Grief, Aging & Long-Term Care

Before moving further into counselling and acute healthcare, Jolene spent several years working within long-term care. This experience has given her an understanding of aging, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, changing independence, caregiving, family dynamics, and the complicated grief that can accompany these transitions. Grief does not always begin with death. Families may begin grieving when someone they love receives a diagnosis. They may grieve as a parent’s memory changes, as familiar roles begin to reverse, or when someone who has always been independent begins to require care.The transition into long-term care can be particularly emotional. Family members may simultaneously experience sadness, guilt, relief, exhaustion, worry, and uncertainty about whether they are making the right decisions.

Jolene has supported both residents living in long-term care and the families who love them, including providing individual psychosocial support, helping families through transitions into care, participating in interdisciplinary care planning, and facilitating conversations about changing needs.She understands that caregivers and family members need support too.

Serious Illness & Supporting the Family

Jolene’s healthcare experience has also shaped the way she understands serious and life-changing diagnoses. When one person becomes ill, the impact often extends throughout an entire family system. Partners become caregivers. Adult children begin caring for parents. Relationships change. Independence may be lost. People may find themselves navigating medical systems while simultaneously trying to process fear, uncertainty, sadness, and exhaustion. Jolene’s background in long-term care, hospital social work, and community home health allows her to understand both the emotional experience of illness and the practical realities families face while navigating healthcare systems. Her work creates room for the person who is struggling with a diagnosis as well as the people standing beside them.

Women’s Health & Reproductive Life Transitions

Women’s health and reproductive mental health are growing areas of clinical interest for Jolene. Through her acute-care social work experience at Royal Inland Hospital, including exposure to Labour &Delivery and neonatal care, Jolene developed an interest in the emotional experiences that can accompany pregnancy, reproductive decision-making, pregnancy termination and abortion, birth, postpartum adjustment, and other women’s health transitions. As she continues to develop her counselling practice in this area, Jolene welcomes clients who are looking for a supportive space to talk about these experiences.

Reproductive experiences can bring emotions that are difficult to talk about openly. Someone may feel grief, relief, fear, uncertainty, sadness, or several seemingly contradictory emotions at the same time.

Pregnancy and becoming a parent can also bring unexpected changes in identity, relationships, independence, routines, and expectations for the future. For some people, medical complications or a difficult birth experience add another layer to an already significant transition. Jolene also welcomes individuals seeking support around pregnancy termination or abortion, whether they are considering a decision or processing an experience afterward. Her role is not to tell someone what they should think or feel, but to provide a private, non-judgmental space where they can explore their own emotions, values, relationships, and needs. Jolene approaches this work with openness and curiosity, recognizing that every person’s experience of reproductive health, pregnancy, birth, and parenthood is different.