Virtue C. Bajurny, BSW, MSW, RSW
I am a registered social worker providing counselling services for people dealing with chronic illness. |
I currently reside and practise in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I have an undergraduate (BSW, York University '09) and graduate degree (MSW, Ryerson University '11) in social work. I am also a registered member in good standing with both the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and the Ontario Association of Social Workers. I did my graduate research and have done presentations around diabetes, peer support, and online communities. Additionally, I worked for several years with a Canadian charitable organization called Connected in Motion, which provides experiential and peer support opportunities for adults living with Type 1 diabetes. There, I provided online and social media content, while further providing supportive counselling to individuals and groups of people dealing with Type 1 diabetes.
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WHY FOCUS ON CHRONIC ILLNESS?
As someone who has lived with diabetes for 22 years I have seen and experienced first hand how taxing living with a chronic health condition can be. Even when everything appears to be managed physically, having an illness that requires 24/7 vigilance can be emotionally, socially, and financially exhausting. Unfortunately, I found it very hard to find the psychosocial supports to navigate these issues. In response, I decided to focus my practice on supporting people's psychological and emotional wellbeing while living with a chronic health condition. |
WHAT IS NARRATIVE THERAPY?
I work from a narrative therapy perspective. Narrative is a therapeutic practice that strives to be collaborative and non-pathologizing. An often quoted phrase from this perspective is that "the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem", meaning that the challenges or 'problems' that you experience in your life are external and contextual, and not something inherently wrong with you. What this means practically is that you can expect an open and non-judgmental space to talk about your challenges, so that we can work together to turn them into triumphs. |
"The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem."
~Michael White
Interested in hearing more about the counselling services I offer? |
I offer individual and group counselling options for children, teens and adults in the Toronto-area who are dealing with chronic health conditions. To find out more about these options, please click the button below, or contact me for a free 20 minute phone consultation.
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