Sarah Paulding 

I’m Sarah, I have the pleasure of working with children, adolescents, and caregivers at Experience Change. I’ve worked as an elementary and high school counsellor in three different communities in Northern BC. I enjoy music, being outside, connecting with other people, and spending time with my son and husband. I’m an adoptee with Metis, Ojibwa, and Cree heritage.

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FRAMEWORK

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Children communicate in so many ways. I am amazed at their creativity, resourcefulness, and ability to know what they need. As a play and teen therapist, my role involves deepening and strengthening attachments, helping children connect with all parts of their story through right and left brain integration, and creating a space of light, safety, and play. One way I facilitate this work is through sandtray therapy. The sandtray (frequently sanitized and Covid-19 safe) provides a space for children to tell their stories, have the confidence to listen to their bodies, and connect with their inner resources. It facilitates lasting change.

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Adolescents are some of the most interesting and unique individuals I’ve had the honour of walking along side. They show incredible depth, emotion, and intelligence. Adolescence is a challenging and beautiful time filled with self exploration and deep questions of identity. It can be fear filled for both youth and caregiver. As a therapist, I commit to journeying with your youth as they navigate the seasons stormy waters, and illuminate the lighthouse that is the youth-caregiver relationship.

When working with children and adolescents, involving caregivers is automatic. Being a parent or caregiver is a complex journey often filled with overwhelm, loss, shame, desperation, and moments of peace and connection. Connecting to all the layers of self, feelings, feelings about feelings, and eventually reaching your own incredible resources is all part of the journey in learning how to embrace your humanness and become more fully present with your child.

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CULTURE

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At Experience Change, we recognize the intergenerational trauma that’s occurred through the oppression of colonization and residential schools. This trauma is a heavy, complex burden many Indigenous families carry.

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We believe there is great strength and beauty in cultural practices and community gatherings. We believe in restoration, healing, and learning together, therapist and client. Counselling is part of connecting the past, present, and future parts of one’s story, and finding congruence between the self, other, and spiritual.

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Sarah, our child and adolescent therapist worked in Northern BC with the Saulteau and West Moberly bands. She spent many days drumming, making bannock, trapping rabbits, learning from the community members, and building trust where trust had been destroyed. She also looks to her own Ojibwa,Cree, and Metis history, which tells her stories of systemic trauma and gives her great empathy towards all Indigenous people.

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EDUCATION 

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Sarah is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. She has a Masters in Marriage and Family and a Bachelor of Arts in Caregiving and Counselling which helps her tend to the emotional and spiritual needs of all people.

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ADDITIONAL TRAINING:

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• Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Externship – VCFI

• Trauma Informed Practice – Dr. Linda O’Neill

• Neuroscience & Satire in the Sandtray (Level 1 & 2) – Dr. Madeleine De Little 

• Child Parent Relationship Therapy – Dr. Gary Landerth

• Transformational Systemic Therapy (Levels 1) – SIP

• Making Sense of Kids, Level 1 – Neufeld Institute

• Making Sense of Anxiety –  Neufeld Institute

• Making Sense of Aggression –  Neufeld Institute

• Hyperactive Children – Dr. Gordon Neufeld 

• Understanding Abuse in Relationships, Domestic Violence Basics

• Building Bridges Through Understanding the Village – Kathy Camilleri

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