Trying Times Call for Gentle Support
"Grief is a way of loving, love is a way of grieving.
They need each other in order to be themselves"
Stephen Jenkinson
My Approach
If you or someone dear has been diagnosed with a terminal illness or a loved one has died, you are probably experiencing a combination of fear, anger and, sadness; you may feel numb, alone and, isolated. You may have difficulties coping and wonder if you will ever be happy again.
Thanatology and Grief Counselling is a form of therapy that helps the bereaved to explore their distressing and confusing feelings. My sessions facilitate your grieving process, appease the fear that you are going crazy, and familiarize you with the nature and dynamics of grief. I aim to promote healing and open windows for personal growth.
My guiding principles:
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All individuals are worthy of respect. In my space everyone is welcome, all genders, races, cultures, sexual orientations, family constellations and relationships.
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There is no "one size fits all" approach to grieving and bereavement.
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I believe grief and bereavement impact our physical, mental, and emotional aspects of ourselves.
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I believe grief is part of life, and not a problem. My aim is not to try to take your grief away. Instead, I am here to listen, validate, encourage, help you feel safe, and integrate the losses into your life.
Areas of practice
- for Adults -
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Anticipatory Grief occurs before death; among people who are facing eventual death of a loved one or their own death.
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Grief experienced after the death of a family member.
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Disenfranchised or hidden grief. Referring to the unacknowledged or unvalidated grief by social norms which includes the death of a special companion, a pet.
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Grieving the loss of a friend.
Getting started
Successful counselling begins with
a good fit.
Before booking our first session, I will contact you to arrange a 15-minute consultation to help ensure that we are a good fit. This first call will happen via telephone, Zoom, Skype, and FaceTime. At this time we will exchange information and I will take a few minutes to explain how we could work together.
Warm, compassionate, open-minded and inclusive
describe my approach and style.
I place high value on careful listening, responsiveness and professional ethics.
Something About Me
Most often when we are faced with death, life takes an added intensity and meaning; and in my case, it led me to examine my assumptions about life itself. Everything I knew until that time changed colour and I began to question if what I had been working for up until that point had any meaning.
After completing a long series of cancer treatments, and as I gradually returned to a more regular life, I found myself eager to go-back to my earlier work, the work I did in my much earlier years; and so I decided to veered towards the direction of servicing others.
I returned to school to refresh my counselling skills and to learn new approaches to counselling which are now practiced in my profession. In addition, I took courses in a number of holistic modalities, recognized in the medical community as complements for treatments, and more recently opened my own practice as a grief counsellor and as a cancer coach for patients and their care-givers living with the chronic cancer.
Malia C. Ronderos
CCC, CT, MCATD,RMT
My multidisciplinary training confirms my holistic approach to what I do as a grief counsellor. I have a BA degree in Sociology and Psychology from Simon Fraser University and studies in Counselling at Vancouver Community College, which I applied while working with young adults at risk in that city. I also have a Master’s Degree in Adult Training and Development from the Schulich School of Business and later studied Death, Dying, and Bereavement at Wilfrid Laurier University. I am also a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner with NLP Canada Training.
I have been a counsellor and coach for over 20 years; during this time, I have studied various methods that I can integrate with in my practice, including Narrative Therapy, Person-Centered Counselling, Mindfulness-Based Counselling, Therapeutic Touch, and Reiki.
More recently, I received training to be a Chronic Cancer Coach at Wellspring Toronto, where I have been offering my time for over five years. Wellspring is an organization that helps people live better with cancer offering unique non-medical programs to cancer patients, their families, and caregivers.
I am an enthusiastic learner; I visit other regions to volunteer and learn about people and cultures. I speak Spanish, enjoy almost all types of music, love nature, and have an affinity with dogs who I welcome to our Walk and Talk sessions.
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Counselling & Complementary
skills
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Narrative Therapy
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Person-Centered Counselling
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Mindfulness-Based Counselling
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Emotion-focussed Therapy EFT
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Neuro-Linguistic programming (NLP)
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Mindfulness to Reduce Stress
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Therapeutic Touch
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Reiki
Walk and Talk sessions
Registered Holistic Practitioner, City of Toronto