my story
As a young girl, I found solace and companionship with our family animals. They brought comfort, sense of safety, security and joy as I grew up. My relationships with animals were natural and had a silent mutual bond of such love, respect and understanding in each other’s presence…
I grew up with dogs, cats and horses. Every animal relationship throughout my life has left an indelible imprint on my heart, each one as unique as the animal. I am forever grateful for the gifts and companionship in the time together.
My journey into animal communication began in 2013, inspired by my dog, Mushu. She was a complete ball of mayhem, and I went to great lengths to train and understand her. One trainer shared with me, "You do not always get the dog you want, but rather the dog you need." And that could not have been more true! Mushu was the dog I needed!
Mushu tested, tried and challenged me to my core. I had never experienced such a challenging relationship with any animal before. Mushu forced me to find new ways to work with her. She stretched me to grow and think outside of the box of standard practice.
For a decade, I walked with my parents through each of their respective Alzheimer's and dementia. This experience with them profoundly shaped my understanding of anticipatory grief and living in the moment in the end-of-life journey. As an End-of-Life and Grief Specialist, I have witnessed the highs and lows of grief, both in my personal life and in the lives of my clients. I have learned that childhood attachments to pets are a significant factor in shaping how we experience grief as adults and how unresolved childhood trauma and past losses can intensify the complexity of current grief. I learned the attachment connection with my Rottie, Bosphorus, in 2010. The strength of our emotional bonds with our pets and our dependency on them for support are also key factors in one's grief process. For me, the loss of my childhood pets and my other significant losses brought me to new levels of healing and understanding in my adult life, which is what inspires me to pursue my work. My dog Soulstice is who brought me to trauma and somatic healing. I believe that all our human and animal relationships are profound, and the respect we carry for them and bring to their end-of-life journey gives us the honour to walk beside and accompany them with a greater presence and love for our relationship with them. As every living being deserves to transition in dignity and love.
My animal companions continue to share their wisdom and bring joy to my life and work daily.
In the early days of studying animal communication, I shared with Carol Gurney the trials and tribulations of Mushu's training and behaviour. She told me, "this is perfect. How else would you learn so many ways and modalities to work with a challenging animal? This is how you can relate to clients who have challenging relationships with their animals!" Mushu is the one who introduced me to animal communication, and even though she passed in 2014 at age 6, she continues to offer me valuable gifts of deep insight still to this day.