Evergreen Therapy is now open at the Niverville Heritage Centre, offering another option for those seeking help with their relational or mental health.
Evergreen is owned by Jolyn Sawatzky, who practises together with Raychel Algera. Both women have master’s degree in counselling from Providence Theological Seminary.
The Heritage Centre office is the second location for the pair. They split their time between their Niverville and Winnipeg locations with Sawatzky in Niverville on Tuesdays and Fridays and Algera in Niverville on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Sawatzky brings a wealth of experience to her therapy sessions, having become a counsellor in midlife after losing her husband, marrying again, and blending the two families.
Algera comes from a nonprofit background where she worked in communications. She enjoyed connecting with people in that role and wanted to work in an environment where she could interact with people in an even more personal way.
Evergreen Therapy focuses on relational health, and Sawatzky describes how important relational health is by pointing out that none of us can be in healthy, happy relationships unless we are first healthy individually.
“The people that we are supporting in their individual well-being, their psychological health will overflow into their relationships,” says Sawatzky. “And people that come in as couples or families… we nurture their relationships while also seeing how they are doing individually. We focus on the combination and interplay between individual well-being and relationship well-being.”
They currently offer support for individuals facing anxiety and depression symptoms, families and children (ages six and up), and couples or individuals wanting to improve their relationships.
“With our different life experiences, what [Algera and I] really want to bring is hope,” she adds. “It’s often in the context of relationships and interactions that people feel hopeless. Kids go through significant stuff, and adults have gone through significant stuff in their past. It kind of haunts you in different ways, and you often don't realise it.”
Sawatzky grew up in Pansy, Manitoba, and then lived on a dairy farm in Landmark for 26 years. Algera grew up in the North Kildonan neighbourhood of Winnipeg.
Algera is currently accepting new clients, whereas Sawatzky is building a waitlist.
