Hi there – welcome!
My name is Nicola and I’m a master’s student and practicum therapist that specializes in art therapy, through St. Stephen's College, an affiliate to the U of A.
Therapy, for me, is about creating the conditions in which adaptation can unfold, with intention and self-understanding, so we can move towards what makes us feel alive.
Neurodivergence has been part of my life personally as well as professionally, and it shapes how I work. My background in anthropology taught me to meet each person's meaning on their own terms rather than my own. Culture, faith, sexuality, gender and neurotype are part of how a person walks through and makes sense of their life.
Often people come to therapy during transition - big and small… finding themselves in a space that is both vulnerable and ripe with potential. For many of the neurodivergent people I work with - particularly those diagnosed later in life – such a transition requires support with self-understanding, burnout, and making sense of a diagnosis that arrives after decades of adapting without understanding
I believe people are remarkably adaptive. Many of the ways we think, feel, and respond to life are old solutions… what we figured out in order to make it through. Some continue to work for us, and some do not. The ones that are no longer a fit are not flaws; they were simply solutions for a situation we are no longer in. Therapy offers an opportunity to understand those patterns with curiosity and non-judgement, and to build on the strengths that still serve.
While I greatly value neuroscience and evidence-informed practice, I also remain deeply interested in the symbolic and often wordless ways we make meaning.
As we talk, I also attend to what is happening in the body, which I believe carries its own communication and is often speaking before we have a language for it.
Sessions may include conversation in our usual chairs, cushions on the floor, or at the art table – whatever feels most comfortable. For those of you who don’t consider yourself “creative”, this is not about doing good art - in fact that has nothing to do with the process. Rather, it’s about making something that can become another voice in the room… which matters when words are difficult to find.
Using the art tools is an invitation, though, rather than an expectation. If you want to just talk, we just talk. I don’t interpret your artwork; you make it, and you explain it, usually through questions I ask you to consider.