Where this work began

As a pre-teen I loved babies and young children. I was always complimented on my natural way with kiddos. For over a decade, I owned and operated Little Learning House, two licensed early childhood education centres in Ontario, Canada serving hundreds of families. Our practice was rooted in the Reggio Emilia philosophy: a belief that children are capable, curious, and full of theories about the world, and that the adult’s role is to listen, provide space, and get out of the way.

I watched hundreds of children learn to trust themselves. I observed parents exhale when they realized their child’s “challenging behaviour” was actually brilliant communication. I believed it then, and I believe it now:

“Children are our most precious resource.”

I also worked in EarlyON Centres, sitting on the floor with infants, toddlers and preschoolers supporting newcomer families who were raising children between cultures, learning to navigate a world that was not built for them. Those years taught me something that no curriculum ever could: that the most important thing you can offer a child and their caregiver, is the experience of being truly seen.

Where the work deepened

I moved on to support early childhood educators. I was a home visitor for people providing licensed care in their homes. Soon I began a transition from my career in early childhood and I found myself drawn toward the harder edges of human experience. I spent fifteen years working in mental health, addiction services, and social care in hospitals, community organizations and harm reduction settings as a health and wellness leader, peer support specialist, group facilitator and crisis counsellor.

I completed certifications in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Dr. Steven Hayes), trauma-informed practice, suicide intervention, non-violent crisis intervention, addiction care, and peer support. I learned what happens in the body and brain when safety breaks down and what it takes to help people find their way toward recovery.

Along the way, I never stopped considering children. Because almost every adult I supported carried unhealed childhood experience in their inner systems. The work kept pointing me back to the beginning. Today, I have raised my own amazing children to adults and enjoy watching my grandchildren thrive.

Where it all comes together

Roots & Wings is the integration of everything I have learned across 25+ years of working with humans, small and large, in crisis and in thriving.

It is Reggio Emilia meeting Bessel van der Kolk. ACT meeting the Four Agreements. The science of the nervous system meeting the wisdom of early childhood. And all of it filtered through my own experience as a caregiver, a human, and someone who has done her own hard inner work.

I am not a therapist. I am a coach, an educator, and a fellow human being who happens to have spent a very long time paying close attention to how people grow and evolve. I will not tell you what to do. I will sit with you in the questions and help you find your own answers.