For Yorkville University alumnus and author Talia Camozzi, Yorkville University’s Masters of Counselling Psychology proved to be the catalyst for a much-needed career change and the awakening of a passion for theory and for helping others.
Camozzi is rightfully proud of having just self-published “Healing Winter SAD”, a handbook for sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder co-authored with her sister, naturopath Theresa Camozzi. In addition to writing, Talia Camozzi also maintains a private counselling practice and consulting business from her home in rural British Columbia. While some might be frazzled or intimidated by such an abundant set of projects and goals, the Yorkville University graduate exudes a sense of groundedness, ease and authenticity—a manner which speaks eloquently to the subject of her book and the appropriateness of her chosen field.
Before graduating from Yorkville University in 2013, however, Camozzi was on quite a different path, when life circumstances and her own need for support led her to study at Yorkville University.
“Before my MACP I was a scientist, and it was actually when my mum died that I realized that I really wanted help, and I needed someone to talk to,” she said. “I knew exactly what I wanted in a therapist and I couldn’t find it! Not to say that it didn’t exist, but I couldn’t find it, and I knew there was something in me that could do that, and that working with people in this way was more in line with what I wanted in my life.
“Of the theories I learned at Yorkville, existential therapy is the one that resonated with me the most. I love existential therapy! My other favourite subject was the ethics of counselling and the ethics of interpreting the different tools we might give people, in order to make sure they are reliable and valid,” she said. “I started out on a really strong foot as a therapist with the understanding of ethics I got as a student at Yorkville University. I’ve had a lot of students myself since then, who have been doing different degree programs, and what they have all said is that they got a much deeper understanding of ethics after having worked with me.”
Studying at Yorkville University served Camozzi’s lifestyle, too. “One of the things that made the Yorkville University online degree program so great, especially for someone from a small town, is that it makes higher education accessible, without forcing you to leave your home for several years.”
Camozzi’s new book, “Healing Winter SAD” is inspired not only by her desire to help others, but by her sense of connection with the natural world, which has been a tether since her childhood.
“Adults don’t really ebb and flow with the seasons…we’re still working eight, nine, ten hours days in the winter like we do in the summer, but there is a natural decrease in energy and output in the winter because seasons are just part of our environment, and we don’t always honour that,” she said. “I think (healing Seasonal Affective Disorder) has so much to do with re-learning our natural flow with nature.”
The process of writing the book was, as Camozzi describes it, “Somewhere between winging it and having a strong concept. I read a lot, and so does my sister, and so we knew the skeleton framework of what we wanted. But it was a leap of faith—we didn’t have anyone saying ‘this is how you do it’. We don’t have author friends. In the end, it came down to, ‘who are we not to do it?’”
The process of writing “Healing Winter SAD” was so rewarding, that Camozzi and her sister are now in the midst of writing a second book, this time on nature-based healing. “Our mental health is so connected with getting out in nature and our new book is about how we can incorporate the natural world into our mental and physical health. We need a whole lot more forest-bathing going on.”
You can learn more about Talia Camozzi’s private counselling practice at www.taliacamozzi.com.
Written by Yolande Clark. Originally from BC and now living in Fredericton, N.B., Yolande is Yorkville University’s Alumni Relations Officer. She loves to write and to share stories about Yorkville’s talented graduates. You can reach Yolande at [email protected]
