Natasha Torres-Garner:
Individual, Relational and Family Therapy
About
I believe we make sense of our own stories by having a chance to share them and explore their meaning with others. As a therapist, I am continuously moved by this process. I honour the importance of connecting to your emotional experience and helping you find a path through what might feel challenging. I come to this with a systemic perspective. This means that when we consider what is potentially challenging for you, that we need to take into consideration that you are and have always been involved in many systems. Our family systems are a big influence, but we are also inevitably involved or affected by our surrounding social, cultural and political systems. Our experiences participating in these systems highly affect how we see ourselves, how we relate to others and how we might make sense of the world around us. Being able to explore these impacts can help you figure out what you want to value and what you want to let go of, so as to take on the growth and change you want.
I welcome conversations that consider how your identity is a rich combination of gender, sexuality, race, culture, and experience. With this in mind I encourage you to come to therapy with the expectation that it is your unique perspective and voice that gets to be explored. My goal is to create a therapeutic relationship that fosters trust, security, and a source of strength for you.
Theoretical Influences:
Narrative Therapy
Attachment-Based Family Therapy
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Feminist Theory
Queer Theory
​
Education:
Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT)
​
Professional Development:
Circle of Security Facilitator Training
ASIST : Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
​
Personal history
I was born and raised in Winnipeg in a bi-racial family. My heritage being a mix of white settler Canadian and Chilean. This has formed a desire to hold multiple perspectives, while learning for myself what cultural values I adhere to. Though I have a mixed background, I present white and have lived with the privileges connected to this.
I am a cisgendered heterosexual woman (she/her), living with my long term partner and two children. These factors inevitably lead me to continuously work as a therapist to explore my limited understanding of multiple realities, and challenge any potential bias if they come up.
Before entering into my work as a therapist, I have had a long and full life as a dance artist.
My experience as an artist is the seed for my deep appreciation and admiration for the collaborative process. My work in various collaborative creative processes with other artists has given me confidence in the process of creating and making change together. When I have had opportunities to create art on my own, I have often missed the questioning and self reflection that comes with collaboration. In therapy, much like in art creation, I see my own input and experience as a starting point, that has the ability to shift and develop with the contributions offered by the clients I am working with. This goes with a comfort and excitement for what is unknown, and for creating non-hierarchical therapeutic relationships.
Picture is from a performance created by Weather Parade Dance Theatre
Co-Directors: Natasha Torres-Garner & Ali Robson
Land acknowledgement
I live and work within Treaty One Territory, the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline and Nehethowuk Nations, and on the homeland of the Red River Métis. I am committed to continuously questioning the colonial influences on mental health, and learning from indigenous perspectives of knowing and supporting one another.
​
​
​
