Candace Marshall MA, CCC

It was a workplace injury as a fine dining waiter in my early 30s that initiated a quantum life change, and I reluctantly went back to school.

It was either my third or fourth introductory psychology class during my second semester at Douglas College that changed everything. Later that evening I told my husband that I wanted to get a PhD and become a Psychologist. I had found my passion. To remind me that I had a dream, I programmed a scrolling banner on my first cell phone that read “I’m getin’ a PhD”. Pursuing this dream has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. My learning did not have a curve, it has been vertical all the way.

It is only with a little help from my friends, as the Beatles wrote, that I am now able to see the finish line. I am forever grateful to my family, close friends, professors, and mentors who collectively held a vision of what I could be and accomplish until I could hold that vision for myself.

In life, we all need a little help from our friends.

In professional practice, I hold these experiences and supportive relationships close to my heart when working with clients. Based on evidence-based research and my own clinical experience, a good therapeutic relationship, regardless of therapist orientation or approach used, is one of the most salient ingredients in positive client outcomes.

For this reason, it is my practice to be fully authentic within the framework of the therapeutic alliance. Clients have described me as understanding and empathetic; strong, patient, kind, caring and personable; nonjudgmental; void of pretension and airs; genuine; and simple in my approach.

I continue to be humbled when a client invites me into their life. For me, it is truly an honour to be part of someone’s healing journey. When a client feels heard and understood, that often signals a first step toward healing and change.

To that end, my counselling space is one of acceptance, understanding, and safety.