“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - Rumi
Emma Wilson
Registered Social Worker, MSW, RSW
Scroll to Explore
↓
ABOUT ME
I began my career over 25 years ago working with individuals and families with deeply complex backgrounds.
It’s an experience that drove me to explore trauma, its impact and the varying ways to support and heal it. I completed a BSW, with a focus on addictions and gender-based violence, and then pursued my MSW with a focus on attachment. I held a position with the London School Board for over 15 years supporting the mental health of children, families and staff, as well as special projects working with some of London’s most traumatised students and families. My work involved developing trauma-informed classrooms and educators. I have given talks internationally on attachment and trauma, published several Social Work textbook chapters, taught social policy, social interventions and violence prevention at King’s College and Fanshawe, and continue to mentor new Social Workers. I hold an MSW from King’s College, University of Western Ontario, and have extensive training in the field of trauma. I am also trained in NARM (Neuro-Affective Relational Model), various psychodynamic theories, and attachment-focused modalities. I am listed as a Blue Cross provider for the Canadian Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Canada.
My Approach
I believe working on yourself and your relationships is some of the most important work you can do. Searching for and finding the right fit can feel overwhelming when you don’t exactly know what it all means.
At Emma Wilson Counselling, I offer an integrative approach to counselling. An integrative approach utilizes both ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ sections of the brain. A top-down approach means working through things cognitively (ie - thought patterns, communication, decision-making and problem-solving). A bottom-up approach utilizes the part of the brain that is responsible for memories, impulses and survival responses. Therefore, bottom-up therapy works on the nervous system, understanding sensations, grounding and body awareness.
My personal and professional experience has illustrated that an integrative approach is much more powerful and transformative.
-
A psychodynamic approach attempts to shed light on the unconscious mental forces (our desires and anxieties) that often drive our behaviour. These are often deep within us which is why it feels so difficult to change our behaviour. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean we need to do a deep dive into your past. In fact, I prefer to work in present time. The psychodynamic approach helps us to understand what you really want for yourself, and what behaviours might be getting in the way.
-
We are all creatures of attachment. In fact, our greatest need is to be in relationship, to belong, to be connected. However, because it is our greatest need, it can also be our deepest fear. Our early childhood attachment experiences get imprinted upon us and either help or hinder us in attracting and nurturing the relationships we want, particularly the one we have with ourselves. Using an attachment lens, we can better understand your desires and fears regarding relationships, and what might be getting in the way of the connection you are seeking.
-
Simply put, somatic means relating to, or affecting the body. Our bodies experience the world along with our minds and have much to communicate. Believe it or not, there is wisdom in our muscle tension, increased heart rate, knotted stomach, deep sigh or bouncing knee. However, if we are disconnected from our bodies or are preoccupied with remedies, we may miss what it is trying to communicate. A somatic approach integrates the body’s wisdom into the therapeutic process so that we may begin to understand our internal state and why it may perceive danger when there is none. It is with this awareness that we begin to relate to the world differently. This is the place from which our behaviour starts to change.
-
As human beings, we are constantly growing, transforming, shifting and developing – even when it may not feel like it. Many of our behaviours that get in the way of healthy relationships, our self-esteem, or our capacity to relax and feel content, were likely behaviours that at one time, were very useful to us at certain stages in our development. We’ve used these behaviours for so long that they now feel impossible to change despite being so problematic. Then, we feel shame for not being able to change them. The problem with shame is, it immobilizes us. This is where we can get stuck. A developmental lens supports more compassion for ourselves as we begin to see how that same behaviour was once an adaptive strategy. Developing more compassion for ourselves and all of those coping strategies, creates space for courage and agency to make meaningful change.
-
Many people believe that something is wrong with them – that they are fundamentally flawed in some way. Incorporating a neuro-scientific lens sheds light on how our ‘flawed’ behaviour is actually an adaptive response to our environment. Within our environment, our nervous system is constantly detecting safety or threat and responds accordingly. Cognitive therapies often neglect the nervous system dysregulation underlying the cognitive and behavioural symptoms. This lens assists us in understanding what your nervous system perceives as threatening so that we may guide it back to a felt sense of safety, calm and peace.
My Accreditations & Experience
In social work practice for over 15 years
Master’s of Social Work Degree
Registered Social Worker with Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
Certificate from Ontario Association of Social Workers
NARM therapist (Neuro-Affective Relational Model)
Certified in Traumatic Stress Studies
Certified in Neurofeedback
Certified in the Neufeld approach (Model of Attachment)