Stevie Chernish MA, RCC
In my professional journey, I've dedicated my practice to supporting individuals, couples, families, and groups who navigate life beyond the boundaries of mainstream societal norms and traditional cultural frameworks.
My primary mission is to provide a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space where you, as an individual, can explore emotions of distress, insecurity, and confusion. With warmth, nurturing guidance, and fierce compassion, I'll walk alongside you as you embark on your journey toward self-care and self-acceptance, helping you confront the challenges of everyday life.
I specialize in the areas of gender identity, sexual orientation, coming out, alternative relationships, neurodiversity, and mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety. I’ve worked in the field of childhood trauma for the last 13 years and feel confident supporting you in navigating and integrating experiences of trauma or abuse related to self-expression, identity, sexuality, childhood neglect/abandonment/rejection, addictions, and/or religion.
My counseling approach is integrative, allowing me to blend various therapeutic techniques to tailor my support to your unique journey. I embrace a systemic and whole culture perspective that situates you and your experiences within the context of the interconnected social systems that impact your life. I hold the belief that the diverse range of human desires and expressions should be normalized and celebrated rather than pathologized. Together, we can work to dismantle the internalized mental constraints enforced by traditional social frameworks that have inhibited your right to the wide range of diverse expressions of being that have prevailed across cultures throughout history.
In working with you, I embody an approach that respects you as a complex human being with many facets. I integrate a method called “parts work”, which respects and explores the diverse aspects of your personality and psyche. This process empowers you to challenge and transcend limiting beliefs you've absorbed over time. We will explore compassionate techniques to reframe and integrate these parts of yourself by developing a gentle yet empowered mindset that enables you to move forward on your journey with inner trust and dignity.
I work hard to build my relationships with clients through an attachment-focused process, which aims to create a safe, consistent, stable, and predictable connection. This approach models a secure connection that may have not been present in your childhood or in your current relationships.
Additionally, I incorporate a somatic approach in our work together, supporting you in gradually and gently connecting with the sensations and emotions that emerge in your body as we explore the stories and experiences of your life. This technique helps to empower you in getting clear on your needs, desires, and boundaries, and as a result create more secure and intimate bonds with yourself, friends, intimates, and partners.
Beyond my formal training, my client work is informed and inspired by my personal journey navigating a queer identity and unconventional lifestyles that diverge from mainstream societal norms. I am passionate about learning and living communal and collectivist dynamics as a way of life. I foster a deep personal connection to nature as a spiritual practice, dance, and writing as self-expression, and I uphold a dedication to an ongoing journey of learning about colonial violence in Canada and ways that I can decolonize my perspectives and behaviours.
