Meet The Team

Doug is a Trauma Therapist who specializes in the Nervous System. His experience in trauma started off during his 20-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces Infantry. He has personal experience with peacetime and combat operations. His formal trauma training background is Somatic Experiencing and Therapeutic Enactment, for which he now takes on a mentorship role. He has developed Nervous System Recalibration, designed to not regulate but to regain agency of our own body's reaction to stress and recalibrate it to more appropriately match the current environment we are in. This is key for people who work in high stress environments but who also want to be able to take the uniform off at the end of the day or after retirement.

Karen started her career in Health Education and branched out to the social work field in the 1990s. Her
experience runs the gamut from education in schools, child protection, sexual health, LGBTQ2S issues,
family relationships, chronic illness, grief, peer support, and trauma. She served as one of the first
Family Liaison Officers for ill, injured, and fallen soldiers of the Canadian Forces. She returned to the Annapolis Valley from abroad (i.e. Toronto) in 2017, as a clinical social worker for DND and, continues to do so in private practice.

Karen is certified as a clinical trauma specialist and has training in DBT, SE, EFT, IFS, and EMDR. Her work with couples is informed by Gottman, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and she is continuing advanced training using the developmental model through the Couples Institute. She is a licensed facilitator for Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management and is involved in the development of a nationwide association. Karen ibrings her experience as a facilitator of peer support training with Survivors of Abuse Recovering (SOAR), and  She is eager to grow with the AGTTC through continued sharing and learning.

Brock specializes in domestic violence and the effects of lifelong trauma. He is also a facilitator for group-based retreats with the Veterans Transition Network, where he works with veterans suffering from operational stress injuries. Brock focuses on balancing the mind / body system through Narrative, Psychodynamic, and body-based Somatic approaches. He practices what he preaches as he continuously strives to enrich his own life through deeper connection to his nervous system, which greater connects him to himself, his family and the world around him.

Shannon has a master’s in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst with more than a decade of experience in effecting positive behaviour changes in her clients. Initially Shannon focused her career on providing early
intervention services to children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and other
developmental and intellectual disabilities. In 2019, Shannon began to explore new and
innovative ways to use her knowledge and experience. Teaming up with a police officer
turned life coach from Maine, USA, Shannon started providing online services to first
responders who were suffering from anxiety, burnout and PTSD.
By taking the principles of ABA, such as determining why a certain behaviour is occurring,
why it continues to occur and what changes are needed to prevent it from occurring in the
future, Shannon gets to the root cause of why we are acting the way we are rather than
simply targeting the symptoms of the behaviour. 
Shannon has helped teach first responders how to take back control over their lives by
developing individualised treatment plans and programs for clients who are seeking to
restore their quality of life.

Derrick is a Canadian Forces Veteran, and a currently serving Firefighter. He has over 30 years of operational and lived experience that he brings to the table. His experience working  as a Firefighter has also led him to work along side Law Enforcement and Paramedics. He is 25 years sober and an active Sober Coach. He is also connected  with the  LGBTQ community. There is simply no better person more capable to meet any peer where they need to be met

Emily originally started out in kinesiology  and became a fitness instructor. Her strong interest in how healthy physical activity influences our mental health  led her to complete an undergrad in psychology. She is also a strong believer in active parenting. She spent several years dedicating her time to her children during their most formidable years, while also finding an opportunity to continue her own development by taking on the role of Office Manager at a very successful psychological clinic. 

Now that her children are able to be more independent, she has once again set new goals in her life-long learning journey and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Clinical Psychology program at Acadia university. She continues to stay involved and active by organizing both our clinic and our training center.

Jordan is a retired paramedic that served in multiple provinces since 2002. After 10 years of working as an advanced care paramedic in Nova Scotia, a change was required to align with his own mental health. His core values of being present and authentic combined with honesty and integrity have made him a great role model along the path of peer support. As he continues to explore, learn and understand more, the more more he wants to be part of a group that builds resiliency. He wishes to take these recovery skills and repurpose them to  help  first responders and military personal PREPARE for the events they will encounter as part of their profession.  Preparation IS the best prevention.

Terry is specializing his approach to working with trauma from an Emotion Focused Therapeutic (EFT)
perspective, focusing on the emotional experience associated with trauma and transition. As a veteran
of the Royal Canadian Navy with 13 years of service, having deployed in both naval operations and
as part of the Provincial Rebuild Team (PRT) in Afghanistan, Terry possess an intimate  understanding the effects of trauma associated with service-related exposures. Mentored by
some of the best clinicians in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Terry’s primary focus is to help heal the emotional pain that contradicts the evolutionary need for connection.