Cassaundra Henske
Registered Social Worker
Cassaundra is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) and has over 10 years of experience in the field of mental health, trauma, and addictions. She has worked with a wide range of clientele; folks from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, from teens to elderly adults, both one-on-one and with groups. Cassaundra supports her clients to connect to their personal strengths and agency, while also fostering a safe therapeutic relationship and further connections to community.
Cassaundra's goal is to work with you to build a holistic approach to your wellbeing and/or healing that includes a variety of supports and evolves with you throughout your journey. As a Registered Social Worker (RSW), she is committed to the best practices and ethics of the profession. Cassaundra draws on her Social Work skills, including Inter-Professional Health Collaboration and Trauma-Informed, Evidence-Based Practice tools, as well as her Yoga and Breath-work training, to set the foundation for your work together.
Cassaundra encourages her clients to help guide the therapeutic process while also using tools such as peer support, music, journaling, and the outdoors.
In addition to Cassaundra's volunteer and Social Work experience, she has been practicing yoga and meditation for 10+ years. She is a Yoga Alliance certified Yoga and Breath-Work Instructor, completing her certification through Akhanda Yoga Institute in Rishikesh, India. The 5 principles of Akhanda Holistic Yoga are Movement, Breathwork, Sound-work or Mantra, Meditation and Ancient Yogic Wisdom.
If I can help answer any questions or concerns for you, please feel free to email me at cassaundra@vividpsychology.com.
“Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer. Along with our ability to feel our own pain go our best hopes for healing, dignity and love. What seems nonadapative and self-harming in the present was, at some point in our lives, an adaptation to help us endure what we then had to go through. If people are addicted to self-soothing behaviours, it's only because in their formative years they did not receive the soothing they needed. Such understanding helps delete toxic self-judgment on the past and supports responsibility for the now. Hence the need for compassionate self-inquiry.”
― Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
“Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma