About Me
I am a spatial designer, expressive arts therapist, facilitator, and artist based on the Sunshine Coast, BC.
At the heart of my work is a curiosity about the relationship between the spaces we create, the lives we live within them, and the many ways our inner and outer worlds influence one another.
Following this curiosity has led me along an interdisciplinary path through engineering, architecture, expressive arts therapy, and facilitation, alongside an ever-evolving personal artistic practice.
Together, these threads have shaped the perspective I bring to my work — one that integrates the practical and emotional dimensions of the environments we inhabit and the experiences that inform our lives.
I began my career in the built environment, working in architecture and engineering.
My background spans 15 years of study and practice in architecture and engineering, including a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Engineering. I have worked on projects ranging from single-family homes and multi-unit housing to larger, more complex buildings including community and cultural centres, through firms in Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton.
While I was drawn to the practical and material aspects of design and construction, I often felt something was missing in how we approached the human experience of these processes. The focus tended to rest on function, aesthetics, timelines, and outcomes, with less space for the emotional and relational dimensions of how people actually live and move through the process — particularly in the context of creating a home.
Building or renovating a home, leading a collaborative design process, or bringing any complex project into being can be both deeply meaningful and incredibly demanding.
Because these projects often hold so much of what matters to us, they extend far beyond the practical realities of design and construction.
They also involve relationships, uncertainty, competing priorities, and the lived experience of moving through change — all alongside the demands of everyday life.
And yet, making space for that part of the experience generally falls outside the scope of traditional design practice.
As I continued working in design, I became increasingly aware that this was an important piece of the process that often went unaddressed.
At a certain point, I felt pulled in a different direction — away from the external, built world and toward the inner, emotional, and creative aspects of life.
I stepped away from design work to study and practice as an expressive arts therapist.
Through that work, I became increasingly interested in art and creativity not only as forms of expression, but as ways of accessing insight, navigating change, and deepening our relationships with ourselves, one another, and the world around us.
I began facilitating one-on-one sessions and group workshops, using arts-based processes to support self-reflection, deepen communication and collaboration, and help people navigate times of change.
Over time, I began to see how deeply the worlds of spatial design and expressive arts are connected.
Designing spaces is not just a technical or aesthetic process.
It’s stressful. It’s emotional. It’s personal.
It asks questions about how we want to live, what we value, and what we are making space for in our lives.
In many ways, the spaces we create become reflections of our inner world, our relationships, and the lives we are growing into.
I believe that experiences of this magnitude deserve care and attention in the same way that we tend to other meaningful life transitions, and that the emotional experience does not need to be held in a separate container from the design process.
What once felt like a missing piece began to feel like a space I was being called to step into — the different parts of my experience coming together.
My work now brings together spatial design, expressive arts therapy, and facilitation.
I believe the practical work of designing spaces is inseparable from the emotional and relational experience of living through the process. Whether creating a home, collaborating with a team, or navigating personal change, I am interested in the ways thoughtful reflection and creative process can support greater clarity, connection, and intention.
Within my spatial design practice, I support people through the home creation journey, and facilitate collaborative processes for architectural teams and other design-focused groups. In both contexts, I am interested in how thoughtful reflection, creative process, and emotional awareness can strengthen the way we approach the work of designing spaces.
Alongside this, I offer individual expressive arts therapy and facilitate workshops for groups, communities, and organizations across a range of sectors, creating spaces for reflection, connection, and creative exploration.
Across all of my work, I draw from expressive arts practice and incorporate creative, reflective methods where appropriate. In a home project, a collaborative design process, or personal exploration, these approaches can open new ways of understanding ourselves, our relationships, and the questions we are navigating.
I work with clients throughout the Sunshine Coast and Metro Vancouver, both in person and online, with online sessions available regardless of location.
I hold a Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia, a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University, and an Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute.
I am a Certified Expressive Arts Therapist, and a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC).
Home, place, expression, connection, and belonging are themes that run throughout my work. These conversations exist within a broader relationship to the land and to the Indigenous peoples who have cared for it for countless generations.
I am grateful to be living, working, and creating on the traditional and unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and shíshálh (Sechelt) Nations.
May we continue learning how to care for these lands, and for one another, with respect, humility, and reciprocity.