Janet Walker

Janet Walker, MA, RCC, ExAT, BCRPT, CPRT Level 1

I work with children, teens, and adults in Nanaimo, BC, with a focus on therapy, education, and the arts.  I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor, a Certified Expressive Arts Therapist, a BC Registered Play Therapist, and an International Certified Child-Parent Relational Therapist (Level 1).  I hold a Master’s Degree in Expressive Arts Therapy and Psychology and a Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy.

I have done training in Inter-modal Expressive Arts Therapy and Creative Arts Therapies (Dance/Movement Therapy, Poetry Therapy, Music-Integrated Therapy) as well as Play Therapy (Child-Centered Play Therapy, Child-Parent Relational Therapy, Expressive Play Therapy, Sand Play Therapy, Jungian Play Therapy, AutPlay Therapy, and Synergetic Play Therapy). In addition, I have studied with the Neufeld Institute on an attachment-based, developmental approach to understanding children. 

In addition to my private practice in Nanaimo, BC, I am also a certified teacher and school counsellor at L'École Océane (Conseil Scolaire Francophone).  I am a mother of two teens, which gives me a personal understanding of parenting. 

Children (3-12 year)

Expressive Arts Therapy and Play Therapy are powerful, intuitive, proven forms of therapy that help children express traumatic, painful, or confusing life experiences, and begin the healing journey.  Play is the language of children.  When children have a safe space in which to communicate their reality in a creative and symbolic way, they have an amazing capacity to grow and flourish. I often see children who seem to be exhibiting difficult behavior and anxiety, or children who are coming to terms with divorce, separation, or death in the family.

Teens and Adults

Do you feel anxious, depressed, lost, confused, or unfulfilled?  Are you having trouble making tough decisions?  Are your relationships feeling unsatisfying, strained, or unsafe?  You might have had an idea about where you wanted your life to go, but somehow, on a personal, professional, or relational level, it seems so mixed up. 

We all want to feel safe, connected, and loved. We want to feel in control of our lives, and we want to feel like we are going forward instead of repeating the same patterns over and over.  But sometimes we just don’t know where to look for the answers anymore. The answers are not always “out there”, but frequently inside, if you can find a way to access them.

Using an Inter-modal Expressive Arts Therapy approach, we can explore your concerns in a symbolic way, using creative media that bypass the verbal, rational left brain. We begin with a discussion about your concerns and then explore the themes using expressive media such as visual arts, clay work, dance/movement, poetry/creative writing, dramatic expression, music, photography, and sand tray images.  Through creative self-expression you gain insight into your immediate concern and discover inner strengths and resources that you can put to work towards making change and feeling healthier and happier.