October 16th, 2025 marked my ten year anniversary as a Marriage and Family Therapist. It’s surprising how much things change and how much they stay the same. I think (and hope) I’m ten years wiser. (The jury might still be out on that.) I do know for certain that from the beginning I have found so much meaning in working with people.
It all started almost two decades ago, in 2007, when a co-volunteer at 9 Circles Community Health Centre told me I should go to the University of Winnipeg and become a Marriage and Family Therapist. She said it like that, too, “You should go become a Marriage and Family Therapist at the University of Winnipeg”. Like it was a commandment. I love people like that. The good kind of pushy.
Anyhow, my initial response to her suggestion was to tell her I did not know that Marriage and Family Therapist was a thing someone could be. She convinced me it was. My next response was to remind her that people don’t exactly find me warm and fuzzy, and therapists are generally warm and fuzzy, aren’t they? She did not agree with my assessment. Or she did agree but it did not matter. I’m not sure which. I think she saw me the way that I see most people – I was what I was and also all the potential. She saw something in me that I wouldn’t have seen in myself. I like that way of being.
Luckily she wasn’t the only one, so I had enough references and experience and what not to be accepted. I started course work in the fall of 2008 and two years of part-time classes and five years of practica (and supervision meetings) later, I graduated. That was magnificent. And the hardest thing I have ever done. More on that, below.
Luckily, I had work lined up. Carolyn Klassen at Connexus saw enough in me to take me on at Conexus Counselling. I had two wonderful years there. I’m happy to see that Conexus is still going strong. Every time someone calls, wanting help on evenings or weekends, I send them there without hesitation.
In those early years after graduating, I also worked out in Selkirk a bit and up in Lac du Bonnet. Those were fun days, driving 90 minutes to get to my morning clients, then driving back to see people in Winnipeg. I also helped out at Alneau for a couple of years, working with kids and families on Monday mornings. Pretty spectacular people there, too.
With the unquestioned support of my wife, I opened Pear Tree Family Therapy in our old house (on Pear Tree Bay) in February of 2018. Those were wild days, worrisome days, starting from scratch. The first bit as a business owner was difficult financially. My roles at Alneau and in Lac Du Bonnet helped. And then things started clicking and the clients came and I knew I’d made the right decision to set up my own shop. (Though the worries never completely go away, nor should they, I suppose.)
And…
Then Covid came and we all figured it out as best as we could. I did schoolwork with my son in our dining room between online sessions with clients in my office. We figured it out, though it really highlighted the value of being in the same room with people. The nuance, insight, and rapport you get when you are sitting across from people without any distractions is much greater. These days I do have a few clients who call in from a long, long way away – those are all people I knew first, in person and I see them when they’re back in town. Everyone else sees me here in the therapy room with Steve generally sleeping at my feet.
Speaking of my Director of Greetings, did you know that Steve has been with me for every session at this house and the last one? Every single day, he’s greeting people in his terrier way.
It also occurs to me that I have had the same clinical supervisor for the past 10 years, too. I certainly wouldn’t want to do this job without having someone of my own to process stuff with. Thank you, Vicki.
And then there are the clients. If you are one of my clients, past or present, please know that I am so happy to know (or to have known) you. Almost every day it blows my mind that I get to work with good people who want to make their lives better. That is a privilege and responsibility that I could never take for granted. I know not everyone finds working with me (and Steve) to be useful, but for those of you who value the work we’ve done, please know I am always here, and I don’t charge for a quick phone call or an email. The vast majority of people I work with have had good, respectful boundaries here. For that reason, I will always gladly return a phone call when I have the time to do so.
Besides this post, I’m not sure if I’ll do anything outward to celebrate this anniversary. But I will set aside some time to write and reflect on the past ten years. On what I’ve learned, where I’ve grown, and maybe some things I want to get back to. Along with thinking about this interesting path I’ve walked, I’ll also put some good, quality time into thinking about the lovely people who have leaned on me and those who I have leaned on, over the years.
When people conscientiously set out to understand the situation and do their best to face it, they almost always make the world better. I know this because of all of the lovely people I’ve mentioned above, because of my clients, and also because of my beautiful family, and this dog currently snoring at my feet.
Thank you to everyone who’s helped along the way!
Here’s to another decade of growth and compassion and hard work!
Yours,
Lindsey