Before this was my profession, survival was my education.

I was born and raised in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. When I was 16, the Bosnian War started and lasted for almost 4 years. As a civilian teen, I experienced many adversities, including living without basic necessities of life, water, food, electricity and heat. My mom also became ill with colon cancer during that time, I lost my first cousin who I considered a brother, and we all witnessed and experienced close encounters with death, hunger and fear which changed me forever.

Towards the end of the war, I became a teacher and worked for a couple of years at the local school with children who also experienced severe war trauma, before immigrating to BC, Canada in 1998, in search of a better life.

After working at local food stores and becoming a mother to two incredible boys, Tarik and Amar, I became an educational assistant for children with exceptionalities in 2010, landing a job with School District 28, Quesnel, and also working on the side as a support worker at the local transition house for women and children experiencing domestic violence. These experiences helped me understand Canada's laws and support systems and problems, as well as learn so much from my exceptional students.

In 2020, I became a registered teacher for the second time in my life, this time by completing a teaching program at UNBC in Prince George. I then worked as a teacher and resource teacher while also completing my Master's in Counselling Psychology with Yorkville University and managing a busy home with a family.

I graduated in 2023, becoming a school counsellor and also opening my private practice at that time. I decided to step into full-time private practice in 2024.

I've had an extraordinary and, at times, extraordinarily difficult life. Through my own life struggles, I've been led to where I am now, holding a safe space for so many extraordinary humans, little and big. I feel lucky to do what I love, to use the life experience and wisdom combined with training and education, to support you while you navigate your own journey of becoming your authentic self.

About 15 years ago, I started working on my own body with a lovely local massage therapist, who also introduced me to a shaman who showed me how to witness and feel my body again. With their support, I learned how to feel my body again after being in deep functional freeze/shutdown for decades. As I was learning to feel into my sensations, an incredible journey of self-discovery began, along with healing intergenerational, developmental, war and relational trauma. I discovered somatic experiencing while in my Master's program and completed it over 3 years, and I am currently assisting in beginning-level SE trainings in N. America and Europe.

I have lived experience of trauma and know what a trauma body and armour look and feel like. I am dedicated and passionate about combining different approaches and using what I know to create a unique and holistic approach to support my clients.

We are all unique, and I am honoured to witness how people of all ages change through healing from trauma. I see the changes in posture, facial expressions, and life force, and as self-love increases, the new, more alive self, the authentic self, shows, and that changes every aspect of self and life.

My favourite expression of healing is that it is a rediscovery of connection with self, with environment, and then with others. When we connect to self and learn how to feel safe within, regardless of what happens outside of us, then we can connect to our environment and find safety there, and then be able to connect to other people, family and community.

I watched this happen many times over, in children in my classrooms and then in the adults I supported, too. You are not alone! Come and let's create a plan that will work best for you on your healing journey! Trauma does have a long-lasting impact, but it doesn't have to run our lives forever. I am a person who is able to live a full, happy and present life despite what has happened to me. So can you!