Stacey Fernandes is an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Certified Therapist and a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, and the Ontario Association of Social Workers. She earned her Bachelors of Social Work degree from the University of Windsor along with her Masters of Social Work.
Stacey thrives when she gets to travel and explore different diverse cultures. A risk-taker at heart, she loves pushing herself outside of her comfort zone for fresh perspectives. She travelled to the Himalayas in India in 2014 to obtain her certificate to teach holistic Akhanda Yoga. She practices and teaches yoga sequences, mantras, breathing exercises, visualization techniques, and meditation to help calm the mind, relax the body and awaken the spirit—and she teaches this through a lens of self-compassion. Additionally, she studied the chakras in the psycho-spiritual centres in the body, focusing on the seven major chakras to unlock powerful energy and help balance the energy in one’s body.
Stacey is passionate about teaching mindfulness perspectives and slowing down for self-reflection to tap into your innate authenticity, listen to your intuition and create change. Stacey has noticed Western Society to be much more fast-paced than other countries which often creates more fatigue and stress. One’s mind is jumping from the past to the future and having a difficult time staying present—the Buddhist perspective calls this the monkey mind. The monkey jumps from one tree branch to the next. Cultivating awareness, curiosity, and non-judgment can help transform the jumping monkey into a sitting frog. Stacey practices meditation daily by creating time to be still or walking her dog in nature. They explore what they can see, touch, hear, smell and taste. Her dog is her favorite mindfulness teacher—he always greets her with excitement whether she’s gone for 5 minutes or 5 hours.
Stacey strengthened her meditation practice by travelling to Costa Rica to attend a course in Clinical Hypnotherapy in March of 2018. She describes hypnotherapy as deep meditation. She helps clients increase their self-confidence, body image, and intuitive eating while decreasing anxiety, pain management, managing sleep difficulties and improving their overall wellbeing.
As a EMDR Certified Therapist, Stacey uses this powerful psychotherapeutic approach to shift limiting beliefs, anxiety, stress, depression, trauma, attachment and grief. Stacey integrates a developmental model with an attachment lens by exploring the conditions of one`s childhood and relationships along with any recent events. It is an honour to be part of my clients EMDR healing journeys. EMDR can help heal childhood wounds, increase self compassion, establish healthy boundaries, repair relationships, build resources and increase one’s self trust. I am also a Clinical Hypnotherapist and integrate hypnotherapy with consent to find grounding strategies through-out the EMDR journey.
Stacey completed Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1: Bridging the Couple Chasm. She teaches communication strategies, conflict resolution, and helps individuals create love maps during individual and couples therapy. Additionally, she attended the Intensive Sex Therapy Course at the University of Guelph. She provides an open environment for individuals that are curious about discussing their sexuality in monogamy relationships and consensual non-monogamous relationships.
Incorporating an ecological, anti-oppressive, strengths-based practice is a core part of Stacey’s work. She’s passionate about empowering others to create their own healing journey—she believes each individual creates the best changes for themselves by slowing down to have deep self-reflection that lead to change and growth. Stacey fosters inclusiveness to obtain a deeper level of communication to help individuals resolve any tension and conflict to help them reach their goals and thrive. Stacey incorporates EMDR and Hypnotherapy often when it can help guide the therapeutic process however the most important part of forming a collaborative relationship is having a good fit.
Many Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and extended health care plans will cover services rendered by a Registered Social Worker.
