In todays episode we briefly discuss
- Wanda's history and how a career in the military lead her to psychology. Wanda shares her experiences with seeing her fellow veterans deal with the experiences they've witnessed and gone through.
- We discuss some effective strategies that Wanda often will use with her clients and that you can use today.
- Wanda also discusses some of the new and interesting techniques psychologists can use to help people improve their mental health and well being.
- You are a professional of your own life
- Who should see a psychologist, and when should you see one.
- Psychologists are really there to help guide you through your healing journey
- One of the main keys to working through many of the challenging situations life throws at you is to practice mindfulness.
- Self care is a crucial part of improving not only your psychological health, but every aspect of your health.
If you are interested in speaking with Wanda or her team check out her website at https://www.rediscoverpsych.com
Transcript
[00:00:00] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Welcome to the building, a healthier Edmonton podcast. I'm Dr. Joe Tante. And in today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Wanda from rediscover psych services. She's a psychologist here in Edmonton, Alberta. And in today's episode, we talk a little bit about one his backstory and what really led her to want to become, or be interested in psychology in the first place.
[00:00:26] She was actually a member of the Canadian military. For a number of years we also discussed some of the strategies, tools, and tactics she uses and that you can use to help improve your psychological health and wellbeing. We know psychological health is yes, as important if not more so than our physical health.
[00:00:45] So we take care of our physical health. So we also need to remember to take care of our psychological health. I hope you enjoy today's episode. Stay tuned. This is a good one.
[00:00:57] [00:01:00] Hi, welcome to the building a healthier Edmonton podcast. Today I am with Wanda Chevrette of psychology or rediscover psychology services. Wanda, welcome to the
[00:01:12] Wanda Chevrette: show. Thank you very much.
[00:01:16] Dr. Joseph Tanti: So Wanda you're why don't you tell us a little bit about your backstory and really what, what drove you to become a psychologist?.
[00:01:26] Wanda Chevrette: So I've been, I'm a registered psychologist for probably three years. However, my story really started many, many years ago when I was in the military. So it was in the military for approximately 12 years. Through that process, I got really interested in psychology, just really a lot of my colleagues are coming back from overseas seeing the effects of PTSD and more the PTSD on and how it affected the family members, because I would work with a lot of their family members.
[00:01:58] And then I started [00:02:00] volunteering at the military resource center and really seeing the impact on children and the spouses. And so that's where I really became interested. I decided to go to school just out of interest. I actually didn't know I wanted to be a psychologist. I didn't really understand what psychologists were at the time.
[00:02:19] But the more involved I got I think it was after my degree, my undergrad, I decided, okay, well, what am I going to do with this now that I have all this knowledge. And so that's where I decided, okay, I will take my masters and, and go ahead. And, and so then I pursued that route.
[00:02:40] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Wow. I'm sure that's quite a story that you just unpack there and that could be expanded into a book.
[00:02:46] Probably. How long were you in the military for?
[00:02:49] Wanda Chevrette: Approximately 10 years reg force. And then I went reserve. When I was in Vancouver, I went reserved for a couple of years, but I just, I couldn't not [00:03:00] be full time. It was very difficult. I really wanted to be involved and I just decided because.
[00:03:07] You know, explore my other interests. I decided to get out and become a psychologist at that point. So, yeah.
[00:03:16] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. So really your military career and what you were seeing and experiencing there with your colleagues and it really drove you to psychology. And w what do you see as kind of the role of a psychologist?
[00:03:31] Wanda Chevrette: Really what I feel. My role as a psychologist is really to join on the client's journey. You know, we are professionals, but I really believe that the client is a professional in their own lives. So really I'm just here to help them along their, their healing journey. And you know, I. I in part interventions or things that I know as a psychologist that can help them cope or manage what they're going [00:04:00] through and work through some of their trauma that they've been through.
[00:04:02] So that's probably, I really see my role as.
[00:04:06] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. Kind of guiding them through understanding like what they're going through and giving them strategies to kind of work through that. Okay. And how would someone know if they should really see a psychologist? You know, we all go through our own stuff. Either obviously military overseas, you guys see a bunch of different things.
[00:04:28] And then here in Canada, we. Obviously not the same kind of things, but we still can go through a lot of different types of scenarios. So how sh how would someone know if, when they should see seek out a psychotic.
[00:04:41] Wanda Chevrette: Yeah, I see, you know, a variety of people and not just military or first responders, although I really enjoy that population, but I see a variety of people.
[00:04:51] I really liked doing couples and family, but when I think, well, of course I think everybody should have a psychologist. Of course I am a [00:05:00] psychologist and I just feel that we need them, even if you are you know, you're looking for growth and wellness it just, yeah. Maintenance actually, I had a client the other day.
