Hi, my name is Erika Davies, and I’m a Registered Clinical Social Worker and the team lead for Umbrella Insights’ in-home support services with a Master of Social Work from Carleton University. I love working with Dis-abled and neurodivergent people, including those with Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, trauma, and health care related trauma. I also support parents of Dis-abled children and youth, work with couples, and bring what I have learned from play therapy into my work with adults.

I became a social worker for so many reasons. Firstly, I think the honesty of therapy is so special. It is a place where we have permission to unmask and be present. Secondly, my passion as a helper comes from my lived experiences. I am queer, neurodivergent, and live with a semi-visible Dis-ability that requires me to be fed through a feeding tube. As a teen, I coped through drug use and seeking safety through sexuality. I draw on both my lived and clinical experience to help people understand how their lives are impacted by the world we live in, and tell stories about our inner worlds that help us make sense of what we’ve been through and how we are currently experiencing the world. 

Part of my neurodivergent experience is that I have always struggled with reading and writing. I write emails myself, which means there will probably be typos when we communicate. To me, this expression of authenticity is the beginning of the relational support I offer. I dress, sit, and communicate as myself. I know I won't be the right fit for everyone, but I hope that when I show up as myself, the people I work with will feel like they can be themselves too. 

My values as a therapist are important to me. I believe working from an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens is vital. One way I try to put my “money where my mouth is” is by being an active supporter of sliding-scale therapy. I never imagined myself working in private practice, but now that I am here with a really supportive team, I want to use the flexibility I have to make therapy more accessible.

I think there are helpful things in many therapeutic modalities. I use approaches including Internal Family Systems, parts work, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, harm reduction, narrative therapy and play based therapy. However, the most important part of therapy is the relationship between the therapist and the person accessing therapy. 

I believe everyone deserves a therapist who can authentically attune to them and who they can authentically attach to. When we are talking about the deepest and hardest parts of ourselves, it matters to have someone who can reflect back our strengths while also looking with us at the parts we feel ashamed of. Decreasing shame and increasing clarity can be one of the most transformative parts of therapy, regardless of the modality we use to get there.

For Parents

First of all, thank you for reading this! As a parent seeking support for your child or youth, I know you are an important member of their team. I work with parents who are trying to understand and support their neurodivergent or Dis-abled child, especially when the systems around their family do not understand or accommodate their needs.

Therapy can offer a place to slow things down, understand what behaviour might be communicating, and develop ways of creating more safety and connection within the family.

For Youth, Ages 12 to 24

Youth are reliable historians of their own experiences, but they may not always communicate through direct conversation. Sometimes communication happens through movement, humour, silence, creativity, special interests, or play.

I use DBT, Motivational Interviewing, harm reduction, parts work, and relational therapy with youth. When appropriate, therapy may also happen in the community through activities such as walking, rock climbing, skateboarding, or riding the bus together.

For youth struggling with self harm, I take a harm reduction approach. All behaviour is communication. Rather than focusing only on stopping a behaviour, I want to understand what need it is meeting and work collaboratively to find other ways of supporting that need, if that is the young person’s goal.

Working with Adults

I am increasingly bringing what I have learned from play therapy into my work with adults. We have all heard about working with our inner child, and I think play therapy is a cool way to do that. I am interested in working with adults with childhood trauma, substance use or self harm, Dis-abbled adults and Neuro Divergent adults, but I’m also very open. 

I use Internal Family Systems and parts work, which I often describe as being like the movie “Inside Out,” but for your internal world. We explore the different parts of you, how they relate to one another, what they are trying to do, and what they might need. The goal is to develop an intimate knowledge of all the parts that make you, you, including the parts that might feel shameful or embarrassing. One way to do this is through sand tray therapy, where you choose figurines to represent the different parts of you and have them interact in a sand box. 

I believe the relationship a client has with their therapist is an important factor in how they feel safe enough to explore and make sense of their inner world. I prioritize building comfort and trust between us. I am generally an open book, as long as the goal of a question is to help have your back. I understand self-disclosure as one of many ways of neutralizing power in the therapeutic relationship. 

For Dis-abled Individuals

As someone with a semi-visible Dis-ability, I understand some of the complexity of navigating both visibility and invisibility. Living with an invisible or semi-visible Dis-ability can create pressure to constantly explain or justify our experiences.

Therapy can be a place to discuss, grieve, rage, laugh, and brainstorm ways of living in a world that has not adequately adapted for us. I make room for the nitty gritty parts of Dis-abled life that people are often told to hide.

Dis-ability and Sex

One area I am especially passionate about is supporting Dis-abled people in celebrating their sexuality. Sexuality can be a beautiful way to reconnect with or continue to celebrate your body.

Living outside normative ideas of how bodies should function can also create space for creativity and playfulness. At the same time, there may be questions that are difficult to find answers to. How do you navigate casual sex when your body invites deeper conversations? How do you talk about pain, fatigue, mobility, care needs, or medical devices in ways that still feel empowering? How do you reconnect with sexuality after health care trauma?

These are all things we can explore together.

Working with Couples

I am currently receiving supervision in couples therapy from my wonderful friend and colleague, Kat (CRPO #15312). I was inspired by hearing her describe the beauty of holding multiple, sometimes conflicting, experiences in the same room.

I am especially interested in working with neurodivergent and Dis-abled couples and supporting people in navigating communication, intimacy, sensory needs, conflict, care giving, autonomy, sexuality, and different ways of expressing connection. I work with couples in monogamous and non-monogamous relationships (ENM, CNM, poly, polycules) and couples who connect through kink & BDSM. I am also comfortable with working with high conflict couples and pay special attention to when couple therapy may not be helpful. 

My goal is not to move couples toward a normative idea of what a relationship should look like. I also do not ascribe to the notion that the goal of couple therapy could be to keep couples together, if that is not what either individual wants. Sometimes couple therapy is about figuring out the transition into something new. It is to help people build relationships that celebrate who they are, both individually and together.

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