About Susan

Hi and Welcome! 

I’m so glad that you are here!  The fact that you have taken this important step towards feeling better is exciting to me, as it means you recognize that your needs matter and you are worth it, for your sake and for all those around you. 

Long before my professional training began, I would often find myself in deep conversations with friends, family and strangers about their experiences of personal struggle. I found it was a comfortable place for me and I also felt honoured that others saw me as a safe place based on how I sat with them in their pain. 

It has now been over 13 years since I graduated with a M.A. Counselling Psychology degree and founded Life Currents Counselling to begin private practice as a Counselling Therapist.  Over these years I have worked alongside other Counsellors, Registered Psychologists, and other holistic health practitioners and have valued the holistic approach of helping others by addressing the needs of the whole person.

I am a Certified Counsellor and member of the Professional Association of Christian Counsellors and Psychotherapists, member #417MB10, adhering to PACCP’s Code of Ethics. I have additional training in the area of Emotion Focused Therapy, Trauma Recovery, Grief, Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma, and Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Cross-cultural counselling and Identity. 

As I sit with you in therapy, I not only bring my skills as a trained counsellor but also the wider context of my life. I am informed by the several cultures that I have been immersed in over the many years of my life including European, Western, and Aboriginal cultures as well as many sub-cultures.  The roles I live out as daughter, sister, mother, wife - and of course as a dog-owner :) - can help me to understand shared human experiences with empathy and compassion. Likewise, I will seek to understand how your culture, faith perspective, and worldview have shaped you and help you embrace your identity with self-acceptance which is crucial to well-being. As David Benner (2004), psychologist and spiritual director, profoundly stated;

“Only when you accept who you really are can you become who you are most deeply called to be” (p. 57).  

Life Currents Counselling was formed out of the concept that the currents in our lives, our life experiences, can be both calming and threatening to our well-being. When we understand our response to these changing currents, self-compassion results, our system calms down and we are freed to change. When we fight against the current, we become exhausted and distressed and turn to other means to find relief, which often get in the way of what we really need.   

I view you as the best resource for knowing yourself and identifying what you need. This is the basis of Person-Centered therapy. As you share your life experiences, I will seek to listen accurately and carefully and reflect back what I am hearing with validation and compassion. As we work together I will help you to identify your strengths and discover what you need to become unstuck and move forward, or to find confidence in yourself through self-compassion and acceptance – to discover that you have the ability to cope and navigate the rough waters in your life. 

Looking forward to the journey,

Susan Monkman