Marcy Dormer

Marcy is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists and member of the Psychologists Association of Alberta. She completed her Master of Counselling degree through Gonzaga University and is now teaching with City University of Seattle in the Master of Counseling program.

Marcy has a few great loves in her life, and working with people who experience complex trauma, couples and families is near the top of her list (aside from her lovely children – just in case they read this). In fact, Marcy’s real passion is, simply, people. She approaches every person as a whole individual, seeking to truly be present to the person in front of her, with a genuine compassionate, non-judgmental, trusting, safe and secure relationship base from which clients can explore change. She may sometimes be unconventional, weird, a real person and perhaps a bit ADHD, which allows her to approach each client with zest and enthusiasm for whatever the person in front of her may need or where they may want to go in therapy.

She has been privileged to provide therapy to children and families involved with Child and Family Services of Alberta, school-based therapy to children and their parents, and in a trauma-focused private practice with individuals, couples, families and first responders. Marcy focuses most of her work on helping individuals heal from trauma and helping relationships repair injuries, build trust and become more connected, be it couples or families. She has worked with a wide variety of client concerns, but most especially: trauma and complex trauma; relationship issues (ie. affairs, relationship breakdown, sexual concerns, conflict between parents and children), parenting concerns (ie. parenting strategies, boundaries, setting limits, communication, developmental concerns), and depression, anxiety, ADHD, grief and loss, anxiety, depression, suicide and self-harm. She has also recently been training in incorporating sexuality into therapy and loves to support clients in opening up this area of their lives for greater healing and growth.

Marcy has been trained in a variety of therapies, including: Solution-Focused, Narrative, Cognitive-Behavioural, Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples, families and individuals, Emotion-Coaching, Theraplay and EMDR as well as having received training in the Neurosequential and Neuro-developmental models of therapy, numerous trauma-focused trainings, and sexuality in relationships and for non-heteronormative folk. Marcy is an avid learner who always seeks to serve her clients in the best way possible and continues to expand her skills through ongoing professional development and supervision. Despite all of these trainings, Marcy believes she can learn best from listening to, and seeking to understand, the lived experience of each client.

Marcy has a diverse array of interests and less time than she would like for hobbies. When many would rather relax at night she would prefer to read boring academic papers or policy manuals, listen to geeky podcasts (ask and she will share her list) , or maybe just solve puzzle games – depending on the day. However, duty often calls and Marcy spends much of her time focused on her large family, daily tasks and the mundane parts of every day life. Her adventurous side can be seen in the wild on those occasions that time affords, either hiking up mountains, meeting new people at random, trying out a new activity or place, or learning something new, often with her willing and equally adventurous partner. This adventurousness makes her a fun person to know when anyone can catch her long enough.

2SLGBTQIA+ humans welcome!