[00:05:10] So, you know, we, we look after our physical health, we go every year or whatever, and see a doctor chiropractor. We see whoever, but we never actually stopped to consider you know, seeing a mental health professional and just checking in. So I always say, you know, just check in You know, as you would any maintenance, but if you're feeling that, especially like when weather changes, if you're feeling a dip in your mood if you're having issues with your spouse, for instance, or, you know, family is, is starting to wear on you, I do recommend that you see a professional.
[00:05:48] They can give you an outside perspective that you're not getting in your situation. So there's multiple reasons why, why you should see a psychologist or a mental health provider.
[00:05:59] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. [00:06:00] And for these different types of reasons, are there other different types of psychologists or areas of focus or is it just like one type of?
[00:06:10] Wanda Chevrette: So usually we are generalists. We, we kind of dabble with depression or anxiety or PTSD. You know, we have kind of the basic knowledge, but then we go off and usually we do We do specialize in something, for instance, mine would be PTSD. I, you know, anxiety, which is, you know, often accompanied by PTSD couples therapy, family therapy.
[00:06:38] So it all kind of depends on. What you want to look for is if you are having difficulties in one area maybe seek somebody that has the extra training in that one area, because they're going to know more. They're not so broad. They've actually specifically looked at that particular issue. And so they're probably [00:07:00] more equipped to kind of to help you through that.
[00:07:04] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. There's specialized training that you're taking to kind of specialize in those different areas, I assume like like medical doctors or chiropractors, et cetera. Yeah,
[00:07:13] Wanda Chevrette: exactly. Yeah.
[00:07:15] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. What would you say are some strategies that you use to help people overcome some of their say let's take anxiety for example, or to help overcome difficult situations that they're having.
[00:07:30] I know that's a general topic, so feel free to give it like an example or some general strategies.
[00:07:39] Wanda Chevrette: My basic go-to actually for a lot of people, because I just think it's very applicable is mindfulness. And so that in itself is very broad because it could mean, you know, sit there and stillness focus on your breath, but it could also mean doing my activities where you're actually taking time to [00:08:00] you know, be.
[00:08:02] Be still and be quiet in yourself and do things that make you happy. So, so kind of the self care. Right. And so I really utilize that a lot and it's especially helpful for first responders. A lot of first responders do something like Lego because it is so, you know, mindfulness based or oil paints or something like that, because you can kind of focus like breath still while doing an activity.
[00:08:27] So it's kind of my go-to. Strategy, but you really, it depends on, on the person, right? It depends on the client coming in. Mindfulness doesn't work for everybody. So we do have like a toolbox full of strategies you know muscle relaxation things like that, or just. You know, building on your relationship, conflict resolution, it all depends.
[00:08:53] But yeah, we, we generally have like a toolbox full of, of skills and tricks. I also [00:09:00] do EMDR, which is quite beneficial. So oftentimes actually that's where I'll go is processing three MPR resourcing through EMDR eye movement, desensitization reprocessing therapy.
[00:09:14] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. Could you briefly describe.
[00:09:17] Wanda Chevrette: Yeah, so really what, what you would see as the kind of lay person would be, you know, follow my fingers. And what it's doing is it's going into your neural pathways or neural networks looking for adoptive information. So it really has. You know, a big backstory to it, but it's been effective and working with PTSD, anxiety, even depression.
[00:09:44] And so that's generally what I would use to help clients process a lot of the information and also do some of that resource and relaxation.
[00:09:55] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay, that's great. Is there, is there anything else you'd like [00:10:00] to share with us today that maybe I didn't think to ask or that you think people should know about.
[00:10:09] Wanda Chevrette: Hm, that in itself is very broad. No, just you know, if you are feeling that you are you know, just eat it in an additional person to kind of talk to about things that are going on in your life. I think that seeing a mental health professional could be very beneficial for you. Yeah, I think that's, that's it, you covered everything.
[00:10:34] Yeah.
[00:10:35] Dr. Joseph Tanti: Okay. And then what's the best way for people to get ahold of you or reach out if they have any questions or wondering what type of psychologists they should see?
[00:10:44] Wanda Chevrette: So you can get ahold of me on my website. So it's rediscover psych. So he S Y C h.com. And you can also call the office, which is seven eight zero five four [00:11:00] zero four zero nine.
[00:11:02] Okay,
[00:11:02] Dr. Joseph Tanti: great. And we're going to have all those in the notes. So you don't don't if you're driving don't don't pull it up. Don't pull a pen out and write that down. Now you can get that information later. Great. Well, thanks so much for your time, Wanda. Everyone who's watching our listings. Thanks for your time and have a fantastic rest of your day.
[00:11:19] And we'll talk to you next time.
[00:11:21] WandaChevrette: Thank you very much for having me on.