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Meet the team

Staff

Counsellors meet professional and ethical standards and are committed to ongoing training.

Roxie Van Aller, MACP, SEP, RCC-ACS

Master of Counselling Psychology, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Registered Clinical Counsellor-Approved Clinical Supervisor

Roxie balances her therapeutic role with leadership as Executive Director of Connect Counselling. She brings over 25 years of experience to the team and takes an eclectic approach to therapeutic work. She draws on her many years of experience and trusting in the resiliency of the human spirit.

Roxie works with couples, adults, youth and children and focuses on helping individuals who experience PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief/loss, challenges with life transitions and more. Using her training in Somatic Experiencing® Roxie works with the dysregulation in the brain and nervous system, helping to restore balance.

Most recently Roxie has been working on completing a certificate in Somatic Touch a hands-on therapy developed to release the physical and emotional trauma stored deep in the body and regulate the nervous system. Somatic Touch can be used for any type of trauma, from abuse in childhood to coping with illness. 

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Roxie is registered to provide services for the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP), First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Metis Nation British Columbia (MNBC), and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). She completed training in Somatic Experiencing®, Solution-Focused Therapy, Expressive Play, Self-Regulation Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural, Gottman Level One Marital Therapy. She is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, and is an approved clinical supervisor by BCACC.

Her busy life finds her sitting at the planning table for the local Learning Circle and she regularly attends the Ending Violence Conferences. Roxie believes in lifelong learning and having completed her training as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner now volunteers in Kelowna as an assistant for the local SE™ training.

As you may have guessed, Roxie loves what she does. For her, being a therapist is more than a job. It reflects a core part of her that enjoys getting to know people at a real level. She enjoys the therapy process as it allows for authentic, face-to-face conversations in an uber-wired world. As a therapist, she guides people through personal challenges, helps ease emotional burdens, and empowers people to achieve a healthier, more balanced life. For Roxie, it’s an honour and privilege to walk alongside someone during a dark period to help make their burden a bit lighter.

Roxie lives in Kelowna with her husband and two dogs. She aspires to one day becoming an accomplished horsewoman, like her granddaughter. Her happy place is in Cranbrook on her daughter’s acreage amongst the chickens.

When she’s not working, she relaxes by playing with her dogs, skiing, and boating with her family.  Her greatest joy is spending time giggling with her grandchildren.

Suzanne Harrington, M.Ed, RCC

Master of Counselling Psychology, Registered Clinical Counsellor

Suzanne has worked for over two decades with children, families, couples and individuals. She specializes in marriage and family therapy and is also an approved provider for FNHA (First Nations Health Authority), and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Direct Funding.

Her extensive training includes expressive therapies such as play and art. She works with trauma and abuse, anxiety, and parent-child attachment. She continues to work in child and youth mental health, trauma therapy, and couple’s therapy. She also counsels many young adults and their families as they navigate the transitions of “launching” and post-secondary growth.

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Suzanne is passionate about creating safe, collaborative space to explore and resolve conflict, communication challenges, parenting and co-parenting struggles, trauma, stress, emptiness, loss and mental health needs. She strives to help others to find their voice, reset boundaries, become authentic, heal wounds, and grow again in relationships. 

Her goal is to ensure clients come away with more knowledge, insight and practical tools to help them feel alive, hopeful and connected.

Suzanne moved to Kelowna 20-plus years ago after both big city and small-town life. She wants to bring her best self to all her relationships, especially as a parent and partner. Suzanne is keenly searching for a pup to share life’s adventures with.

When not helping others, Suzanne can be found getting distracted by good podcasts at the gym, learning humility on the soccer pitch, or, most likely, enjoying the trails and back roads of BC – hiking, snowshoeing and searching for treasures and ghost town artifacts.

Michelle De Vies, MACP, RCC

Master of Counselling Psychology, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Practicum Supervisor

Michelle has several great skills and tools to use with her clients that she has accumulated over 20 years of training and experience grounded in Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behaviour, and Play therapies. In addition to being able to offer private work, she is also registered to provide services for the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP), First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Metis Nation British Columbia (MNBC), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Direct Funding and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC).

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Michelle’s innate sense of curiosity, compassion and creativity is reflected in her professional practice. She believes that, with the right conditions, everyone has the capacity to heal and grow. Her approach is tailored to help children, young people, adults, couples, and families understand and find ways to overcome challenges and find more meaningful and healthy ways to live. 

Back in 2014, Michelle embarked upon a great adventure and moved from the UK to Canada with her two Spanish Water Dogs, Yogi and Fiz, who delight in getting lost with her as she finds her way around the trails of Kelowna. She also spends time helping Fiz perform her duties as a trained therapy dog with the local St John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program.

