Welcome to Cultivating Comfort

What We Offer:

Supportive counseling and professional consultation services for individuals living with dementia, and their families, friends, life partners, and care partners. A unique combination of nature-based interventions and conversation-based counseling.

Mission: To provide compassionate emotional, spiritual, psychosocial, and practical support to individuals living with dementia, and their families, friends, life partners, and care partners.

Vision: To support the growth of a more inclusive, empowered, connected, and informed community for individuals living with dementia, and their families, friends, life partners, and care partners.

Values:
• Client autonomy / self-determination
• Inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility - Sliding scale pricing is available for clients seeking individual counseling
• Compassion
• Respect

We are Not:
• A crisis line / crisis service (please see the Resources page for referrals to crisis services and other community services)
• A psychotherapy service. Psychotherapy is usually longer-term, addresses present and past causes for current challenges, and involves the treatment of diagnosable mental health disorders, whereas counseling is relatively short-term and focuses on empowering clients, solving current problems, providing guidance, and building upon existing life skills.

Significance of the Dragonfly
I chose the dragonfly to represent the work I do because across various cultures it represents resilience, self-actualization, embracing transformation, and even a connection with spirit realms. I identify and work with my clients’ strengths with the goal of maximizing their emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial wellbeing in the face of significant life changes.

About Me:

Meet Crystal:

Picture of the counselor, Crystal Beaudoin

I am a compassionate and experienced Registered Social Service Worker specializing in Gerontology and grief/bereavement. I teach in the Social Service Worker program at a local college and have worked in the long-term care sector providing Social, Recreational, and Horticultural Therapy services for the past four years.
Prior to entering the Social Services sector, I completed a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and a master’s degree in Buddhism and East Asian Religions. While in graduate school, I volunteered at a Buddhist temple, where I began studying tea meditation (茶禅 cha chan). I volunteered at a hospice for a few years after completing my graduate degree.
I am currently working on a Master of Counselling Psychology degree. Clients have described me as patient, calm, light-hearted, open-minded, and approachable.

My Counseling Approaches:

I practice anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, strengths-based, and person-centred counseling. I approach counseling through a solutions-focused, existential framework. I help clients explore the sources of meaning and purpose in their lives in the face of uncertainties that accompany a diagnosis that leads to dementia, while validating their feelings of sadness, fear, or anxiety. I work with clients to nurture and make the most of existing strengths and resources, to identify needs, and to provide the appropriate services, referrals, and resources. I incorporate therapeutic horticultural techniques and other evidence-based creative practices into my support interventions to promote a sense of relaxation and connection.

Additional Credentials:

Gentle Persuasive Approach Certified Coach
LEAP training for LTC (Pallium Canada, 2024)
Certification for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA, 2023)
Fundamentals of Hospice Palliative Care (Acclaim Health, 2022)
P.I.E.C.E.S and U First! Certification (Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto, 2021)
Palliative Care in Dementia – Certificate of Completion (Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto, 2021)
Positive Space Training (York University)

Professional Memberships:

Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers
Ontario Social Service Worker Association
Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association
Bereavement Ontario Network
Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
Hospice Palliative Care Ontario

Services

How do I schedule an appointment?

Appointments may be arranged using the website's online booking feature, by email or by telephone. For all supportive counseling, grief counseling, and professional consultation appointments, I will arrange a phone call with you prior to your appointment to complete a brief intake conversation. The purpose of this conversation is to learn more about how I can support you, to discuss policies and privacy/consent, and to answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to contact me with your questions via email or telephone.

Supportive Counseling for Individuals Living with Dementia and their Families, Friends, Life Partners, and Care Partners

Participants are offered emotional, spiritual, and psychosocial support as they navigate the dementia journey. The counselor and participants work together to explore their personhood and find meaning and hope in the face of change. Strengths, resources, and coping mechanisms are explored, educational materials are provided, and referrals are made as requested. The following questions (and many others) may be addressed: How do I work through the feelings related to my parent moving into a long-term care facility? I just received an Alzheimer's diagnosis, and I am scared – what are the next steps?

Individual Counseling:

One-hour sessions: in-person, via telephone, or online. Participants may include individuals living with dementia, care partners, friends, family members, and life partners. In addition to emotional support, the counselor can provide assistance with understanding or navigating the healthcare system; accessing community resources, applying to long-term care homes; Advance Care Planning; accessing educational resources, community referrals, assessments, advocacy; and many more services. Fees are $80 / hour; sliding scale pricing is available - please inquire via email or telephone.

