys crunchy foods and loves the smell of supper cooking.

Dr. Michelle Tougas is a Registered Clinical Psychologist who works with youth and young adults, ... Read More

Clara Whitman is a Clinical Social Worker from the Annapolis Valley who works with youth (14+) and adults. With over a decade of experience in social work, she has been privileged to connect with clients of all ages and stages of life in her work with families and individuals. She has a particular affinity for working with those impacted by trauma, including traumatic stress, PTSD, c-PTSD, developmental and intergenerational trauma.

Clara comes from a family of scientists which has fueled her curiosity to understand not only not just how therapy is delivered, but why and how it works. Her perpetual critical thinking inspires her to pursue ongoing learning, not just from clinical practice trainers, but from some of the top researchers in developmental science, attachment, and neuropsychology. It is through this mindset of curiosity and critical thinking in which Clara approaches the specific struggles and goals her clients bring to sessions and develops tailored approaches to work with each that blend the best-fit ideas and tools from multiple therapeutic modalities.

In practice, Clara draws from evidence-based therapies that include elements of mindfulness and self-acceptance, such as Emotionally Focussed Therapy (EFT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Relational Psychodynamic Therapy, and Somatic Therapy. She also integrates elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Narrative Therapy. Clara is further trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), an eye-movement therapy designed to offer relief from symptoms of trauma and anxiety in a shorter number of sessions.

Clara views mindfulness practices as unique in their power to intentionally interrupt our nervous system’s default feedback loops, creating pauses in the mind’s continuous assignments of meaning to what it senses. Within these pauses exists the possibility to take conscious control over the meaning we connect to events, people, self, and the actions we choose to take.

Clara Whitman is a Clinical Social Worker from the Annapolis Valley who works with youth (14+) an... Read More