A certified Clinical Supervisor, Addiction Counsellor, and Counselling Therapist.
With a proven track record working with youth and adults using REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy) techniques to achieve measurable and sustained behavioural change. Crossed trained in the Addicted Brain; harm Intervention and Psychological First Aid. Shirvington is skilled in determining detoxification intervention urgency; addictions detoxification referral and motivational harm reduction coaching, and; mental illnesses case management.
He has served clients of the Salvation Army – Calgary’s Centre of Hope, Addiction Recovery Program for over 2+ years; CAMH; Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services; Family & Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County. With over 15 years of researching religions and the significance, spirituality plays in psychology and the functioning of the human mind. He has written, blogged and produced various blogs and podcasts across all significant religions promoting holistic and practical ways of living. He further developed his intervention skills working with diverse at-risk populations on the streets and in homeless shelters, as well as daily residential client life-skills training; treatment and relapse prevention planning; weekly addiction counselling; and case management. As well as determining detoxification intervention urgency; to making timely referrals for detoxification.
He developed a culturally sensitive therapeutic approach to substance Abuse or Dependency treatment based on Music Therapy; and Narrative Therapy. That therapeutic approach and Brief intervention steps and strategies lead to his development of #smtTherapy “Shirvington’s Musical Theatre Therapy”; and his signature smahooBITS “SMAHOO Brief Intervention Therapies”; and RElapseREScue “How to REScue YourSELF from a RElapse”.
Change Readiness:-
He understood that one of the main reasons for and barriers to sustained behavioural change, recovery, abstinence, sober living or safer harm reduction practices is the lack of readiness to change or motivation to change coupled with no assessment and coaching of the client regarding their stage of change and the most appropriate motivation to change support and counselling needed for that individual as against one size fit all in a traditional residential or outpatient treatment programming for group treatment facilitation.
Continuum of Care after active residential or supervised treatment:-
Since studies suggest most lapse and/or relapse in recovery, sober living, harm reduction or mental health wellness management because of a lack of planning or little planning for the potential lapse or relapse.
This led to the innovation of the new and innovative “SMAHOO Change Clinic & Virtual MINDspa Experience” exclusive subscription-based portal. Besides its new name, the online Clinic will now be an enhanced virtual Telehealth portal and offline community outreach Mind-wellness “Day Spa” for Relapse prevention and Life-Skills coaching services.
Offering LIVE and On-Demand Multimedia SelfCARE Edu-Therapies, online Life-Skills courses, that were soft-launched on April 30th, 2022. As an innovative Canadian alternative for BetterHelp.com, TalkSpace.com and the varying models of Virtual online Counselling services.