From the Editor’s Desk
Summer is finally here. Improvements in mood can naturally occur when the sun comes out and how better to solidify this by working with one of our counsellors.
You can take the opportunity in the summer months to get out and be active but if those aches and pains flare up seeing a registered massage therapist can reduce their impact.
This month, we are featuring hypnotherapy as offered by Sheryne Willson. Her services offer clients a modality which has proven empirical validation and research. Further, by working with a counsellor and a hypnotherapist, you can work through those stubborn presenting issues to provide relief from difficult symptomology.
Enjoy the sun and the pages following.
Michael Zibauer
Talking to the New Assistant Clinical Director
Being a part of the collective means having an extraordinary opportunity to function with independence while being supported by community.
This new Assistant Clinical Director position is a privilege that I do not take for granted. My goal has been, and always will be to make individuals feel valued, heard and honoured for who they are, what they contribute, and the person they are seeking to become.
I am one of two assistants to our clinical director, Marianne who I am learning so much from even in these first couple of months. One area that I naturally am drawn to is counsellor care; recognizing the need to care for those who care so tirelessly for others. I hope that I can serve each of you in any way that may be needed. My door is usually open, and I am ALWAYS open for a chat! – Stacey Zimmerman
Langley Office
Phone: 604 532 5340 Fax: 604 532 5347
Location: 20230 Fraser Hwy, Langley, BC, V3A 4E6
Kelowna Office
Phone: 250 765 0606
Location: 146 Gray Road, Kelowna, BC, V1X 1W7
Email: info@crossroadscollective.ca
Happenings Around The Office
The Crossroads Management team has initiated a survey using Survey Monkey to garner feedback on how to better help clients and contractors at Crossroads. This survey is completely anonymous. There are a lot of questions on this survey about the atmosphere at Crossroads, the relationships between colleagues, and personal satisfaction across the many aspects of being a counsellor at Crossroads. Management hopes to use the information given to help develop and cultivate a positive culture in our organization.
Crossroads was nominated for the readers’ choice awards in the Langley times. For anyone who would like to vote, the link is: https://langleytimes.secondstreetapp.com/Readers-Choice-2023/
For clients and counsellors, the procedure for creating a referral involves filling out the referral card and then giving the referral card to Cindy or Mya who will reach out to the clinician that the referral is made for. Following the steps makes sure that effective and efficient follow up can proceed.
We would also like to welcome those new interns and counsellors that have joined our team. We look forward to working alongside you and helping you to reach your full potential.
Full steam ahead!
– Joban Rai
Counsellor Showcase I: Sheryne Willson
Introduction to Hypnotherapy
Sheryne Willson is a board certified hypnotherapist, Somatic and Theta practitioner, and Mastermind Coach currently offering her services at Crossroads Collective.
Sheryne has over 18 years of experience in the health and wellness that she brings into her current work.
Hypnotherapy is a well-studied therapeutic modality which allows clients to access their inner experiences in the unconscious, leading clients to embark on an effective healing process.
Sheryne offers a diverse range of transformational services such as different types of Hypnotherapy Services for ($240/session), Somatic Bioenergy Healing ($190/ session) , Lifestyle and Wellness Coaching ($150/Session), Past Life Regression ($320/Session), and Galactic Regression ($320/Session).
She has helped a diverse range of clients in their to journey to overcome their mental health obstacles using a holistic integrative approach.
Reach out to our front desk to find out more information on Sheryne Willson at info@crossroadscollective.ca
– Ruby Sall
One on one with a Hypnotherapist
Ruby: What is your background and training?
Sheryne: I think it’s been a 20 year process. I started out when I was 19 when I did my first massage therapist course. That’s when I began my learning journey into holistic healing. A few years later I became a registered massage therapist, I had a part-time practice doing RMT and athletic therapy and then I came to a crossroads. I lost my father to terminal cancer which led me to self-discovery, self-healing and eventually into studying bioenergy, matrix energetics, hypnotherapy, and neurolinguistics programming. My background now is holistic health, and holistic mind, body, and soul. I am certified in bioenergetics, a 3 year program that focuses on everything that effects the body on a frequency level through which learned about things like traditional Chinese medicine, theta healing, herbs, nutrition, eye movements, entities, energy fields, and quantum physics in terms of how our environmental energies effect our body.
Ruby: What makes you stay in this work? Did you have a point in your career where you experienced a moment of surety that this was for you?
Sheryne: I live for hope, I have a saying in my office that says “p.s there is always hope”. If I can give someone hope in their darkest hour and give them solutions and tools, then that is the “ah ha” moment for me. I have so many clients who have done traditional therapy and have been in the medical system for a long time, and they are at the end of the rope. They don’t want to live like this way anymore, and are ready to try something new. I love when I can say “let’s change this for you”.
The ah ha moment is giving people the glimmer of hope of life they actually want.
Ruby: What does healing mean in your work?
Sheryne: I think a lot of people think healing is this grueling traumatic process. I like to move away from trauma and move towards hope. I tell my clients, you have been so entrenched in your suffering, have you ever considered what you want when you are done healing? That’s one of the first questions I ask clients, how will you know when you are done healing?
Healing doesn’t have to be grueling, painful, suffering, or gross? It can be exciting to think about who you are going to be, and all the good feelings you can experience one day once you move through these negative emotions.
Ruby: What would you say to people who are curious about hypnotherapy and your services if they are anxious to try it because they are unfamiliar with it?
Sheryne: Right away I ask what do they want? I get them focused on a target. To put people at ease I ask them how good do you want to feel in a given time frame. You don’t have to believe in a modality, you just have to show up as neutral and willing. This is a relationship, we are both invested in your healing.
Ruby: As a hypnotherapist, what is the most important element that you bring into each session?
