FOCUS

Focus presents: Kirk Béasse Psychology
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BECAUSE MANY OF OUR READERS still express a
strong affinity for reading words on paper, we will
continue to print Focus but on a bi-monthly schedule—
starting next month with our March/April edition.
for funding investigative journalism, particularly at the local level;
the competition for attention from Facebook and all that click bait
the internet dishes up.
It can be unsettling at times. This January alone brought news of
Postmedia collapsing its newsrooms in four cities; the 141-year-old
Nanaimo Daily News being shuttered by Black Press; the even older
Guelph Mercury (the only paper in its city) closing its print operations;
the elimination of 200 positions at Rogers Media (which
owns 40 magazines, as well as TV and radio stations); and the
loss of hundreds more jobs at the Toronto Star. Again, that’s just in
the past month in Canada.
It is hard for big and small players alike to find a way to pay for
quality journalism. But it may well be easier for small, nimble, lean
publishers like Focus to carve out a niche for journalism’s survival.
We have less baggage and are fuelled more by passion for telling our
community’s stories than by making a profit.
Inevitably, the web is the place to be for virtually any publisher.
For Focus, the opportunities luring us to do more online are too many
to resist. Our digital magazine offers the ability to produce more journalism
about local and regional issues and the arts, as well as a
community forum, all without the big press bill. We can provide
updates on the website about developments in the stories our writers
cover regularly—from homelessness, sewage treatment, and the City’s
new bridge, to art shows and environmental news.
Because many of our readers still express a strong affinity for reading
words on paper, we will continue to print Focus but on a bi-monthly
schedule—starting next month with our March/April edition (my
322nd). The print edition will be more robust, with more pages, more
visual arts coverage, interviews, and investigative reporting. But
the reduced frequency of printing and the fewer constraints on our
time that will accompany it, will allow us to explore how to further
our mission—to foster dialogue on important local social, political
and environmental issues and celebrate the arts—in the wide-open
spaces online.
Finally, applying the climate change lens, all businesses are going to
have to work towards decarbonizing their businesses. For us the obvious
way to do that is to lower our consumption of CO 2 -absorbing trees.
At Focus we strive to provide independent, critical analysis of issues
that would likely otherwise not be covered. We plan to do more of
that more often, online.
Though independently owned by David and I, Focus is really a
community project, reflecting this special place of ours and involving
the people who inhabit it. Thanks for being here—in print and online.
www.focusonline.ca • February 2016
After 28 years with Focus, Leslie Campbell thinks
she’ll make it to 30—though she never would have
believed that back in 1988. And she never would
have imagined all the twists and turns and wonders
along the way.
Looking to the body to help heal the mind
When I reach out for
“
support from others, I hope
for gentleness, respect,
and caring. This is what I
strive to provide those who
reach out to me.
“
—Mr. Kirk Béasse
Registered Psychologist
We all go through stressful situations in our lives—the death of a family
member, the loss of a job, challenges with family or friends, or a more
general sense of anxiety. When we try to avoid uncomfortable emotions,
and don’t fully express and experience what we feel, the pressure can build in our
bodies and minds until, eventually, something has to give.
When it does, there are often major consequences—and opportunities. Kirk Béasse,
a Registered Psychologist in Victoria, is passionate about bringing mind and body
together to help people heal in a more holistic way. “Clients who have physical symptoms—in
their stomach, head, or chest—can work with the tangible experience
they’re having in their bodies and connect it with their emotional lives to uncover
deeply symbolic and powerful access points to healing and understanding.”
Kirk’s bright, beautiful, tranquil office, nestled beneath three giant Sequoia trees
in Fairfield, helps clients feel comfortable the moment they walk in the door. The
feedback he hears most often, he says, “is a feeling of being safe and understood
when talking to me—that my particular approach helps them fully integrate their
experiences and understand themselves more deeply.”
“I’ve had my own challenges,” Kirk explains. “It took years for me to recognize that
the painful feelings I was having in my chest were directly linked to anxiety.” Seeing
how stress was directly affecting his own health, he took a multi-layered approach
that led him to new ways of caring for himself on all levels—physical, emotional, and
spiritual—and this is what informs his transformative work with clients.
“It’s tempting to imagine that everyone else has it together,” says Kirk, but it’s
not true, and it leads to more suffering. “Having someone to trust and confide in
is such a necessary part of moving through the inevitable challenges of life,” says
Kirk. “It is so much easier to deal with when you can work together with someone.”
While Kirk has extensive psychology training and certification, years of family
and community therapy experience, and cross-cultural awareness, he says he believes
the core of his successful approach comes from his ability to forge a strong relationship
with clients.
“A person can have all kinds of skills and technical expertise,” he says, “but if
they are not deeply compassionate and human in their interactions, their effectiveness
as a helper will be greatly diminished. A saying that resonates with me very
deeply is ‘all healing happens in relationship.’ When I reach out for support from
others, I hope for gentleness, respect, and caring. This is what I strive to provide those
who reach out to me.”
Kirk Béasse, Master of Counselling
Registered Psychologist #2207
250-507-4322 • kirkbeasse.com • contact@kirkbeasse.com
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