At Quintessential Counselling we offer mental health services to women and youth of colour. We provide the space to remove barriers, to be heard and to feel understood. We aim to make mental health issues and services accepted by the muslim community.

I am a first generation Canadian to parents who immigrated from the Fiji Islands. Growing up I dealt with anxiety, self esteem issues, depression and struggled in school but all the while thought that I had something wrong with me. I did not know what the feelings were until I was in my 20s. After high school I faced not only health challenges but also personal challenges that really tested me as a person. The health challenges required me to reevaluate my career path. I worked in very high volume environments and some required a lot of physical work. As the health issues progressed I had to make the very difficult decision of leaving my work and starting all over again closer to home. Part-time working for others was very difficult but I couldn't figure out where I wanted my career to take me with these new limitations. While working with students and also hearing concerns that women around me had and being a woman myself I felt that my natural calling was to become a counsellor.

The reason I knew that counselling was the profession I wanted to be in was that it was very apparent that the brown and black communities which I am a part of, holds a very strong stigma against mental health and yet it is much needed service.

Not only did I complete a three year Counselling program, with residency, in a year while working I did this while in my 30’s something that is not common in my culture or community.

Since becoming a wife and mother that has diagnosed illnesses I have a better understanding of the need for counsellors for women and youth (including teenagers). I am currently working on specializing in Perinatal and Maternal Mental Health along with specializing in Somatic methodology and continuing to educate myself about the first nations/indigenous people.

Some of my current specializations are anxiety, intergenerational trauma, self esteem, depression and motherhood challenges.

'I help people create healthy relationships with themselves and others.'

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