Athena Kougias is a holistic practitioner registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers as well as the Ontario Association of Social Workers who keeps the balance of mind, body, spirit and emotion at the forefront of her practice. Athena began her career in social work after graduating from the Bachelor of Social Work program at Trent University. She has spent much of her time since working frontline within an Indigenous child well-being agency. In addition to completing child welfare investigations, Athena’s primary focus was supporting families in meeting their caregiving and individual life goals. She later took on the role of circle facilitator, offering a holistic and therapeutic environment for solution focused relationship building and repair while incorporating Indigenous teachings. Her love of working with people eventually led her to explore a new path to education and she now holds a Master’s degree in social work from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Athena has a strong interest in walking alongside individuals throughout their healing journey and recognizes that the path to healing is not linear and can oftentimes get messy. Athena approaches working with others with warmth and a sense of humour and feels that therapy should be a safe place to explore your emotions collaboratively.
Athena's approach to social work looks through a trauma informed, anti oppressive lens and acknowledges spiritual trauma that many people face over their lifetime. Athena also has a passion for working with individuals struggling with mental health and addiction and has obtained her drug and alcohol counselling diploma from Sir Sanford Fleming college. Athena has worked with individuals living with substance abuse challenges and has received training in Motivational Interviewing as well as connecting adverse life experiences to substance use. She has also walked alongside many people living with mental health diagnoses such as anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and utilized a holistic view to seek appropriate resources that meet individuals healing goals.
Athena is passionate about working with others and honours the sacredness of the relationship between herself and those that she is lucky enough to work with.
