Paula is a Canadian Certified Counsellor. She holds a Master of Social Science in Counselling from the University of South Australia, a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University in Canada and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish from Trent University, Canada. In addition, she is a Break The Worry Trance trained coach for living free from anxiety, a Positive Discipline parent workshop leader, holds a Workplace Coaching certificate from ILM(UK), and has training as a culturally competent disaster mental health counsellor. Paula has a special interest and training to support those experiencing global mobility, including Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Cross Culture Kids (CCKs)and Adult TCKs.

Paula has worked internationally with people from diverse cultural backgrounds for more than twenty-five years, initially as a teacher and since 2001 as a certified counsellor. Her counselling experience includes being the youth specialist in a clinic serving Singapore’s American community and a school counsellor in Qatar and China spanning all grade levels. As a mother of five, Paula has lived experience with parenting, cross-cultural identity, mobility and mental health advocacy. She is experienced and trained to support adults, teens and children. With children and teens, Paula is able to work with a variety of issues including learning and behavioural challenges, international adjustment, ADHD, special needs, emotional regulation, eating disorders, anxiety and depression. Her counselling experience with adults extends to working with adjustment challenges, relationship issues, at-risk behaviors, grief, child protection, anxiety, depression and a variety of life transitional issues.

Paula practices from a humanistic, solution focused, strengths-based perspective, is trauma-aware and incorporates a range of techniques to assist clients in addressing their concerns and achieving their goals. She believes that counselling is an opportunity for personal growth, healing and empowerment.