Meet the Team
About Us
Our team would love to help you become your most expanded and authentic self!
Jessica Arends MA, RCC
I want to support you towards your personal goals and the outcomes you would like to see. Our first session will be focused on identifying what you hope to get out of counselling.
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From there, I draw on my various training and experience to support you. My approach is integrative and person-centered, utilizing skills and techniques from attachment theory, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and mindfulness.
I have an M.A. in Counselling, along with additional training in areas such as DBT and EMDR. Most of my work experience has been with survivors of trauma and abuse, and I have extensive training in trauma therapy. I am also experienced in working with anxiety, depression, suicidality, and relationship challenges.
Robyn Gardiner, MSW RSW
Robyn Gardiner is a Registered Social Worker from the Okanagan Valley and brings six years of experience in the mental health field to her counselling practice.
Robyn’s approach to counselling is warm, collaborative, and person-centered. Her practice is founded upon creating an inviting atmosphere where clients feel safe to share their experiences.
Robyn specializes in issues related to trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, anxiety, substance use, and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Robyn welcomes the opportunity to support you in your journey towards healing.
Jess Holtslander, MSW, RCC Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist, passionate about helping individuals navigate their grief journey. Grief can result from a number of losses and life changes, and it can take many forms. It can even appear in our bodies in different ways, similar to stress and trauma. Regardless of the form grief takes, it’s normal.
My approach is truth-centered as I work collaboratively with adults and adolescents in learning to grow through the pain of grief and loss. Aside from grief, loss, and mental health, my other areas of expertise include shame and guilt, attachment, and family dynamics. I also have years of experience working with individuals of all ages who had neurodevelopmental disabilities, disorders, and/or mental health challenges.
I look forward to providing others with the space to share their story, their pain, and their loss(es) as I listen and learn how I can help; the time to acknowledge pain and loss while discovering different ways of moving through grief; the tools to help process and see experiences, losses, and relationships in a new way; and the support to find hope, purpose, meaning, and joy in life again.
Marie Martin, B. Msc., RPC-C
I am a Registered Professional Counsellor (RPC) through Kelowna College of Professional Counselling and I am licensed through Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CCPA) . I also have a Degree in Metaphysical Science and a Diploma in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing which is particularly effective with trauma and PTSD and has stunning results in controlled study groups. I have other certifications, listed below, that I also pull tools and resources from.
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I am fascinated by our patterns of behavior that we create usually between the ages of 0-7 out of protection and I am committed to learning new ways of breaking those patterns to create new patterns of expansion and growth. I published a book in 2019, Metatron’s Code, about a modality I created myself to start breaking down those patterns of behaviour and to free ourselves from old programming. I use the analogy that between the ages of 0-7 we are like iPhone 4’s and have iPhone 4 software that is perfectly appropriate for iPhone 4’s. However now we are iPhone 13’s and the IPhone 4 “software” doesn’t work for us anymore, we can’t run our “apps” or run the “newest versions”… so we have to run an update/upgrade to latest “software”. It sounds complicated but its not, it can be surprisingly easy!
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The following list below are my areas of specialization:
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Trauma and PTSD
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Intergenerational patterns
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Subtle addictions
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Personal development
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Assertiveness / Boundaries
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Depression, anxiety & panic disorders
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Past or recent trauma or abuse
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Relationship and couples counselling
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Communication problems
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Grief and loss counselling
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Understanding emotions and creating emotional mastery and taking self-responsibility
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I have experience with addiction working in local addiction recovery centers. I also have experience working with first nations communities.
Emerick Reid, BSW MSW RSW
I am a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist who provides individual counselling for adolescents and adults, as well as relationship counselling. My approach to practice is trauma informed, somatic focused, and primarily based in attachment theory.
I offer EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) - a process during which disturbing or traumatic memories are shifted to factual through the use of bilateral stimulation and desensitization techniques. EMDR is an effective and evidence-based treatment used to unblock past issues in order to allow them to be reprocessed in a way that promotes adaptive resolution.
My treatment focus begins with clearing out the "roots" of the current issue by addressing past experiences that keep us stuck in repetitive, self-defeating patterns in relationships. I believe in providing lasting and effective change - working collaboratively to improve your quality of life and relationships.
