Heather Potter-Gilmour

Heather has spent the past 21 years working alongside many talented individuals within the social service sector; with the majority of experience primarily focused on addiction and mental health assessment and treatment. Heather has had the pleasure of working with youth, adults, and families in a variety of settings ranging from open custody, family & children’s services, group homes and foster homes, residential addiction treatment programs, and more recently as a support worker to individuals challenged with homelessness and adults within the forensic population.

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Through a combined use of Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) tool, clinical interpretation, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing, Heather considers clients from a holistic perspective by assessing individual needs through the multi-faceted nature of addiction – the biological, psychological, emotional, social and cultural factors. Heather is a proponent of assisting individuals from a strengths-based and client-directed framework so to co-create counselling goals, to identify individual and family strengths, and to build on these strengths to support individuals in achieving their goals.

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Heather holds a Correctional Worker Diploma from Algonquin College of Applied Arts & Technology in Ottawa, and is currently working towards completion of the Concurrent Disorders program at Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology in Hamilton. Heather has certifications in GAIN Assessment and Clinical Interpretation, Non-ViolentCrisis Intervention, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Service Prioritization Decision Assistant Tool certification (SPDAT), Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI), Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) to name a few.