Dementia Care Partner Support Group:

This group meets virtually once per week for five weeks. Each session is 1.5 hours long. Participants may consist of care partners, friends, family members, and life partners of individuals who are living with dementia. A minimum of four and maximum of six participants is ideal for the group to run effectively. This group is intended for individuals who are providing support to someone with a life-limiting illness related to dementia, such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, certain cardiovascular diseases / conditions, etc.

In our structured, guided care partner support groups, we address the following basic needs (Shaw, E., 2019):

• To share one’s story with others in a similar situation
• To learn about different types of dementia, how they progress, and what to expect
• To adjust to a new “normal,” including adapting to changing roles and relationships
• To take care of oneself and to ask for help
• To discuss existential / spiritual questions
• To consider end-of-life planning and prepare for the future (i.e. home care, long-term care)
• To grieve one’s losses

Support Group for Individuals Living with Dementia:

This closed group meets once per week for five weeks, and is intended for individuals who have recently been diagnosed with a life-limiting disease or condition that gives rise to dementia. Each session is 1.5 hours long.

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Grief Counseling

Grief Support:

Grief is our emotional reaction to many types of loss, including (but not limited to) death. Individuals living with dementia or other life-limiting illnesses may grieve the loss of their abilities, the future they imagined, their health, their independence, their homes, and many other aspects of their lives. Support persons may also grieve for the loss of the future they imagined, while struggling with the changes they observe, the transition to long-term care, and the anticipatory grief that we experience as we see people decline. In this support group, we will also discuss grief related to end-of-life experiences and death. The following questions (and many others) may be addressed: How do we navigate ambiguous loss, when our person is physically present, but their personality seems to have changed so much? How do I acknowledge and grieve for my losses while channeling my strengths and discovering new sources of meaning and satisfaction in life? What resources are available in the community?

Individual Grief Support:

One-hour sessions: in-person, via telephone, or virtual. For individuals living with dementia and the people in their support networks. Fees are $80 / hour; sliding scale pricing is available - please inquire via email or telephone.

Support Group for Individuals who are Recently Bereaved:

This closed group meets virtually once per week for five weeks. There are five 1.5-hour-long sessions in total. A minimum of four and maximum of six participants is ideal for the group to run effectively. This group is intended for individuals who have lost someone to a life-limiting illness related to dementia, such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, certain cardiovascular diseases / conditions, etc.

Support Group for Individuals who are Grieving Other Types of Loss:

This closed group meets virtually once per week for five weeks. There are five 1.5-hour-long sessions in total. A minimum of four and maximum of six participants is ideal for the group to run effectively. This group is intended for individuals who are living with dementia and the people in their support networks.

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Nature-Based Workshops

These workshops are designed with intention to enhance participants' physical, social, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional wellbeing. A minimum of three and maximum of six participants is ideal.

Tea Mediation

In this hour-long sensory experience, participants are presented with a brief explanation of the Chinese Buddhist tea meditation, followed by an in-depth demonstration. Participants are encouraged to focus on the sensory experience, including the fragrance and flavour of the tea, the sound of the water, and the ritualized movements involved in brewing the tea. A cup of tea is prepared and offered to a guest who can only be with us in spirit. The meditation is followed by a discussion, tea tasting, and question and answer period. Cost is $25 per participant.

Seed Paper Making Workshop

In this workshop, participants learn how to design and produce seed paper by hand using plant-derived materials. Wildflower seeds are added during the paper-making process, so that the final product may be planted, and the resulting flowers may be cared for by the recipient. Participants will cut the dried paper into shapes of their choice, add written messages, and either plant the paper or give it away as a gift. Cost is $25 per participant.

Miniature Memorial Garden Workshop

The purpose of this activity is to provide a way for clients to maintain an ongoing connection with someone they miss. Participants begin by selecting and potting a plant that reminds them of their person. You may wish to gather some keepsakes related to that person, write them a letter and bury it in the soil, place religious or spiritual items around the plant, and / or decorate the pot. This small garden provides a way for you to connect with the person you miss while they are no longer physically present in your life. Cost is $30 per participant.