My Story

In many ways, I am the preverbal mystical unicorn - a lived experience trauma therapist.

​​

So, what exactly does that mean.  

Well, it means that aside from my academic training, I carry with me experiences that have become part of my knowledge or what is known as my "embedded knowledge".  I started off my professional career as a youth care worker and transitioned to be  a child protection social worker conducting abuse investigations.  I really enjoyed the work but was given the opportunity to follow my childhood dream and jumped at the chance.  For the next 20 years, I lived that dream as a police officer, serving in a number of different locations.  But, sometimes, our dreams turn out to be nightmares and in someways, that's what happened to me, resulting in a diagnosis of PTSD which eventually led to me medically discharging from service.  It also set me off on a new journey, one that I continue to live each day.

​

As a result of my recovery from PTSD, I came to realize that working with people is what I truly loved doing  (I thought I would be able to do that on a bigger scale in policing but quickly found out how wrong that thinking was). So, after my discharge I finished upgrading my education as a social worker and opened up my first clinical practice with a partner, where I allowed myself to learned how to be a therapist, finding out what worked and didn't with clients.  I soon found my "niche", as therapists like to say.  However, I prefer to say that I found my Therapist Mojo.  

My approach resonated with others, especially with the first responders who trusted in the ex-cop turned therapist.  It's an approach situated in the knowledge of my own experiences of recovery and growth and rooted in mindfulness, openness, compassion and curiosity.  It takes my personal connection with mindfulness and its practices and pulls from a number of therapeutic modalities in a truly eclectic manner.

​

It is all about being in the moment and striving to accept being imperfectly perfect.  It is about accepting that without suffering, we would not know the beauty of joy and happiness.  It is about learning how to handle the suffering and reconnecting with the people and things we love.

​​

Inward Focus is my opportunity to take my clinical practice to the next level and serve those that serve others. 

​

As a trauma-informed therapist, I am formally trained in ACT, CBT, and EMDR as well as a number of other therapies that inform the work we will do together.  But, in the end,  it all starts with taking the time to get to know you.  To learn about the things that you are struggling with and how we can begin to let joy and happiness back into our lives and find enjoyment in the simple things once again.  

​To learn more about the therapy modalities I offer, please check out my Psychology Today profile by clicking here

.​

Jason's session fee is $195.00 for individual counselling services provided.