Ruby Loñoza-Barbonetti

(she/her)

Education: MSW, RSW

Languages: English & Tagalog

Background: Ruby is a Registered Social Worker whose work focuses on supporting people through life transitions and periods of change. She has supported individuals experiencing depression and anxiety, grief, disability, chronic illness and chronic pain, isolation, and caregiver burnout. She has worked with post-secondary students in a student wellness centre and on crisis lines, and has supported individuals impacted by gender-based violence. She has also worked with individuals living with acquired brain injuries (ABI), including those navigating relationship breakdowns, complex situations involving poverty and homelessness, the impacts of institutionalization, and incarceration.

Ruby has also worked as a Program Manager with a non-profit organization, where she developed and supported community-based programming. This experience shaped her belief that wellness extends beyond individual care, and that social recreation, meaningful connection, and a sense of belonging are important parts of wellbeing, particularly for people experiencing isolation or barriers to community participation.

Specialty:

• ADHD
• Anxiety
• Caregiver experience/burnout
• Cultural/ethnic/racial indentity
• Depression
• Emotion regulation
• Families
• Identity exploration
• Life transitions
• Loneliness
• Neurodivergence
• Newcomers
• Relationships
• Self-esteem
• Shame
• Stress/burnout
• Substance use
• Uncertainty/change.

Approach: Ruby’s approach is anti-oppressive and feminist. She works with individuals with grace and compassion, listening with empathic curiosity and engaging in person-centred care. She draws on supportive counselling, solution-focused therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and narrative therapy to support clients in navigating their challenges, whether as a witness to their experiences or a co-author in shaping what comes next.

Perspective: Ruby has a particular interest in supporting neurodivergent and racialized youth, with a focus on how autism, acquired brain injury (ABI), ADHD, and OCD can impact relationships, identity, and participation in community. She is also interested in the experiences of people living with chronic illness and chronic pain, particularly the ways these experiences can shape identity, relationships, daily life, and connection with others. She is fluent in Tagalog.