About our Therapist
My name is Heather Samarron (M.S.W., R.S.W.), and thank you for taking the time to learn a bit more about me as a person and a therapist. The person I strive to be in life and practice, summarized in as few words as possible: I am bright and tenacious, I find strength in softness, and I am unabashedly corny and long-winded in writing.
With that said, I am going to now pour many more words than necessary onto this page. If nothing else, I hope to provide you with an introduction to my voice, how I came to be in this profession, and how I make sense of the world.
History and Education
Work
10 years labour force experience before entering higher education.
Undergraduate Education
Bachelor of Social Work from University of Calgary.
Graduate Education
Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University.
I worked in the paid labour force for 10 years prior to returning to school to pursue social work. I worked in dog daycare, as a preschool teacher, and in banking for more years than I cared for. I had the opportunity to take on many challenges, and I witnessed social issues before I knew their academically codified names. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of ordinarily remarkable people. I would not be the therapist I am today without my work experience.
​
I returned to school for social work in my adulthood, and with a clear idea of the type of work I aspired to do. From my first course, I thoughtfully chose topics that could teach me about a wide variety of people, the circumstances that influence our collective living, and ways we can improve our society. I fell in love with research, and had the opportunity to publish a study in a peer reviewed social work journal:
Leveque, E., Samarron, H., & Shaw, J. (2020). Not Into Sex: Women’s Experiences of Treatment-Emergent Sexual Dysfunction. Affilia, 35(3), 413–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109919878275
Despite being a hard worker, I can honestly say I have never worked as hard on anything as I did on my graduate degree. My program was challenging in ways I feel lucky to have been exposed to, because the MSW program through Laurier is neither generalist nor clinical but is instead integrated. I learned in-depth about the social world and it's barriers, along with clinical skills and a clinical practicum. I built my therapeutic skills in practice through my placement at the Calgary Narrative Collective, and work daily to continuously hone my craft.
About Me as a Person
I firmly believe clients deserve to know at least a bit about me as a person, if I am asking people to trust me with their personhood. So, to begin with, I use they/she pronouns to reflect my evolving relationship with my gender; as much as I dislike the connotation, I am one of those millennials you’ve been warned about; and I have been hopelessly in love with stories and books for as long as I can remember. I am a settler to both Calgary and Canada, with my ancestors coming from England and Scotland and myself having moved from Sunnyvale, California (in the San Francisco Bay Area) in 2014. Why might someone move from a vacation capital of the world to somewhere that’s colder than mars a disturbing number of days, you may be wondering? Because I wanted to return to school for social work and the privilege of my dual-citizenship-from-birth made that an achievable goal in Canada. While the winters are still rough, I have since graduated with my Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Calgary and my Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University, and I am humbled to now be working in a field I am genuinely passionate about.
As a therapist, my theoretical foundation is Narrative Therapy because it allows me to work from a place of awe. I’m in awe of individuals and the stories they carry, in awe of the resilience people show in their everyday life, and in awe of the worlds that scholars, activists, and the extraordinary efforts that ordinary citizens are putting into to building a better world for future generations. There is nothing as fascinating to me as a person, any person, and this fascination is part of what drew me to the practice of sex therapy. Sex is a topic that is at once shared and private, and we have done a disservice to many generations with our collective unwillingness to acknowledge its importance. I am dedicated to ongoing learning, with hopes of helping generate knowledge, because clients deserve nothing less.
I am a self-proclaimed "social science nerd," and thus have much more to say about the foundations of my practice because I am in love with my chosen field. I would encourage you to explore the “About our Practice” section for more information about my therapeutic and theoretical foundations. The best way to determine if we are a therapeutic fit would be for us to meet and chat, so you're more than welcome to book a free intake consultation.
About Me as a Therapist.
Personal Values
Bodily Autonomy
Every person has the right to do with their body what they see fit, so long as it doesn't interfere with the same right to bodily autonomy held by each and every living being.
For me, bodily autonomy extends to most every area of a life like freedom of religion, the right to be free of oppressive forces (like patriarchy or colonization), and the inherent right to live openly within ones sexual orientation and/or gender expression.
Honesty
I've said it before to a client, and have kept saying it because it summarized how I feel so well: "I can't promise much, but I can promise you honesty."
​
This is not a statement I take lightly, because I strive to be honest especially when I have something to lose. This translates into my practice because I hold that therapy should be a space of radical honesty. This, at its best, means that we're both or all going to ask hard questions, and hold meaningful answers.
Humanity
There are so many words that I considered as a way of giving voice to this value. Words like "love," "compassion," "respect," and so on. For me, "humanity" encompasses all of these and much more.
​
I live humanity through my love for all simply because they're people; respect for the dignity and worth of every person, place, and thing; and my commitment to bettering the world through my efforts. Cliche and corny as all this may sound, my approach to humanity is deeply personal, multifaceted, and guides my therapy practice.
Practice Values
Bodily Autonomy
It's not a typo or oversight that bodily autonomy is included in both personal and professional values. I cannot overstate my reverence for bodily autonomy, and how all-encompassing I view this concept to be.
​
It extends to how you think, how you feel, the way you approach the world, the way you overcome barriers that never should have been in your way, and how your imagination can serve as a guide for what your life can be under your own authorship.
Curiosity
I'm neither the first nor best to say it, but I have found "the more I learn, the less I know." Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of things. But any theory or practice is only as good as its usefulness to your living.
​
So, as much as I know, I have no clue what it means to be you or the stories you hold. Luckily for us, we both get to be curious in this space. For this reason, I am not a directive therapist. I'm not likely to tell you what to do, but I will meet you, each and every session, with questions that I hope will bring us both closer to an epiphany.
​
Being Wrong
I reserve the right to be wrong because my approach to therapy is as an "idea guy." Moreover, I love to be wrong for a very simple reason: If I'm wrong you can tell me why.
In therapy, I hope to create an opportunity for both of us to be wrong and learn from it. I hope that it is a place where you tell me stories, we get to guess at the meanings and implications of those stories together, I get to share knowledge I've collected, and we get to scheme about what it can make possible in your future.