A couple of years ago, a friend told Marguerite "Ever since I have known you, you have been working on yourself".  Marguerite herself jokes that she has been in therapy for 19 years.   Working as a therapist for the past 19 years, 15 of those exclusively with women, she feels she had two choices: to either feel different from the women she worked with, or to acknowledge how her clients - whether drug addicted or chronic alcoholics - were just like her - hurting human beings who are seen as less than because of the stigma around women and addiction. 

Her experience working with thousands of women trying to recover not only from their alcohol and other drug addiction, but more importantly from abusive childhood, chronic neglect, extremely dysfunctional family life, as well as violent domestic life,has also shown her that for every woman who enters therapy, there are 10 out there who lives a life of quiet desperation, limping emotionally through life. Women who grew up in less than ideal homes whether becauce of addiction, illness, death of a parent, etc.

It is those women she wants to reach in her private practice.  Primarily, overweight women who have tried everything, including medically supervised weight loss clinics where they lost a lot and gained it right back because emotional eating has not been addressed.    And women who have lots of aches and pains - fibromyalgia, muscle pain, headaches, arthritis.  She also works with women who have gone into treatment for an alcohol or drug addiction, have been in sobriety for over two years and who want to continue working on self-confidence, stress management or family of origin issues.

She sees clients in person in Ottawa, Ontario and also offers phone consultations to women in Canada,  using EFT (emotional freedom technique) for which she can't express enough awe.

As an Adlerian trained therapist (M.A. from the Adler School of Professional Psychology of Chicago) she has used Cognitive Behaviour throughout her career.  She recently discovered EFT and was very skeptical about it, especially for physical pain.  She herself suffers from osteoarthritis and the disease has caused one of her knees to give her a "bow leg" appearance.  With such structural damage, she did not believe that EFT could help her with the pain.  Even during the Advanced EFT training, she was called stubborn by the trainer!  

After completing the Advanced training and practicing on herself - even without believing it would work - she had to admit that it does work.  Her knee pain has diminished 75%.  She has included EFT in her work with her clients - even going as far as offering free EFT to a 76 year old woman met at the pool who had suffered all her life because she was born with club feet and the therapy 76 years ago left her with constant pain.  One hour of EFT and the great majority of the pain disappeared.  S. Kmita allowed her to use her name as a testimonial - the intensity of her pain went from a constant 4 to 8, to a 1, on a scale of 0 to 10.  A month later the results last.

EFT works on clearing the energy pathways and it also includes a Neuro Lingusitic component to release difficult memories and emotions.  "I don't know exactly how it works, but I know it does" she says.   Once clients have worked with her to clear the big issues, they can continue practicing this "Acupuncture without needles" at home to clear unpleasant states and aches and pains.

Marguerite offers a "You get results or you don't pay" guarantee.

"I don't know how much improvement will take place, but I am certain that I can help you feel better and I am passionate about helping the greatest number of women".  However,  at this time, she works with a very small number of women.

Marguerite practices what she preaches. Living healthy includes eating healthy, exercising regularly - swimming, walking and ballroom dancing are her favorites - and slowing down to smell the roses.  To make it possible to work part-time, she has chosen a simpler lifestyle that allows lots of time to "just be".