Meghan is the founder of Expanding Horizons Occupational Therapy which began in 2009. She is a graduate of Queen’s University and completed a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor of Arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a focus in Linguistics and French. Presently she is practicing occupational therapy and psychotherapy in the Ottawa-Carleton Region and is licensed by the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario. Meghan is bilingual, providing services in both English and French.

Meghan brings experience from hospital-based paediatric services, as well as school-based care. She has a particular interest in working with children and youth with complex mental health disorders as well as school-aged children who are having challenges meeting the demands of the school curriculum. Some of the difficulties that these children may face include fine and gross motor delays, concerns around sensory processing, difficulty with written output, with self-regulation, among other areas.

In addition to being an occupational therapist, Meghan is also a wife and mother to three young children and understands the demands that everyday life poses on children and their families. She enjoys traveling, reading, physical activity and appreciates the simple things in life.

Meghan has training in various areas of paediatric occupational therapy including:

• Self-Regulation with Children and Youth

• ASIST: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training

• Complex Mental Health Needs

• Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Training

• Supporting Bereaved Parents after a Pregnancy Loss or Death of a Child

• Grieving Children and Youth

• Grief Counselling

• Traumatic Bereavement

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Personality Disorder Treatment, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Social Anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Strengths-Based CBT, Building Core Therapist and Client Skills Using Mind Over Mood, Depression and Suicide Best Practices

• Musical Thinking: Simple Steps to Teaching Children How They Think

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Adolescents (and Children)

• Kim Barthel: Decoding Autism: Neurobiology and Effective Intervention Strategies

• Kim Barthel: Psycho-Sensory Processing Intervention

• Kim Barthel: Becoming a Behavioural Detective; Distinguishing Between Sensory, Emotional & Cognitive Components of Behaviour

• Kim Barthel: Self-Regulation: Pathways to Learning

• Kim Barthel: Synchronized Sustainable Intervention for Children: Vestibular & Visual Integration

• Sensory Processing

• Collaborative Problem Solving -Tier 1, Tier 2

• Integrative Psychotherapy: How Leveraging New Research on Lifestyle Modification & Therapeutic Approaches Can Support Mental Health & Cognition Rehabilitation

• Integrating Mentalizing and DBT for Borderline Personality Disorder

• Toileting, Interoception & Nutrition

• Motor Right Along

• Compassion Fatigue

• Dual Diagnosis

• Handwriting Without Tears

• Keyboarding Without Tears

• Assistive Technology

• Completing Home Safety Assessments

• Supporting Better Sleep Hygiene

• Developmental Milestones for Babies and Toddlers

• Motivational Interviewing

• Sequential Oral Sensory Approach to Feeding