When she’s not working or volunteering, Michelle can be found engaging in creative pursuits such as crafting and DIY projects. She has also been known to participate in fire-walking, rappelling, paddle boarding, and skiing, although not all at the same time…

Joyce Eng, MACP, CCC, RCC, SEP

Master of Arts in Counselling, Canadian Certified Counsellor, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner

Joyce has been working with women who have been traumatized by intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, or sexual assault, for over 13 years now. The last three years have been spent working with both genders. For 10 years, she also facilitated a psycho-educational /discussion group for women over 50 who experienced abuse.  In addition to her training in Somatic Experiencing® (SE), she is currently working on becoming certified in Eye Movement, Desensitization, and Reprocessing (EMDR).  Joyce is also registered to provide services for the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP) and First Nations Health Authority (FNHA).

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Compassion is what drives Joyce. She knew from a very young age that she wanted to work in a profession that supported emotional health and mental well-being. As a young adult, she taught primary school. After having a family, she returned to school and became a social worker, and later, a counsellor. She believes her life experiences, skills and natural passion for what she does make her a compassionate and competent counsellor.

Joyce has called Kelowna home for 40 years now. She and her husband raised two sons who have since flown the nest. In her spare time she enjoys the art of beautiful writing (a.k.a. calligraphy), making cards, singing in a choir, cycling, and, spending time with her husband, friends, and her cat, Olive.

Bonnie Pontalti, MSW, RSW, RPA, SEP

Master of Social Work, Registered Social Worker Bachelor of Recreation and Physical Education, Somatic Experiencing® Practioner

Bonnie is one of those people who loves what she does. She has over thirty years of experience working with individuals, groups, and families and has worked in many capacities, including residential camping, adventure pursuits, employment services, counselling, and child and youth services. Bonnie’s most recent focus has been on intimate partner violence and with those in palliative care.

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Today Bonnie’s work is informed by interpersonal neurobiology, attachment and systems theories. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Somatic Experiencing®, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, and Grief Recovery are a few of her specialities.  She is also registered with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA).

Bonnie’s main desire in her work is to support others to find joy and ease in all conditions of life. She believes a strong community begins with compassion and ends with a collective effort to heal emotional wounds, resulting in a sense of connection and belonging for everyone. She believes it is a great privilege to share in another person’s journey.

Bonnie relocated to the Okanagan in the early 1990s from the Maritimes where she returns yearly for a fill of the east coast vibe. Her greatest pleasure in life is her family, and she looks forward to new adventures and growing old with her life partner and best friend.

Kim Wardman, MACP, RCC, SEP

Master of Counselling Psychology, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner

It was 2009 when Kim began helping individuals in the mental health field. She specializes in working with trauma, anxiety, anger, depression, grief and any other overwhelming emotion.  She is registered to provide services with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP).

Kim’s training allows her to bring purpose and meaning back into people’s lives. She uses Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) to help build resilience and support one’s nervous system to self-regulate. She likes using SE™ as it helps to get to the core of traumatic incidents by working with a person’s central nervous system.

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Her goal as a mental health practitioner is to provide a safe space where her clients feel supported and welcomed. She knows overwhelming thoughts, feelings and emotions can hit even when things are going well. She helps her clients make sense of their feelings of fear, anger, anxiety and depression, grief, sadness, sorrow or any other overwhelming emotion.

Kim loves working together with her clients to create resilience as well as better relationships with themselves and others.

Kim continues to keep up to date with Somatic Experiencing® and the latest modalities.  She has completed courses in Eye of the Needle training for near-death experience, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training, Touch Skills Training for Therapists,  Occupational Awareness for First Responder, and Attachment training.

When she’s not working, you’ll find Kim in and around Kelowna volunteering, camping, cycling, boxing/kickboxing, hiking, cross country skiing and hanging out with her family and her dog, Sheba.

Matthew Reimer, MSW, RSW

Master of Social Work, Registered Social Worker

Matthew is a registered social worker in Kelowna, British Columbia with over a decade of experience working as a mental health professional. He is registered to provide services with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), has a passion for helping people and wants to see people reach their full potential.

Matthew strives to create a safe and empathetic place to heal, where clients can build insight and coping skills to empower their lives. Matthew practices from a client-centred, trauma-informed, strength- based framework that is rooted in attachment, systems and intersectionality theory. Matthew is skilled in emotional-focused therapy (EFT), cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), solution-focused (SFBT) and motivational therapy.

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Whether you are seeking help individually, as a couple, or as a family, Matthew strives to make you feel heard in a supportive, warm and sensitive manner as you discuss, explore and develop deeper insights into your current challenges.

Those who have been fortunate enough to meet Matthew Reimer can attest to being immediately captivated by his extraordinary interpersonal skills. He is approachable, positive, patient, and cheerful.

When he isn’t working, you will find Matthew hiking, enjoying the lake, and salsa dancing.

