Cassandra is a Doctoral Associate at Step Stone providing both assessment and therapy services to children, youth, and families. She completed her Master’s degree in School and Clinical Child Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto) and is currently completing her PhD in the same program, working toward registering as a Clinical Psychologist.

Cassandra has worked in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, suspension/expulsion programs, and in private practice. She has experience providing comprehensive assessments and therapy for children and youth with cognitive and learning challenges (e.g., ADHD, learning disabilities, autism), as well as social and emotional challenges (e.g., anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anger, trauma, addiction).

Cassandra strives to help clients and their families find clarity about the challenges they’re facing and enact steps toward reaching their goals. To do this, she takes a client-centred, holistic, integrative lens in therapy, blending evidence-based therapeutic techniques and making use of systems (e.g., schools, communities, families, additional supports) to help clients and families feel supported both in and outside the therapy room. She is intentional in allowing clients a space to feel seen and heard as the drivers of their own care. Cassandra works from a neurodivergent and queer-affirming, intersectional, and strengths-based lens and seeks to create a welcoming space for all clients.

Cassandra’s doctoral research focuses on supporting youth involved in the criminal justice system, while her broader research interests surround violence prevention on interpersonal and systemic levels. She has a passion for making use of systems to support youth effectively and that is reflected in her research program and clinical practice.