About Heather
Where I am today stems from a mixture of life experience, formal and informal education.
Professionally Speaking![Heather sits sideways behind a while chair, laughing. The background is pink with red and gold hearts.](https://www.heatherelizabeth.ca/wp-content/uploads/RICHARD-LAUTENS-TORONTO-STAR-300x214.jpg)
I trace my sex educator origins back to my undergraduate days. I teamed up with a local nurse practitioner to run ‘hot and spicy’ sexual health discussions out of my dorm room. She handled the medical questions while I tackled things like finding a quiet vibrator (necessary in close quarters with thin walls), navigating sexy time when you share a bedroom, or keeping a long distance relationship alive while your partner is at school 3 provinces over.
I grew my content development and presentation skills within the sexuality conference circuit. Noted for open, approachable and information-rich sessions, participants often report learning more than the expected, or expressed appreciation for presenting a familiar topic in a new light. These lively, engaging presentations focus on fundamental skills such as communication, interpersonal negotiation, expressing care, self-exploration, and accountability. Often these workshops are directed towards folks participating in consensually non-normative relationships, which is to say they practice kink, BDSM or ethical non-monogamy. While I have expanded my scope over the years my passion for these communities or their practioners has not changed.
In 2013 I opened my private practice offering sexuality counselling and coaching to individuals, couples and non-mongamous groups as well as running my own workshops. Working directly with individuals highlighted my passion for this work and in 2016 I returned to academia to pursue a Masters of Education focusing in Social Justice Education and Sexual Diverity Studies from OISE at the University of Toronto. Shortly after that I enrolled in the Couples and Family Therapy program at the University of Guelph, graduating in 2020.
Currently I am a Registered Psychotherapist in good standing with College Psychotherapist of Ontario. Primarily I practice with Bliss Counselling + Psychotherapy in Waterloo, Ontario and maintain a small private practice in which I provide coaching, therapy and education within a virtual setting. Occasionally I can still be found in academia as a part-time professor.
Formal Education:
- Hons Bachelor of Arts – Contemporary Studies (Wilfrid Laurier University)
- Fundamentals of Counselling Skills (George Brown College)
- Master of Education – Social Justice Education & Sexual Diversity Studies (OISE, University of Toronto)
- Master of Science – Couple and Family Therapy (FRAN, University of Guelph)
For a detailed look at my experience teaching, publications, and conference presentations I invite you to contact me for a copy of my CV.
On a More Personal Note:
The erotic has been a place of great healing for me. Sex positivity been instrumental in undoing the shame left by dogmatic religion, restoring a healthy relationship to my body, and giving me a safe space to tap into my sense of personal power. Relationships gave me a testing ground for exploring and strengthening what it looked like to set boundaries and explore what it could look like to prioritize myself. Sex itself helped me develop a sense of balanced entitlement – where my needs and wants came to count as much as my partners.
Figuring out how to give myself permission, learning the tools, and discovering how to get on my own side allowed me to tap into a deep sense of personal power that soon radiated out into the rest of my life. Because of this I fundamentally believe connecting to and understanding our sexuality offers something that few other things in life can: deep, personal, creative, power.
In my work, I do not see it as my job as to pass power onto you. Instead, I offer practical tools, caring support and curious inquiry to help you connect (or reconnect) to your personal power. You already are the best person to decide how your explorations unfold and what your desination is. My role is to use my expertise and experience to create a space that helps you accomplish your goals. If you want someone to hand you a pre-fabricated sex life, I’m not your guy. But, if you’re ready to dig into yourself and bring forth what is already inside you so that you can step into the pleasure, desire, and personal power you were born to have, we should be chatting.