Lisa Highfield
Lisa is Founder and Executive Director of Healing Hearts.
As a graduate of Fanshawe College’s Child and Youth Counsellor Program, Lisa spent thirteen years working in group homes, secure custody, and with the London and Middlesex Children’s Aid Society supporting foster and adoptive families.
Through Lisa’s work experience, she realized what little resources there were available to families in crisis. To bridge the gap, Lisa founded Healing Hearts.
Lisa is also the co-author of The Promise: Truth from the Trenches of Adoption. It is a memoir about a family coping with the loss and trauma their adopted children experienced. It is a must-read for all parents as it provides insight into behaviour and gives hope to struggling families.
In an effort to better serve the families she supports, Lisa is becoming a Voila-Method Practitioner. She is currently certified Level 2 with continued education in the upcoming months. She is looking forward to this continued learning and being able to bring this back to her clients.
Please continue reading for some testimonials from some of Lisa’s Healing Hearts families!
Kimberly Sanzo
Kimberly is Healing Hearts volunteer coordinator supporting with social media, website and events. She is a Registered Social Worker, Reiki Practitioner and mother of two adoptive children. She works full time supporting adults and seniors in the community living with complex health conditions. She strives to support the people around her to reach their highest potential.
Testimonials
Lisa has been a huge asset to our family as we struggled with adoption-related issues and enormous behavioural problems. She has provided us with great insight into the dynamics of our family relationships, shown us what caused our children’s emotions as well as offered hands on solutions to the behavioural difficulties. Her relaxed, stress-free approach was helpful to our family during a time of great stress, and her fun nature was a hit with our children. She is warm, positive and compassionate and she has truly helped our family work through complicated issues.
E.D. – adoptive mother
Before Lisa: Melancholic.
After Lisa: Friendly, self-loving, supportive. I’ve become a much better friend and girlfriend, and I owe that to Lisa’s major help. I have better relationships with my friends and myself.
I’ve learned to protect myself and offer wise advice that I like to call “Lisa Logic”. Life can be so hard sometimes, I know from my experience with illness, death and, in a way, abandonment at young age. It was really difficult to deal with my problems and I felt totally helpless and useless. But I’m so grateful our family found Lisa and let her into our lives.
I’m still working on my issues and have a long way to go, but I’ve also come a long way. Thank you Lisa, we love you so much.
Cate,16 yrs old
Lisa has been a big help to me and my family. She has helped me through so many problems about home, school, and even sports. Lisa has been a great friend and now she feels like family.
R.S, 14 yr old boy
Lisa you have been there not just on a weekly basis, but also you were and always are a phone call away!
For me, this is a HUGE help. I have used my EAP programs thru my employer; however I always felt the stress of trying to fit my issues into an hour and always watched the counsellor checking the time. You and your services are incredible in that you work around our schedule, and you come to us. Healing Hearts has helped me transition my 7 yr old son who would sleep in my bed every night to sleeping in his own bed and staying put for the night!
I have learned to set limits and work thru typical situations with my teenage kids with confidence, leaving us all able to talk thru situations that would normally have ended up in yelling and screaming matches. Healing Hearts has made a huge difference in my life and the lives of my children. We are so blessed to have you in our lives.
We still have a ways to go, and we know that you are there to support us and challenge us to look into ourselves. Thanks Lisa xoxo
Carie, Mother
Lisa has been a huge encouragement to myself and my family. She has offered us a new perspective, sense of self as both a person and a parent. We have been able to create healing, balance and learning for everyone in the household. Thank you for always being there to listen, encourage and support.
K.S, mother