Education and Training

I am passionate about promoting mental health and well-being and I do this in a variety of ways:

Regardless of the service you choose, you will benefit from my ability to quickly establish rapport and really hear your needs, my strong analytical skills, and my knack for seeing multiple perspectives.

My personal style is warm, informal, passionate and compassionate. Establishing a great relationship is core to everything I do.

As a Toronto based psychotherapist and psycho-educator with over 30 years of experience in the fields of psychology, human development, and mental health promotion, I bring both breadth and depth of knowledge and skill to my work with you. In addition to my practice as a therapist, my background also includes meeting facilitation, community development, training and supervising group facilitators, teaching psychology and early childhood education at the post secondary level, parenting education, research on adolescents and on experiential learning, and training in the expressive arts.

I have benefited from excellent and extensive training. In particular, I was fortunate to have the privilege of training with some true pioneers (Uri Bronfenbrenner at Cornell, on the ecology of human development; and Virginia Satir, on family and human systems change strategies) who have not only informed my work but have had major influences on their respective fields.  I have been committed to ongoing professional development for over 30 years.

Sandra herself models the elements of the Virginia Satir Growth Model. She values and esteems herself and others. She connects with us genuinely and authentically. She is caring, committed, compassionate, grounded, aware of herself and aware of others and reflects positive energy.

Workshop Participant 2014

Additionally, I have training in: CBT (adult and child) for anxiety and depression; mindfulness approaches; DBT; Narrative; Motivational Interviewing; EFT, PACT and RLT for couples; Trauma; ADHD (child and adult); OCD; neuroscience; midlife issues; grief and bereavement; psychodrama; expressive arts therapies; intercultural communication, etc.

I have a first class honours BSc in psychology (McGill), where I held a McConnell Scholarship; and an MA in counselling psychology (Western), where I held a National Research Council of Canada Scholarship. I completed additional postgraduate work in human development and family studies (Cornell), and marriage and family therapy (University of Toronto). I then trained intensively with Virginia Satir (the internationally acclaimed master therapist and trainer in human systems change strategies). I also have certifications in Gestalt Therapy, Relational Life Training (Level 1 & 2), and NLP.

Professional Involvement

I have been active with a variety of different professional organizations and associations over the years, including sitting on committees and presenting at conferences: the Association for Humanistic Psychology, the Creative and Expressive Arts Therapy Exchange, the Avanta International Satir Network. I am currently a member of the OACCPP (Ontario Association of Consultants, Counsellors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists) and ONSAP (Ontario Society of Adlerian Psychology) and have also presented at their conferences.

I am a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)