Rachel Norman,

Hons. B.A., M.Ed. (in process)

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“Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime's work, but it's worth the effort.”- Fred Rogers

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My journey to counselling took a long and roundabout path. During my undergraduate degree, I was primarily interested in counselling and teaching. After graduating, I decided to teach English as a second language in Japan and Taiwan for two years. While overseas, I became a jewellery artist and continued in that line of work for over a decade after returning to Ottawa in 2002. Throughout this time, I acted as a business mentor with youth who were interested in entrepreneurship and regularly guest lectured on business acumen at the University of Ottawa.

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When I returned to North Bay in 2013, I found my way back to the field of psychology and became involved in psychological research at Nipissing University (NU). At around the same time, I started working in NU's Student Development and Services in peer support programming and research. Since 2015, I have been an Instructor in the Department of Psychology where I teach labs in statistics and research methods. I’ve also had the opportunity to volunteer in support of the work of the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre to increase the public’s understanding of the issues faced by urban Indigenous peoples through the Community Action Circle and Reconciliation North Bay.

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The culmination of these experiences reignited my passion for the field of counselling psychology. While it took many years, my life has come full circle; back to my earlier interest in counselling. In 2017, I began my graduate degree in Counselling Psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Since then, I've gained experience and training in individual counselling, group counselling, and assessment. Primarily, I’ve worked with adolescents and adults who are experiencing depression, anxiety, chronic pain, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder due to work-related trauma and sexual trauma. The approaches I use include cognitive, behavioural, dialectical, and mindfulness-based therapies.

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I am now a counsellor in supervised practice with Dr. Sachiko Nagasawa, and I am working towards becoming a Registered Psychotherapist (in review). I look forward to continuing to provide clients with a warm and friendly space where they can be empowered to reach their therapeutic goals.