Sheryne: I tailor sessions to the client, I really focus on what they’re wanting. I think so many people come in and say they want to be better, but what does that look, feel and sounds like to you? You are your greatest healer. I re-direct the person back to themselves and the healer within. I want to get you to place to trust yourself, to get to the tools within yourself.
Ruby: How many sessions does it take people to really benefit and how far apart should these sessions be?
Sheryne: I say a minimum of 3 sessions to begin, this gives you an idea of what to expect. It is context dependent on what the client needs, some only need two sessions while others need more. Statistically, hypnotherapy needs 12 sessions. If you have a chronic illness, when the problems is physically manifested I would say 12+ sessions for sure. I would a weekly or bi-weekly session. I don’t recommend going longer than 2 weeks, we’re trying to implement new patterns and neural networks which need consistency overtime.
Ruby: Do you have a specialty or niche issue or do you work with a range of issues?
Sheryne: My niche I would say is anyone who wants to define themselves and parts integration. My main modality is inner child healing , age identity, and integrating. I bring a lot of self-acceptance in the work, that is where people have resistance. Inner child is a theme that runs across all modalities. I work with all ages and populations, for example ADHD clients, neurodivergence, and addictions.
Ruby: I imagine you comes across a lot of heavy things in these sessions? How do you ensure your own energy is grounded and present?
Sheryne: I am firm believer that if I am going to be in this industry I have to do my own work. I have my own holistic routines like journaling, affirmations, meditation, and support from colleagues.
Ruby: Thank you for your time and sharing the details of your transformative work Sheryne!
Counsellor Showcase II: Dan Smith
Working out of Kelowna
Dan Smith is an associate counsellor at our Kelowna location. He has worked in crisis response and coaching for over a decade. His skill set is diverse and varied which helps him work alongside clients to solve their problems.
A moment with Dan Smith
Joban: What is your background?
Dan: I started as a paramedic and I really enjoy the crisis components of working, but I was underwhelmed by seeing how folks in mental health crisis were being treated. So, I ended up doing crisis response work after my university degree in both Vancouver and Kelowna for about 10 years through UBC. During that time, I spent a lot of time building policies and protocols around how to interact with folks around psychosis, suicide, and self-harm. After that, I left to go work in specialized care, so group homes for youth. I did 1 year work with one youth in particular who had very complex needs due to a severe and complex trauma history, so it was a lot of working with a team to help support this youth and also manage a lot of risk and aggression. During this time, I was also completing my master’s degree. I started with Crossroads about a year and a half ago, and as an intern with the clinic back in January. During this time, I also went back to work at the university, working as a respondent resource specialist. I am referred anyone that may have been caused harm. So, in that role, I do a lot of work around sexual violence, discrimination, and at-risk behaviours. In that role, I also work with students who are experiencing psychosis and psychotic episodes, and I do a lot of work with them around the trauma of the incident or the process that is being enacted, but also accountability work and education around actions or mindsets held that can perpetuate violence.
Joban: What are some of the challenges you have experienced as a counsellor?
Dan: In terms of working with people, a lot of my experience has been in solution-focused brief counselling, so working in crisis work. It’s all been more short-term counselling or brief counselling, so one of the challenges I experience as a counsellor is making that longer connection and having a longer
relationship with someone. That has been a learning curve, so far. Another challenge I have experienced as a counsellor is taking the time to step out of my wheelhouse. I have certain modalities and certain techniques that I’m more comfortable with and are working with clients but learning to re-establish those in a better way to support someone. So, researching and challenging myself to be like how could I use these in a different way to connect with more clients.
Joban: What are some of your success stories in the work you have done and currently do?
Dan: I’m case managing and counselling people at the same time. Currently, my case load is huge because of my university role, volunteer experience, and working with Crossroads. And, so balancing all those different cases is something I did not think I was going to be good at. I have a poor memory, unfortunately, but I’m able to keep clients separate and really focus on and able to remember their story. So, that is something I’ve been surprised at how successful I guess it’s come together. I also do believe I have a style that really clicks and works for me. I think I have a number of techniques and skills that I lean on that help connect with most people. I think also being able to really step outside myself, especially working with respondents in that capacity, I’m getting some tough cases that come through to me and being able to step outside myself is huge. So, I think that is also something I think I’ve been more successful at than I expected.
Joban: What do you enjoy the most about being a counsellor?
Dan: I enjoy working with people because you never know when someone comes into counselling, it’s because they are feeling stuck, they feel like they don’t know where to go next, and they’re experiencing some kind of barrier for them that prevents them from feeling their best. When you have that moment, when you ask that question that turns on the light, whether it turns on the light bulb or maybe it just helps them find where a new light bulb is, you can see it in their face. We sit there and pause for a moment because it’s an important moment. So, asking the right questions and being curious can have such a big impact on people and their lives. So, I think that is the part I enjoy the most.
Joban: What were some of your inspirations that led you to where you are now?
Dan: I think the big one that initially brought me into this field was working around medicine and feeling like we can do better. It’s different now, but back when I was doing all the training, paramedics received virtually no mental health training. I’m teaching right now and the book I’m teaching with, granted it is an entry level paramedics class, it has literally 2 pages that cover mental health material. I’m training paramedics to be rural paramedics right now, so they would be in communities where there often aren’t a lot of resources and they do see a higher volume around mental health, yet we do 2 pages out of their 800-page textbook. I think for me, that was a pretty big moment of change because I don’t think we were serving the people how they should be served. Also, I think some of the groups in particular I’ve been able to work with and really seeing how they are often underserved and how providing more resources to them is helpful is inspiring to me too. – Joban Rai
Mini-Gallery of photos around the office
Above: Room 214 Below: Room 6
