Hi, I’m Marjorie
I've spent much of my life interested in what happens when people are given the space, knowledge and encouragement to discover what they're capable of.
That thread has taken me through some seemingly different worlds — from landscape architecture and visual arts education to educational leadership, birth work and, eventually, hypnotherapy.
I've always believed that life is something to be experienced fully — and that curiosity and imagination are among our greatest human capacities. They allow us to question what we've been given, see things from another perspective and imagine possibilities that weren't visible before.
That possibility of change is at the heart of Shift With Marjorie.
Coming full circle
My interest in hypnosis began years before I ever imagined becoming a hypnotherapist.
When I worked as a birth doula in the National Capital Region, I supported families who had prepared for birth using HypnoBirthing®. Their births stayed with me. What struck me, was not that they all had a particular kind of birth or gave birth in a particular setting. It was the way they approached the experience.
Whether at home, in a birth centre or in hospital, these parents seemed remarkably calm, centred and confident. They had practised ways of working with fear, attention and their own bodies, and I could see the difference that preparation made.
I became fascinated by the idea that while we can't control everything that happens to us, the way we understand, anticipate and respond to an experience can profoundly shape how we live through it.
That idea stayed with me.
Years later, after many years spent teaching and working in educational leadership, my curiosity about how people learn, change and respond to challenge led me to Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy.
And then hypnotherapy brought me back to where that curiosity had first taken root. I trained as a HypnoBirthing® educator myself.
In many ways, I've come full circle.
“…while we can't control everything that happens to us, the way we understand, anticipate and respond to an experience can profoundly shape how we live through it…”
A Shift in Perspective
Throughout our lives, we absorb ideas about who we are, what we're capable of, what we should fear and how we're supposed to respond. They come from our families, cultures, schools, experiences and the stories we're surrounded by.
Some serve us well. Others become so familiar that we stop recognizing them as beliefs at all. We simply assume that this is how things are — or who we are.
But our beliefs and the language we use to describe our experiences help shape how we respond to them. They can be examined, questioned and seen from another perspective.
I'm interested in what happens when we become curious about the things we've taken for granted: Is this actually true? Is this belief mine? Is this response still helping me? What else might be possible?
Training & Professional Background
Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy
Level 5 Higher Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy — UK College of Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy
HypnoBirthing®
Certified HypnoBirthing® International Educator — The Mongan Method
Education
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Honours)
Bachelor of Education
15+ years in teaching and educational leadership in Canada and internationally
Birth support
Former birth doula in the National Capital Region
Yoga & mind-body practice
Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200)
Professional memberships
General Hypnotherapy Register (UK)
CACHE (Canada)
Contact me
Have questions or want to explore CBT Hypnotherapy, or HypnoBirthing®?
Reach out to arrange a free 30-minute discovery call.