Meet The MM Team

My name is River (she/her) and I’m excited to be joining the Movin Mountains team.

I am a registered social worker and will be wrapping up my Master of Social Work in the fall.

I am trained as a Relational Somatic Therapist and Movement for Trauma specialist and have many years and hours of ongoing professional development training that includes cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness-based counselling, queer-focused narrative therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and more.

I have been practicing in mental health and substance use for 15 years – 13 of which I spent as a counsellor for youth and their families. 3 years ago, I shifted to focusing on child and youth mental health and family counselling.

I also had a private practice focused on trauma and women’s mental health.

My practice is trauma-informed and grounded in attachment-based and developmental frameworks– which is jargon for saying I think we are all deeply impacted by our relationships (to all things), our environments (family/social/political/global), and that who we are and how we are changes throughout our lives.

I am passionate about supporting people in their mental health journeys- whatever form they take. However, I am particularly passionate about trauma, 2S LGBTQ+ gender and sexual identity, chronic pain, chronic illness, women’s mental health, youth mental health, and supporting caregivers.

I prioritize harm-reduction, I believe laughter is resistance (I also believe I’m pretty funny), I aspire to be relationally accountable, and I am committed to the ongoing process of decolonizing myself and my practice.

I used to be cool and have hobbies, but as a full-time student with 2 young kids, I am either reading, writing, or late getting my kids somewhere.