Carolyn Klassen’s gentle and engaging style draws in a crowd of world-weary listeners and refreshes their spirits. Her compassionate understanding of the human struggle has been refined for over 2 decades through her experiences of being a therapist; working with people who struggle to connect with themselves and others.

Carolyn is a certified facilitator in The Daring Way ™, and Rising Strong™,  curricula arising out of Dr. Brené Brown’s shame resiliency research. Believing that we are wired for connection—that it is essential to our wellbeing—makes the fear of disconnection terrifying. Dr. Brown’s work gives language and nuance to principles that Carolyn has been addressing for many years.

In 2020, Carolyn left the position of owner/director of Conexus Counselling, the counselling practice she founded, to pursue more intentional work with the public; speaking and educating health care groups, businesses and non-profits about her learnings from being a therapist. She continues to be grounded with the human struggle as she still engages with clients in private practice. “We are wired for connection. Connection is vulnerable and risky, but also profoundly rewarding. It’s really how we’re made and it’s what we’re created for.”

Carolyn has a degree in Occupational Therapy and a Master’s degree is Marriage and Family Therapy, and has received training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Retraining). While she learned much from her formal schooling, the school of life taught her about grief through the stillborn deaths of her twin sons, about struggle through her husband leaving their marriage, and about resilience as she embarked on a decade of single parenting. Along the way, she learned much about joy and gratitude through meaningful connections with children, family and friends. Her clients are also her teachers as they process their struggle and demonstrate courage and strength in therapy sessions. She taught at the graduate level at the University of Manitoba for 15 years—where classroom conversations were enriching for her. 

Carolyn is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) and loves bringing the conversations of meaningful connection from the therapy office to the workplace, boardroom, healthcare group or non-profit team.

Carolyn lives in Winnipeg with her husband. They live as “two families who are one” with five adult sons, their partners and children spread across four different cities. She enjoys Thursday morning exercise-and-visit with her friend Mary, sharing stories with her grandkids and weekly family suppers. She loves bird feeders, Ted Lasso, audio books, and heated car seats, among other things.