For over a decade, I've worked as a counsellor and registered social worker sitting with people through some of life's most difficult and meaningful moments.

A lot of that work has been in private practice, including with Canadian Armed Forces members navigating PTSD, trauma, and major life transitions. And no matter what someone came in carrying, relationships kept showing up at the centre of it. The heartbreak, the loneliness, the "why does this keep happening to me", it was almost always relational at its root.

Here's what I've come to believe after years of that work, and honestly, after navigating my own fair share of dating disasters: most of us aren't bad at relationships. We just never got the instruction manual. Nobody handed us a guide on emotional awareness, healthy communication, or how to stay open without completely losing yourself in the process. We were mostly left to figure it out through trial, error, and the occasional spectacular implosion.

Reconnection Academy exists to change that. It's a space to build real skills, rebuild self-trust, and approach relationships with more clarity and confidence, and maybe a little less chaos.

When I'm not doing this work, I'm living a full and happy life with my partner (lovingly known as "Cat Daddy") and our cats, who have made it abundantly clear that they are in charge.