I have been a practicing coach and public speaker on various mental health topics for over ten years. I have also enjoyed working extensively with mental health teams and coordinating programs that reintegrate people living with a mental illness back into their community through supported volunteering.

Originally from Toronto, I am a trained and experienced counselor, actor, stand-up comic and founder of The Puzzle Factory Theatre Company for people with mental illness. In 1987 I moved to Vancouver Island where I studied psychology, anthropology and child and youth care at the University of Victoria.

I am passionate about my work as I know first hand what it’s like to recover from mental illness after years of struggling. I know intimately many of the issues that people living with a mental illness face such as stigma, poverty, isolation and confusion. One of the main reasons for my successful recovery is due to my determination to change my life.

Over the years, as the quality of my life improved, I developed a healthy lifestyle. Each day I endeavour to create balance in my life by diligently practicing all the recovery tools and coping strategies I’ve learned and that I share with my clients. 

I am proud of my successful recovery which includes functioning extraordinarily well in every-day life, maintaining gratifying, full-time employment and developing meaningful relationships with friends and family.  Although I found myself on the edge of the metaphoric abyss many times, I persevered.

Also crucial to my success was my ability to choose wise mentors and get the help and support I needed along the way. My mentors were also my role models who carefully and skillfully guided my recovery process.
 
I’ve been living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia for ten years. I am a mother, a grandmother and am enjoying a wonderful relationship with my partner of eight years.