About

My Beginnings

Settler with grandparents born in Scotland, South Africa and Montreal, I was born, and raised and doing my current work on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish),    səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh  (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

My other land influences are the lands of Mexico City, the great Tenochtitlan of the Aztec empire and the civilizations that proceeded it. Tehtelpan refers to Tetelpan, one of the many small towns that were located outside the metropolitan area of Mexico City and are now part of it. 

The city I was born in is called North Vancouver, BC, Canada – a small town beside a big city on the traditional lands of Tsleil-Waututh. My dad’s family moved there in 1917 and he was born there in 1923. My mom moved there in the 1930s. As adults, we siblings then scattered around the world. 

After I finished my first degree Latin American Studies/Contemporary dance, I moved to Montreal and then Mexico City. I stayed in Mexico for 12 years, mostly in Mexico City and some time in Morelia. My first profession was choreographer, dance teacher, performance artist, and about the time I married and had my daughter, added on Spanish-English translations and financial journalism. 

For many reasons, including better schools for my daughter and less pollution, we moved to the land of my birth and family before she started school and which was just before the millennium ended. I continued work as a translator, and journalist, including a year as a correspondent for a First Nations publication. 

Volunteer work in non-profit associations as a board director and president led to paid work as registrar, and executive director. The associations services focused on immigrants (like ISSofBC, or Mexican Business) or individuals that spoke two language or more (STIBC). 

Counselling Journey

In 2014, I returned to school to study counselling and specifically somatic or body-based therapies, linking together my previous work in dance with my fascination on how people heal or recover from mental or emotional issues. I completed the Community Counselling Certificate and also the Advanced Integrative Energy Healing Certificate (Langara College) by 2017. Seeking work in the field, I started at the YWCA Single Mother’s program in 2016, providing resources, registration in programs, and emotional support to Single mothers (many of whom are fleeing domestic abuse). 

As a student, case studies and experiences of note were the clinics at the VCH Eating Disorders clinic, the addictions treatment centre Pacifica, and at the Native Courtworkers association. 

Services for Immigrants

Current work in official translations for immigrants and at the YWCA in such as (Pathways to Leadership for Immigrant Single Mothers) consolidates knowledge of issues facing immigrants, or those who change countries of residence, or who navigate more than one culture on a daily basis (e.g. someone from an Iranian family who marries into a Sikh family).

In the midst of the changes, a project started and not yet completed brought together artists and collaborators from the 1990s and from the NAFTA nations (Canada, Mexico, and USA) to discuss a reunion or a new project.

For the next 20 years, my goals are to work as a translator, artist and energy healer/therapist, sharing my expertise, and offering professional services.

To learn more about me, you can find me on LinkedIn