Shedean completed her undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in criminology at Lakehead University. She went on to complete a post-graduate certificate in addiction counselling: treatment and prevention. Shedean is currently completing her master of counselling degree at the City University of Seattle and has attained a position as a practicum student at Cornerstone. She has gained much experience in addictions counselling however, the desire to broaden her scope to be able to provide a more holistic approach to the needs of her clients led to her return to school. Shedean is also a certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist.

Inspirational Quotes:

“It can be difficult to control what happens to me; but, I can control what happens within me.”

How do you believe counselling can help?

Shedean believes that an individual’s childhood and life experiences play a role in the way they think, feel and behave. Through counselling, individuals get support with changing unhelpful patterns in their life and develop insight to create new ways of being.

Your approach to counselling:

Shedean takes a respectful, open and curious approach to therapy with the goal of creating a safe space. Each individual comes with their own experience and being able to meet the person where they are at will allow for client centred care. Although Shedean’s primary theoretical orientation is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), she also draws from dialectical behavioural therapy skills, and emotion-focused therapy. Overall, Shedean takes a strength-based approach and works with her clients collaboratively to help them move forward.

Cory is a student in the MA in Counselling program at Central Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, and a member of the pastoral staff at a local church in Edmonton. His background includes extensive experience as a professor and pastoral counsellor. Cory previously completed a Master of Theology degree from Spurgeon’s College in the UK, and a PhD in practical theology from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He currently is a student member of the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta, the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, and the Professional Association of Christian Counsellors and Psychotherapists.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place…where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations.” – Henri Nouwen in Reaching Out

How do you believe counselling can help?

We were never meant to carry our burdens alone. Sometimes we need someone to sit with us in our struggles, uncertainty, and pain. Someone who is willing to truly see us and hear us. Someone committed to honouring the questions we are asking of our lives and skilled at helping us face those we’ve been reluctant to ask. Counselling can encourage us to see ourselves and our circumstances in a new light, equip us with resources to navigate life’s challenges, and empower us to draw upon the wisdom and strength already resident within us. It can aid us in developing new ways of relating to the past, present, and future and enable us to gain a greater sense of freedom and fulfillment in daily life.

Your approach to counselling:

As the Nouwen quote above expresses, I desire to create safe space within which every client can feel free to be honest about themselves, their struggles, and their questions. When appropriate, I employ proven approaches like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. However, I also draw upon several other time-tested therapeutic approaches that can aid clients in exploring their desires for meaning, purpose, and connection and in addressing how their life stories have been shaped through key relationships and experiences. I am committed to seeing each client holistically as physical, psychological, social, and spiritual beings and to partnering with them as they navigate the complex—and sometimes messy—interplay between these dimensions of their lives.