As a profession, she -along with her colleagues- manages a counselling service and works behind the scenes to ensure that the service stays open for those in need. She is passionate about providing access to mental health services, especially to those who encounter obstacles in obtaining support. She holds a Canadian Certified Counsellor designation.
When she is not at the counselling office, you can find her online as an instructor in psychology (and soon: ecopsychology!) for a global online university. Or you might catch her buying yet another book for her dream library.
Intensely interested in nature of all kinds (Nature with a capital N, human nature, animal nature, nature of relationships, etc.), much of her studies and leisure are related to ecopsychology, ecotherapy, psychology, relational cultural theory, and others.
Convinced that much of our nature is connected to early development and inheritance, Mary is also drawn to subjects like neuroscience, attachment, epigenetics, the formation of values and culture and their relationship to identity, and the subsequent effects of all these on individual and generational resilience.
On a path of unhurried spiritual reflection, she is undergoing a process of decolonization and development by re-immersing in inherited nature-based indigenous traditions and philosophy. One of her most valued inheritance is the innate understanding of living nature namelessly and corporeally (how does one explain this?). She wishes to integrate decolonization methods in the study and teaching of ecopsychology, and in the practice of ecotherapy.
When there's an extra minute or two, she volunteers for a center on indigenous studies, a school of Thai massage, and sits on a couple of non-profit boards. And when she gets more than a minute, she may dance, pick up a paintbrush, use an old typewriter, and give massage. Everyday she non-verbally communicates with plants and animals and gives thanks through the air. She also sings for no reason at all and to no one in particular.
She hopes to widen her eco-sensitive connections through this directory.
