Deborah Meir
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Deborah Meir
B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed. (School Counselling), RCC [email protected] Deborah is a dedicated and passionate teacher, counsellor, and mom to three children. She completed her M. Ed. in school counselling in 2023 and is a registered clinical counsellor (RCC) with the BCACC. Deborah has been an educator for ten years in learning support and inclusive education. Deborah worked as a middle school counsellor throughout her practicum and internship in her master’s program and is now an elementary and middle school counsellor in the Sooke School District along with being a counsellor at Heartwood Family Wellness. Deborah takes a trauma-informed, person centered, and solution focused approach, believing that we all have the inherent ability to find the strength and resiliency within ourselves for growth and change. Deborah’s empathy, care, and presence allows clients to feel safe, seen, and heard. Deborah is particularly passionate about child advocacy, building confidence, self-worth and social skills. She is experienced in supporting families and children with navigating school challenges such as social and emotional regulation, anxiety (general, separation, social, performance, test), academic strategies for learning, Ministry Designations and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), chronic absenteeism, and teacher and school staff collaboration. Deborah is well-informed in the areas of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide ideation, attention difficulties, and neurodivergence. Deborah is experienced in working with those who have suffered childhood trauma, such as physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, grief and loss, and refugee and immigration trauma. Deborah is culturally sensitive in her work and is open to working with individuals of all backgrounds; she acknowledges and respects her client's cultural background, beliefs, and practices. Deborah is also a strong ally to the 2S/LGBTQQIA+ community. Deborah recognizes the pain and suffering that colonization has had and continues to have on the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, including forced displacement and assimilation, intergenerational trauma and suffering, and systemic discrimination and marginalization. She is committed to truth and reconciliation and decolonization. Deborah acknowledges that she lives, works, and learns on the traditional, unceded, and occupied territories of the W̱SÁNEĆ and Coast Salish peoples, the Lək̓wəŋən peoples of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and the T’Sou-ke and Scia’new Nation and Nuu-chah-nulth: Pacheedaht Nation. |
