Help us support local businesses that use our clinic space!
Our affiliates are trusted businesses that partner with Recharge & Play to expand our business. They help us reach even more of the community and we appreciate their partnership & support.
Hillary MacGuire, IBCLC
Her mission is to help families “find their feet” and grow into the parents they aspire to be. She believes that it takes a village to raise a child, and in Canadian society, this essential support is often missing. Families are left to navigate parenting—especially infant feeding—on their own. Lactation consultants, like herself, are here to serve as part of your medical team and overall village, guiding parents through the unique challenges they face.
Supported by a skilled team of IBCLCs and pediatricians, Hillary is building a career focused on empowering education and encouragement for families navigating the joys and uncertainties of breastfeeding. She provides judgment-free assistance, ensuring that families of all backgrounds receive the understanding and support they deserve.
No matter where you are in your parenting journey, Hillary is here to meet you with compassion, understanding, and commitment, offering the gentle, empowering guidance needed to help you thrive. She is excited to make a positive impact on the lives of families in need of support.
To find out more information or to book with Hillary, visit the link here!
Tamara Amirault, MSW, RSW, Perinatal Therapist- Whole Family Psychotherapy
Whole Family Psychotherapy is a trusted local therapy practice offering a safe place to land for all parents and parents-to be, through trying to conceive, pregnancy, postpartum and beyond into the early and later years of raising children. Their team of Certified Perinatal Therapists specialize in counseling services for parents, and offer individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, group therapy and parenting support sessions. Therapy services are available to all residents of Ontario, and are offered virtually to make life easier for busy parents, with limited in-person services available out of Recharge and Play Wellness Cafe. Childminding available for in person sessions for an additional fee.
When parents feel WHOLE, family systems thrive! Free consults, available daytime, evenings and weekends.
Follow @whole.family.psychotherapy on Instagram or learn more about the team at https://wholefamilypsychotherapy.com/
More about Tamara:
My long-awaited firstborn threw me for a loop and rocked every expectation I had about birthing and parenting. I wanted to thrive as a mom so I reached out for support with the tough stuff: bonding, sleep deprivation, and figuring out how to communicate my needs and goals in this completely new role and identity.
Maybe you’re there right now.
Becoming a parent can feel like being catapulted into uncertainty, and it comes with all the big feelings that accompany a major life transition. For individuals, that might look like postpartum anxiety or depression, overwhelm, identity shifts, burnout, self-doubt, or feeling like aspects of your mental health that once seemed manageable are suddenly too much to carry without help.
For couples, even the strongest relationships can feel very shaken. The stress, the competing needs, the exhaustion – it doesn’t always bring you closer. Sometimes it drives a wedge. You might feel more like roommates than partners, struggling to communicate the way you used to, grieving the relationship you had before kids came along.
Parenting is hard work. The hard parts don’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
In our sessions, we process the stress and stuckness you may feel to find the strengths and strategies that work best for you and your family. I help individuals, parents, and couples work through the difficulties and disappointments of the perinatal, postpartum, and parenting journey with compassion, creativity, and evidence-based tools. Being client-centred is at the heart of how I work, which means we collaborate on building a one-of-a-kind map to navigate whatever uncharted territory is in front of you.
Time and again, I’ve watched parents move from surviving the grind to lightening their load and finding their balance. Getting there is not impossible. A strong connection with ourselves, our partner, and our kids helps us parent from a more secure place, even on hard days. There is something truly beautiful about watching children flourish, relationships grow, and families thrive with healing and wholeness – and that becomes possible when parents finally have the right support around them. I’m here to help that happen!
Click here to book!
Shani Ellis-Alman, MSW/RSW – Mind. Strong. Live. Free. Mental Health and Wellness.
Certified Counsellor
Shani has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Social
work. She has been practicing as a registered social worker for over 15 years, with her career thus far
focusing on mental health and wellness, addiction and maladaptive coping, and concurrent disorders. Shani has worked in DEI, academia, healthcare, crisis, and community mental health capacities, developed
and facilitated mental health and addiction groups, as well as gender-specific groups focusing on
gendered experiences.
Shani believes finding the right clinician is so important, someone who you are willing to open up to, someone you can be vulnerable with, someone who you feel will understand and hold value to your experiences. On this
journey, she brings openness, humility, empathy, and genuineness- never judgment. And don’t mistake
this vulnerability for a weakness, because it takes the most strength to ask for help and admit we can’t
do this alone.
You will find that her approach draws a lot from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational
Interviewing (MI) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Shani also incorporates elements of mindfulness
and grounding skills to help you manage during times of distress. She pulls a lot from Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs in terms of developing safety and interpersonal relationships as key to enhancing self-esteem and
finding your true self.
Ready to start your journey? Book with Shani today or check out her website for more information: https://mindstrong.health/
April Lupi – Somatic Coach & Nervous System Educator
April is a coach with expertise in using somatic healing modalities to help her clients overcome the damaging effects of chronic stress and stored survival energies, while developing deep inner resilience and nervous system regulation. In addition to her coaching training, April has a psychology degree from Simon Fraser University and trained to become a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner with Berns Galloway and Dea Parsanishi.
April has effectively walked her own path of recovery from childhood trauma, and nervous system dysregulation. It is her own healing journey that inspired her to become a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. After exploring many other modalities, it was ultimately SE™ that provided her with long-lasting relief from her trauma symptoms and nervous system dysregulation. This experience motivated her to help others achieve similar outcomes. April brings a powerful combination of lived experience and professional training, and excels at helping her clients work with their nervous system to relieve symptoms of stress, and to disrupt trauma and unwanted behaviour patterns. Her approach has been described as gentle, deeply personalised and highly effective.
April offers virtual sessions and limited in-person sessions out of Recharge and Play Wellness Cafe. To learn more about April or to book a session go here: https://linktr.ee/aprilsomatic.coach
Jenny Yang – Tattoo Artist
Jenny is a tattoo artist who specializes in doodle art and fine line and enjoys using both machine and hand-poke methods.
Jenny truly loves tattooing cute drawings! From pets to fruit to random inanimate objects. Jenny has tons of pre-designed flash tattoos available, however, is also happy to work together with you to create a custom tattoo.
Check out her website for more info & examples of her work:
We proudly partner with locally roasted Baden coffee to serve delicious coffee at our play café, so you don’t need to pick one up on the way or get something out of a machine!
Click here to find out more about the Baden Coffee Company!
Learn more about the services we offer:
https://rechargeandplay.com/clinic-services
Go directly to Recharge & Play’s clinic bookings here!