ABOUT ME
I am Linda Dunne. Systemic therapist. Relationship and family therapist. Drama therapist. Mother. Canadian.
As the youngest of nine children, I actually preferred to play alone when I was young. With such a large family, there wasn’t much money for toys. My toys were the dough my mother used to make bread. The wooden scaffolding outside was my stage. The edge of the forest was my audience. Playing saved my life—it gave me a place to escape and to imagine everything I longed for.
After completing my studies in Theatre, Psychology, Drama Therapy, and Systemic Therapy, I noticed it again: at our core, we humans are not that different. We all reach a point in our lives where we feel afraid and long for something. The question is: how do you get there?
We’re all in it together
In family therapy, I sometimes ask parents to imagine the moment their child walks out the door at 18. What do you want to have given your child by then? The way we interact with each other and respond to our children right now has a direct impact on that. Becoming aware of our own patterns and beliefs can be healing for everyone within the system.
One day, when my daughter was cycling next to me, she sighed, “Oh, look at the beautiful flowers—why do you think I love them so much?” Then she said, “Maybe Grammy told you about them when you were in her belly, and I heard all that.” So young, yet she illustrates with striking clarity that we are all connected in sometimes magical ways. Both within the small system of our family and on a larger scale, with the earth and even with the universe.