“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
I am a registered social worker and psychotherapist with 20 years of experience providing psychosocial support, education and advocacy to those with complex health needs.
As a survivor of suicide and trauma early in life, my journey to become a therapist came from a place of post-traumatic growth and resilience. The crisis I experienced challenged the way I saw the world and my place in it. I grew a greater appreciation for life, created stronger intimate relationships with people and my community by increasing my empathy and compassion. I saw new opportunities and set new life goals, recognizing that bad experiences happen, we are vulnerable, but survival is possible.
Ultimately, I grew a sense of spirituality through engagement with the bigger questions about my existence and humanity. These are things I want to share with you and help you to cultivate in your own life.
“Grief and resilience live together”
– Michelle Obama
My work with cancer patients over the past decade has helped me develop more understanding that emotional pain and resilience are not mutually exclusive experiences - they live together. Through the process of recognizing and experiencing our deepest pain, fear and longing we can become better versions of ourselves.
My expertise includes acute and life-threatening health conditions, death and dying, grief, trauma, postpartum mental health, stress, depression, anxiety, interpersonal relationships, life transitions, sexuality and sexual identity. In my practice, I work with individuals and couples who are experiencing life transitions, challenges, pain and suffering.
I believe wholeheartedly that each of us holds the power to live authentically so that we are not at odds with ourselves.
When I am not working, you will find me travelling, eating, baking, writing or searching for vintage and unique treasures, and spending time with my two children and the people I love.
Contact Me.
shawna@shawnarich.com
416.825.2779