Yvonne has her Masters in Social Work and is also a Certified Stepfamily Counsellor. Prior to setting up her own family practice, she worked in a variety of capacites as a community develpment worker, children and youth advocate and as a project coordinator in several health promotion initiatives at the school and community level. Since marrying her husband Rick, a father of two daughters, and having 3 children together, Yvonne realized that her passion was to work with other individuals and families embarking on the journey of blending their families. She established her private practice in January 2004 and has been actively working with individuals, parents, stepparents, couples and families since that time.
Yvonne has made a number of public and media appearances promoting her work in an effort to create more societal awareness and understanding of the unique dynamics in stepfamilies and blended families. She promotes education and understanding of the issues and dynamics as the number one predictor of success for the families she works with.
Yvonne's strong interest is in helping families to: 1.) articulate their unique vision of the family which is much different than a nuclear or traditional family, and 2.) acquire the mental, emotional and organizational tools to make this a reality. She has a stong desire to help her clients recognize how this experience can help them grow as individuals and learn how to acuire the life they want. Typically when clients come they can only see the obstacles, the challenges and the coflict getting in the way of them having the life they want. Yvonne's job is to help them begin to look beyond these initial stumbling blocks, to envision the life they want to work towards, and then utilize their own unique talents, skills, strengths (using a strength and resiliency model) to address the real, as well as the imagined obstacles, in order to achieve their goals.
Yvonne has a strong interest in and has read extensively on the power of the mind, the law of attraction, and our innate capacity to shape our lives through our thoughts and beliefs. She combines Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapeutic techniques aimed at reducing distress and helping individuals take rational approach to happiness, with mindpower and the law of attraction strategies to assist clients in opening their mind to the boudless potential they have within to create their own life. Combining a range of approaches, meditative, cognitive behavioral, solution and strenth focussed, with practicese aimed at enhancing the power of our mind, allows Yvonne to work with the myriad of issues that present themselves when working with her clients in step or blended families. Most importantly, it allows her to work with the clients from wherever they are starting out, in order to progress and move forward regardless of the kinds and numbers of issues and self-limiting beliefs that they bring with them.
Outside of her work with step and blended families, Yvonne is also excited to be doing Life Coaching with individuals who want to raise the bar and take their life in a new an chosen direction.
Yvonne is currently involved in 3 writing projects, one on her own, one with her husband and one with another colleague in the field of blended families.
FREE STEP DATING AND REMARRIAGE TELECONFERENCE ON JANUARY 22, 2009
On January 22, 2009, from 9-11pm EST I will be co-hosting a Free Teleconference on Step Dating and Remarriage, along with David Steele, author of Conscious Dating and founder of The Relationship Coaching Institute. This teleconference is for anyone dating with children in the mix, or considering a serious commiment that would lead to an instant stepfamily. Our goal is to debunk some of the myths that trip people up as they are step dating, to look at some of the complex issues that couples dating with children in the mix, have to navigate through and provide new information and insights to support individuals and couples in making healthy and conscious relationship decisions. We cover the spectrum from single parents who are deciding if they are ready to date again, to singles who are contemplating dating someone with children but aren't sure if this is exactly for them, to couples who are wanting to take that next step and enter into preparation for a long-term relationship and blended family.
Please join us and share this invitation with anyone who you think could benefit from our Free Teleseminar. For more information and to register please go visit www.stepdating.ca Once registered, you will receive a copy of The Step Dating Report which outlines much of what we will be covering that night.
I'm looking forward to having many of you join us on the call.
"When we change our beliefs, we change our Life."
"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hope." Andrew Carnegie.
I have learned through personal experience and through my professional experience with others that this is true. Otherwise I would not be able to promote these ideas with my friends, family and the people I am so fortunate to encounter in my work.
I have also learned that if you are truly passionate about what you do, it doesn't feel like work. And if you are passionate about life, then even the struggles that we encounter do not have to define us but can be seen as an oppotunity to learn about ourselves.
The Best Way to get started with Yvonne is to check out her website at: www.stepinstitute.ca We offer a variety of entry points into our services, including our Free Newsletter and different coaching options to meet your specific needs. You can also reach her by emailing yvonne@stepinstitute.ca