Meet Miriam Desjardins, RCC
Welcome! However it is you have landed here, I appreciate you visiting. I’m glad to share a bit of the story behind where you find me today, and if you don’t have time to linger, scroll down to my mini-bio or connect with me @beingmima.
In my earlier years as a young Gen X’er, I was deeply committed to the pursuit of purpose, ultimately defining this as peace. I found myself on a transformative, if somewhat circuitous, journey where I embraced meditation, prioritized volunteerism and social justice, and immersed myself in graduate studies exploring the politics of peace. This pivotal period set the course for my current role as a clinical counsellor. Throughout, I've dedicated myself to supporting others on their personal paths to peace. I've served as a meditation and mindfulness teacher, a yoga and fitness trainer, and an empowerment and lifestyle coach before embracing my identity as a clinical counsellor and therapist. Each role has contributed uniquely to my understanding and capacity to guide individuals in their pursuit of wellbeing, self-understanding and inner harmony.
When I speak of peace, I’m not referring to pie-in-the-sky, abstract ideals, but the tangible, and sometimes hard, messy task of aligning with one’s truth and authenticity. The willingness to do this in the presence and with the support of another human is critical. Both my personal, lived experience and my professional training tell me that it is together, in safe, attached relationships that we best do this work of finding our way to a place where our innate capacity to heal is available and peace accessible. My approach finds resonance in AEDP therapy, my theoretical home, and blends somatic therapies, attachment theory, and mindfulness modalities.
Peace, healing, alignment, a meaningful existence are, to me, lifestyle choices. When we get clear on what we want, we become better able to make discerning choices that invite peace into our lives. If you feel uneasy about taking ownership of this process, you’re not alone. Stepping onto the leading edge of our potential for alignment and transformation invites vulnerability and discomfort. My intention is that our therapeutic journey provides support that helps make that edge become less daunting and, over time, an exciting opportunity to show up to life in new ways.
In peace and with gratitude,
Miriam
Miriam
Miriam Desjardins
MACP, RCC, MDY, BA (hons)
A mother to two teenagers, Miriam has committed to showing up for her family and community in a way that feels authentic to her: present and intentional about how she is affecting the energy in shared space. And when she thinks she has this dialled in, life kindly reminds her that she is a continuing work in progress… To this end, Miriam seeks professionally to enhance her training through ongoing education and advanced training, predominantly oriented in AEDP therapy, attachment theory, somatic therapies, psychedelic-assisted therapies and mindfulness modalities. Embracing the concept that life is a journey best navigated in safe and meaningful relationships with others, Miriam encourages clients to show up to therapy by simply honouring and beginning right where they are.
Miriam holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology with Distinction, is a Member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association and a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors. As such she is insured to practise in the province of B.C. and follows a professional code of ethics. Her ongoing advanced training includes:
AEDP Essential Skills, Level II Certification - AEDP Institute [in progress]
AEDP Immersion, Level I Certification - AEDP Institute
Shame, Transformance and AEDP - with Bret Lyon, PhD, SEP and Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT of the AEDP Institute
The Power of Affirmation to Heal Relational Wounds & Revitalize the SELF - with Diana Fosha, PhD, of the AEDP Institute
From Fear to Flow: Confidently Navigating Dissociative States in Complex Trauma with AEDP - Michael Mondoro, LCSW, Certified AEDP Therapist and Supervisor
Embracing All of You: Compassionate Inquiry Meets Internal Family Systems - with Gabor Mate, MD, & Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
Somatic Experiencing®, Beg. Levels 1-2
Individual Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Training Program, Levels 1 & 2 - Hillary McBride, PhD, RPsych, RCC & Danielle Braun-Kauffman, RCC
Polaris Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Training Foundational Series [in progress]
Polaris Women Healers in NOSC Practice: Sacredness and Embodied Ceremonial Wisdom
Can you hear? Are we clear?
Cleared for liftoff, takeoff
For making reverberations
— Eddie Vedder, Invincible