Michael Patzer, MSW, RSW

Master of Social Work, Registered Social Worker

Michael has completed extensive training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. His focus is working with youth and adults in the areas of anxiety, anger management, depression, life transitions, grief and loss, and self-esteem and he is registered to provide services with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA). Michael uses the latest evidence-based practices in the field to best support his clients.

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In 2019, Michael co-created the first men’s trauma group in Kelowna, BC, at Connect Counselling. Michael also developed a youth anxiety group (Building Calm) as well as an adult pre-counselling readiness group (Gateway to Growth). He did this during the COVID-19 lockdowns to address growing mental health needs in the community.

Michael is highly motivated to support and guide clients through difficult life circumstances and mental health challenges. He believes that everyone has the capacity to live a rich and meaningful life.

Michael left Ottawa in 2018 and made his way to Kelowna to attend UBC Okanagan. He fell in love with the area and didn’t leave.

When he’s not helping clients, you’ll find him hiking or playing golf, football or hockey. He also does Latin dancing, and when he’s not perfecting his Salsa, you’ll find him relaxing with friends and family.

Renae Clarkson, MACP, RCC

Master of Counselling Psychology, Registered Clinical Counsellor

Renae is a person-centered therapist, whose genuine empathy and unconditional positive regard for each & every one of her clients are the cornerstones of her practice. She believes that the client is the true expert in their own life, and whether the presenting concern is a difficult life transition or simply feeling stuck, Renae’s
primary focus is to offer guidance and encouragement as she journeys alongside her client.

In addition to being a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), Renae is a registered provider with the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP), First Nations Health Authority (FHNA), and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC).

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Renae was born and raised in Kelowna, and in 2001 she and her husband returned “home” to raise their family. She is a regular participant in activities and events throughout the Okanagan, however her favourite place to be is in enlightening conversation with her three young adult children and basking in the adulation of her two 5lb dogs and two 20lb cats.

Lynda Fillion, Finance Manager

Certified bookkeeper and financial preparation

When you do what you love and you’re good at it, you tend to be very good at what you do. That describes Connect Counselling’s Lynda Fillion. She has over 55 years of experience with financial and professional office services.

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Lynda spent 26 years as a volunteer for the Canadian Ski Patrol Society and received many awards for all the services she provides. She’s lived in Kelowna since 1992 where she raised her son. 

You may find Lynda on a local ski hill in the winter, and in warmer months you’ll find her in her garden, hiking, biking and enjoying the outside activities the Okanagan has to offer. When she’s not enjoying the great outdoors, you may find her reading her new favourite book or spending time with family and friends.

Sherree Carter, Finance Assistant

Sherree has a background in banking and accounting. She is on the finance team at Connect Counselling, with a focus on billing and accounts receivable. She moved to Kelowna in 1990 and raised her four kids here. She currently lives with two of her adult sons and her two cats. She enjoys the warm Okanagan summer months and loves walking everywhere. Her other interests include math puzzles and reading. She also likes live theatre and has season tickets to the Kelowna Actors Studio.

Joanna Shaw, Office Manager

With over 30 years’ experience in administration and customer service, she’s one of the best around. Joanna brings her experience in retail and medical, as well as being a business owner, executive assistant and manager, to the Connect Counselling team. Some of her more memorable careers have been in Air Traffic Control in the WRAF (Women’s Royal Air Force), owning/operating a mobility store, and managing her husband’s engineering company. She recently completed an Indigenous Cultural Safety Training course.

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Joanna works on various in-house projects and oversees the running of reception. She loves working in a team environment and finds it very rewarding. She loves being part of assisting clients improve their quality of life, their relationships, and overcome anxiety or depression. Joanna enjoys her work because she says no two days are ever the same, which makes coming to work interesting and stimulating.

She emigrated to Canada from England with her husband, a toddler and a baby over 45 years ago.

Joanna lives in West Kelowna with her husband, dog and cat. She loves the Okanagan and enjoys walking, gardening, crafts, attending church and spending time with church friends. She also loves spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Bonnie Williams, Administrative Assistant

Bonnie originally studied journalism. She spent the past thirty years running a home-based sales business that focused on customer service, while she raised her three girls, two with special needs.

 She will most likely be your first contact via phone or in person. Her three decades of customer service show as she assists clients with inquiries about services and with booking appointments.

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Ask anyone and they’ll tell you the word that describes Bonnie best is integrity. She has a passion to assist people in finding their best possible path. She is honoured to be part of a team that allows her to support both the therapists and their clients in all the ways that matter.

 Bonnie is BC born, moved to Calgary for college and returned to BC in 1993 and has been here ever since. Bonnie is still married to her first and only husband and has been for 45 years now. She loves to spend time with her children and grandchildren as well as her large circle of friends from all walks of life.

In her spare time, you may also find her as a passionate audience member at live theatre, comedy shows and poetry reading. She admits she spends an inordinate amount of time reading just about anything, including biographies, historical novels, and any other well-written stories.

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