Some paths in life feel destined. For me, working as a counsellor at AMI-Québec is one of them.

I have been a caregiver for my mother from a young age. For many years, I knew about AMI-Québec, yet like many caregivers I meet today, I didn’t believe I needed support. I thought I was managing, that it was my loved one who needed help, not me.

My understanding of how much I was carrying began to shift when I started training at the Tamalpa Institute in movement-based expressive arts therapy. Through this program, I discovered how embodied practices and creative expression can help us connect with our lived experience, access inner resources, and make meaning of the stories we hold in our bodies. As I was completing my training, I was invited to reflect on how I wanted to bring this work into my community. I immediately thought of caregivers, and of AMI-Québec as an ideal organization.

Last June, that vision came full circle when I began working here as a counsellor. It felt deeply meaningful to transform my personal experiences and professional training into the kind of support I wish I had when I was younger. Today, through the SOS-Famille program, I support individuals in exploring their caregiving roles and relational dynamics, accessing community resources, and developing tools to navigate the complexities of their realities. I also integrate embodied practices that encourage self-reflection, emotional awareness, and nervous system regulation. Recently, I facilitated AMI-Québec’s first movement-based expressive arts therapy workshop, where participants were invited to explore their inner landscapes and reconnect with a sense of agency, creativity, and possibility.

Caregiving can become a constant outward focus, where one’s own needs, identity, and dreams are gradually set aside. Through my work as a counsellor and workshop facilitator, I aim not only to support people in their roles as caregivers, but to help them remember the parts of themselves they have forgotten along the way. Sometimes, all it takes is a small shift, a breath, a new insight, a moment of feeling truly seen and present within oneself again and from there, something new can begin.

–Sarah Varichon
From Share&Care Summer 2026