Social Worker and Yoga Instructor: Jen Thompson’s WorkStory

By Erica Pulling, WorkStory Ambassador at Western University

Jen Thompson is a Clinical Social Worker and yoga teacher.  She combines her experience in the two areas in her practice at Exhale Therapy Services, located in London, Ontario.

Jen completed an undergraduate degree in social justice and peace studies at the University of Western Ontario, and her master’s degree in Social Work at Laurier University.   Throughout her schooling, Jen stayed active in the yoga world, as both a student and through teacher trainings.  After completing her master’s degree, Jen began working full-time in child welfare.  While she enjoyed her work, she missed the therapeutic aspects of clinical counselling.  Additionally, because of her yoga experience, she knew how well the two fields could work together and wanted to be able to combine them into a new form of therapy.  However, leaving the comfort of a full-time job with benefits seemed like a scary leap! 

After five years at child welfare, Jen began taking on clients part-time outside of work.  She slowly transitioned into fewer days a week with the welfare department and more hours at her own practice.  Finally, she gave notice and went full-time with her own practice. 

According to Jen, a typical day now involves seeing four to five clients a day for an hour each, and teaching a yoga class at the Moksha studio.  Treatment for each client is completely unique depending on what the client needs.  With some clients therapy may involve a lot of one-on-one counselling, others may require activities like yoga or therapeutic art.  Her favourite part of the job is when she can connect with a client and begin to see a transformation happen in their life. 

In addition to seeing clients, there is also a lot of work done behind the scenes, such as doing consultations and replying to emails.  The business component was something that was completely new to Jen when she started seeing clients, and she has had to learn a lot as a result.  One important lesson she has learned is that you can’t do it all!  Jen outsources different areas of her business to people who are trained to do them, such as accountants and website designers.  She also has a lot of interactions with her peers for consults and referrals. Jen has also networked with other professionals in the community, such as an Art Therapist and Reiki Practitioner.

While Jen is currently the only person practicing this form of therapy, she has received a lot of interest in learning about it from other social workers.  As a result, she is currently working on developing a curriculum on her therapeutic technique so that more people can learn it and it can become more available.  Currently Jen’s practice has become so popular that she has a waitlist of patients waiting to receive treatment. 

A Clinical Counsellor’s Perspective: Lanie’s Story

By Emma Kushnir, WorkStory Ambassador

Lanie Schachter-Snipper’s adventure in life and academics has been vast and amazing. After finishing her undergraduate degree from McGill University in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, she took a huge break doing various jobs ranging from teaching first grade in Honduras to running a cultural art tour business in Cuba. She then went back to school at the City University of Seattle for a Master’s degree in Clinical Counselling and Psychology, and finally to Yale School of Medicine to complete a fellowship in the Forensic Drug Diversion Program.

Now settled with a family in Toronto, Lanie is working as a full time clinical counselor for Shepell.fgi providing assessment and crisis intervention for employee assistance.  But her real baby is a non-profit organization Upfront Counselling and Management that she and a criminal defense lawyer founded in 2014. The organization provides psychological support for court-involved individuals who are charged with crimes involving aggression, with a primary focus on domestic abuse and substance abuse.  Offenders are referred by their lawyer, and partake in individual or group counseling that is therapeutic in nature, which is different than other organizations that exist in Toronto.

When asked why she got into the profession of psychology especially after so much different work, she answered that “from a young age I was always interested in deviance, people who broke the law, and crime in general.” As for the making the decision to do a masters program in psychology, she divulged that she applied to many different types of masters and international programs because she knew she needed to do something and was interested in a lot. She explains “in my case it really worked out and my work is really rewarding. I can’t imagine doing anything else, but it is very challenging and draining, and can be overwhelming.”

 Speaking about the many challenges that comes with the job, she explained that boundaries are hard, “I am fairly good at having a challenging work day and not spending a ton of time thinking about it, so having good self care and maintaining healthy boundaries is very important.” She also clarified that you must set realistic clinical expectations “you have to be realistic of what you can accomplish with people such as those who are living in poverty. One of the hardest things is knowing there are limits to which you can help people.”

Though with the challenging, comes the rewarding. She explained that “everyday I work, I get some feedback that the time I have spent talking to a client has been positive in some way. Whether there is an opportunity to vent or validating feelings, on a daily basis, even if it is subtle, I see the work I’m doing is meaningful to someone. There are moments today at the very least, this person isn’t going to kill themselves. Plus there is always new stuff coming up like new protocols and approaches, which makes it not the very least boring.”

As for people who are interested in this line of work her advice is: “you have to understand how complex people are, no matter how much learning you will do, every single person is unique and needs special attention. In this field you need a certain amount of stamina, energy, and a lot of compassion.” For others seeking out what to do, Lanie offered the advice: “Don’t rush. It can be easy to hurry into things because careers are appealing, but the importance of the in-between gets lost, and it’s an important time. I took so long to figure out what I wanted to do. Meet people travelling, work in different places and environments. Explore and be curious, and learn as much as you can about the wider world and your community. The more experiences you have, the better you will be in any job.”