Our Team
We are a group of counsellor educators and graduate counselling interns from Acadia University’s M.Ed. Counselling Program who believe that quality mental health care should be accessible to all. Our graduate counselling interns provide cost-free counselling services to individuals across the Annapolis Valley and throughout Nova Scotia under the supervision of our faculty. These services are available online or in-person to meet the needs of our clients. We aim to empower people to tell their stories, move towards healing, understand themselves, and make a difference in their lives and communities.
Erika Kirk
Centre Coordinator
Erika completed her M.Ed. in Counselling at Acadia University. She is currently a PhD student in Educational Studies with the Inter University Doctoral Program at Acadia, Mount Saint Vincent and St. Francis Xavier universities.
Prior to becoming the Coordinator of Red Spruce, Erika spent the last 15 years in various roles in public education (P-12). Most recently she was a School Counsellor with the SSRCE.
Erika lives on a hobby farm and loves adopting stray animals. She spends most summers playing in her garden and chasing chickens and turkeys around her yard.
What Erika appreciates most about counselling is helping people see themselves as the amazing humans they truly are.
Laura Steeves-Green
Counselling Intern
Laura is a Counselling intern who is excited to be working at Red Spruce until the end of her practicum. She completed her BA from the University of New Brunswick and a post-graduate certificate in Dementia Studies from the University of Bradford. Laura has significant experience working with older adults, specifically those with life-limiting illnesses, are caregivers, or experiencing infertility.
Laura deeply values the process of storytelling and believes that your story is unique and worthy of exploration. She is particularly interested in using imagery and somatic work to help move clients forward toward their goals. She often incorporates elements of Narrative Therapy and Internal Family Systems into her work.
Laura has two sassy cats that you're probably going to hear about in session. She loves living in the Valley, travelling, the ocean, and the feeling of the sun on her face. She looks forward to seeing you soon!
Jocelyn Mabson
Counselling Intern
Jocelyn is a Counselling intern who is thrilled to be working at Red Spruce until the end of her practicum. She completed her BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Mount Allison University and went on to work in Family Support Work, Early Childhood Education, and as a BounceBack Coach for the Canadian Mental Health Association of New Brunswick.
Jocelyn believes every client has a unique perspective and way of being, and her role as a Counsellor is to create a safe space where clients feel seen and heard. She values using a strength-based and trauma informed approach which allows for clients to reconnect with their sense of empowerment. Jocelyn is integrative in that she may include elements of Narrative, Somatic, Mindfulness, ACT, and CBT approaches.
Jocelyn is an animal lover (the bigger and fluffier the better)! She also loves to read, hike, and spend time with friends.
Kelly Brenton
Faculty Lead/Co-Founder
Holding a doctorate in Psychology, Kelly is an assistant professor at Acadia University and the Clinical Coordinator for the M.Ed. Counselling Program. She has been a counsellor for 25 years working in everything from schools and non-profits to private practice. She has been teaching at Acadia since 2019 and is a Canadian Certified Counsellor with the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) and a Registered Counselling Therapist – Candidate with the NS College of Counselling Therapists (NSCCT). She is also the President of the Counsellor Educators and Supervisors Chapter of the CCPA
Kelly is mother to four beautiful daughters and a dog named Tiny. She and her oldest daughter became “Dr. Brenton” the same year (2022). She loves sharing good food and red wine with friends, reading fantasy books, and watching movies (Inside Out and Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium being her current favorites). As a Ravenclaw she embodies their creative, playful, and inquisitive nature. Her favourite colours are orange and teal green.
Kelly especially loves counselling children and adolescents who's wonder, creativity and unique interests make each session very rewarding. She appreciates working with them, and their families, on their journeys of self-discovery and healing.
Tanya Surette
Faculty Lead/Co-Founder
Tanya has an interdisciplinary academic background, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, a Masters in Counselling, and a PhD in Education where her studies focused on anti-oppressive and critical pedagogy in education and counselling.
She has been a psychologist and counsellor for the past 18 years working with clients and groups of all ages while holding roles in residential youth care, schools, post-secondary, and private practice settings. For the past five years Tanya has had the pleasure of supporting the development of forthcoming counsellors and is passionate about facilitating courses that promote identity and professional skill development.
When counselling Tanya loves witnessing the remarkable strength of the human spirit and believes the most incredible progress can be made when she can get "out of the way". With an open heart and mind she believes she sometimes benefits from each session just as much, or more than as her clients are her greatest teachers.
Tanya is the proud mother of two charismatic and incredible daughters who keep her active and on her toes. She enjoys spending her free time with her family discovering the many gifts being a guest in Mi’kma’ki has to offer.
Birdie Bezanson
Co-Founder/Faculty Liaison
Birdie holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the UBC. She also completed a BComm at SMU, a BEd from OISE and she is a graduate of the counselling program at Acadia University (’00).
Birdie’s extensive travel and time spent living in other countries cultivated a deep curiosity in the methods and practices of non-western healers. While at UBC she developed an interdisciplinary program of research to student the systems of healing ascribed to by traditions healers in the Acores region of Portugal.
She has worked primarily with youth in educational settings and in residential care facilities. Her clinical practice has focused primarily on youth who have affected by developmental trauma and the caregivers that surround them. Birdie has a strong interest in counsellor education and development.
Outside of work, Birdie can usually be found with her lab/pointer cross either trapsing through woods or learning something new they can do together.
Ahlam Rahal
M.Ed. in Counselling Faculty
Ahlam is a Registered Counselling Therapist with the Nova Scotia College of Counselling Therapists (NSCCT), a Guidance Counsellor with the L’Ordre des Conseillers et Conseillères d'orientation du Québec (OCCOQ), and a school counsellor with the Israeli Ministry of Education. She has worked as a school counsellor in Palestinian and Quebecer schools, providing students with mental health, educational, and career orientation services. She has also served as a counsellor in academic institutions for higher education to support students of minorities and vulnerable social groups in navigating mental health and educational challenges. Previously a part-time lecturer at McGill University she joined Acadia University in 2023 as an assistant professor and also continues to be active as a researcher delving into the topics of critical multiculturalism, power dynamics, and social justice. When it comes to her personal methodology, rather than use methods that focus on "self awareness" solely, Ahlam prefers techniques that "empower" and support her clients in becoming "someone else" that they were not at the beginning.
When not engaging in her academic duties or counselling she enjoys overseas travel, learning new languages, and making friends from different cultural backgrounds.