About me

Gaard means farm in Norwegian

Cultivating resilience

I’m a FSP certified psychologist trained in the Palo Alto approach to systemic psychotherapy. For more than 25 years, I’ve been exploring the humain mind through scientific research, counselling, and my daily meditation practice. The combination of these three forms of exploration and sources of information offers a multifaceted and profound appreciation of the human mind. I have always been captivated by the understanding of human flourishing, and for more than ten years I accompany people who are facing blockages on their personal and professional path. 

I'm passionate about beauty in all its forms. In the shape and colors of an autumn leaf on the wet November pavement. In a crooked smile on an interesting face.

The shape of a wrinkle in the corner of an eye. How the movement of flocks of birds gathering for migration in the sky perfectly images the movement of shoals of sardines. How these movements mimic the contraction and expansion of our lives. The beauty of our emotional waves. The sound of a dog barking in the distance; the interplay of waves of air creating music in surprising places. A joke told at just the right moment to snap you out of your rut. The subtle interaction of the elements in the ecosystem of a forest marsh. The movement of the fly as it lands next to me on the table. I am passionate about the aesthetics of the human mind. How a human psyche takes in and digests information and transforms it into action. How it works through emotions to create beauty, as in new ideas, art, a useful object, a delicately composed meal, a comforting bedtime story, a song rolling out of a heart in pain.

This passion for beauty is at the basis of my fascination with the human mind
This passion for beauty is at the basis of my fascination with the human mind

I grew up on a farm in the north of Norway. Later, we moved to Oslo, and after finishing high school, I travelled as a backpacker in Central America and India for several years. From the age of 22 I immersed myself in the functions of the human mind through intense meditation practice. So enthralled did I become with this Eastern exploration of the mind, that a desire arose in me to bridge it with Western scientific experimentation. There I met systems thinking and the Palo Alto school’s beautiful understanding of ecology of mind. As I continued exploring the inner workings of the human mind through meditation, I pursued my studies in academic research, focusing on the impact of meditation on leaders' socially and environmentally responsible behavior. With time, the desire to apply this knowledge and these techniques in a therapeutic setting began to grow. I trained as a psychotherapist, and for the last 10 years I have worked with therapy and coaching. I am also trained as a Yoga Nidra and Shakti Yoga teacher.

As I continued exploring the inner workings of the human mind through meditation, I pursued my studies in academic research

In 2015 I created the "Suivi S", offering therapeutic intervention to people on social welfare. There I manage a team of counsellors who accompany people who have met painful and difficult obstacles in life. This means I have experience with dark and complex issues of life. At the same time, my experience in coaching has also led me to find great meaning in questions of personal and professional development of less complicated nature. My wish is to be present for those who face questions with which they want help; those who are caught in a dilemma they cannot seem to resolve alone; those who have a wound they wish to have help to heal; those who need perspectives to free themselves from a life situation that is making them suffer.

The beauty with which a human psyche takes in and digests information and transforms it into thought, into word, into action
The beauty with which a human psyche takes in and digests information and transforms it into thought, into word, into action

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