Judi Heppner

Judi is owner and manager of Five Vines. She has worked in some sort of health or social service capacity since 1991. She gets feedback from clients that she projects warmth, is easy to talk to, and brings humour into the counselling process. Integrity is one of her highest values in that she strives to practice with honesty and ethics. Judi thinks of herself as a generalist therapist. Clients often have similar issues involving problems such as unpleasant emotions, relationship problems, and difficult environments. Having said that, she has turned her attention towards training in two areas recently. One is that of couples therapy, where she has begun taking training with the Gottman Institute. The other is that of gender distress and confusion, in which she trains and consults with Therapy First. She does exploratory therapy to help clients develop an integrated identity and to increase understanding of themselves, sex, gender, and the risks and benefits of treatments. She is a provider with Beyond Trans, which helps subsidize the therapy costs of detransitioners. Judi believes that therapy should be available to all, and is able to take a limited number of clients according to ability to pay.