She completed her Masters in Clinical Social Work in 2000 at Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) which built upon a Bachelor's degree in Psychology at McGill University (Montreal). Vivienne is also currently a Counselling Psychologist in training as she is in the 4th year of a PhD in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Middlesex (in conjunction with the New School for Psychotherapy and Counselling in London). She is developing her CBT practice within a holistic and humanistic-existential orientation which is grounded in a relational way of working. Her current doctoral research is on understanding the factors that lead to partners of business migrants feeling unsettled years after relocation.
During her career, she has moved back and forth between the private and public sectors as she has lived abroad for the last 20 years. She knows first hand the challenges of moving and finding one's place in the world as an adult, partner and parent to 3 bilingual children. Issues of loss, grief, anxiety, identity, purpose or meaning in life, transition issues, parenting, sexual assault and relationship issues have been the focus of her therapeutic work.