About

Kim Muscroft-McDonnel – Owner/Director

B.A. Com. Ed., R.F.M., C.C.P., Family and Divorce Speciality

Registrations & Credentials

  • Registered Family Mediator – Family Speciality (Alberta Family Mediation Society)
  • Separation/Divorce Negotiator/Coach with extensive Mediation/Divorce training
  • Certified Coach Practitioner (Certified Coaches Federation)
  • Bachelor of Arts – Community Education
  • Certified Counsellor
  • Certified Trainer
  • Certified Literacy Tutor
  • Certified Social Care Practitioner
  • Member Family Mediation Canada

Important Documents

Background & Experience

Many people today feel stressed and overwhelmed by the complex situations they face every day, some of which may include work stress, marriage issues, complex relationships, difficulties in parenting, personal issues, financial strain, life decisions, health issues, and grief or bereavement. Kim Muscroft–McDonnel of REAL Consulting has been helping people with these types of challenges for over 30 years.

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Early Years

Born and raised in British Columbia, Kim moved to Dundee, Scotland in her early twenties. While raising four children, she returned to school to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in Community Education specializing in assisting individuals and community groups to problem-solve and develop coping skills. Kim supplemented her degree with counselling training to assist her in working with youth, which, prior to her degree, she had been doing for several years in youth camps, group homes, halfway houses, etc. Kim worked in an exciting program that was the first of its kind in Scotland where she worked with young people, often street kids in foster care or living on the street with challenges, who experienced many kinds of issues such as violence, drug/alcohol abuse, family and school difficulties, and conflict with the Criminal Justice System.

Later, Kim began working as a coordinator with Victim Services, an experience where she learned to understand the vast complexities of both the criminal system and victims of crime. Responsible for assisting individuals impacted by serious crimes; murder, serious assualt, sexual violence, domestic violence, Kim supported victims in local court and in High Court in Edinburgh. Kim also was trained through Harriet University in death and grief. High unemployment, poverty, and multiple deprivation described the area of Scotland she was working in and, because of this, the problems people faced were enormously challenging. It was during this point in her career that Kim began training in mediation to further aid the people she was working with.

New Beginnings

After 20 years of living in Scotland, Kim moved back to Canada in 1999 and began work facilitating Victim Offender Program (VORP) mediation in Calgary with young offenders and victims of crime. She created the Crime-Impact Program to assist young people to understand the victim’s perspective and repair harm, in a bid to make positive changes in their lives to which she won the John Hanes award. In 2001, Kim relocated to High River and, in 2002, set up REAL Consulting: her private practice in counselling and mediation. As a Registered Family Mediator with the Alberta Family Mediation Society (AFMS), Kim has two registrations specializing in separation, divorce, and family mediation.

Kim continues her education regularly, taking advanced courses in mediation, counselling, and coaching to help hone her skills. Kim is also registered with FSCD (Family Supports of Children with Disabilities) to provide therapy and counselling to children with a range of cognitive challenges and diagnoses while assisting parents and supervising aides. Kim is also a certified Life Skills Coach with the Confederation of Coaches Canada to provide life coaching and created 27 workshops and courses relating to the needs of individuals, couples, families, and businesses.

Current Work

Kim finds helping individuals, couples, and families in rebuilding their relationships and marriages very rewarding and she is extremely passionate about her work and helping her clients. This may include assisting couples to communicate better and resolve their conflicts, helping parents connect with their children and extended family re-connect with one another, supporting individuals who may be experiencing family/domestic violence to redefine and rebuild their lives, and working for resolution with victims and offenders of crime.

Additionally, Kim works with businesses, employers, and employees to manage conflict and communicate effectively in the workplace setting. Individuals who suffer from depression, grief, or trauma because of the challenging experiences in their lives require support and strategies unique to them. By providing emotional and practical skill sets, Kim helps support her clients through mediation, counselling and coaching. Emotional (Anger) Management and Life Skills Coaching courses are tailored to individual needs, as well as many other community workshops facilitated by Kim.

Vision & Passion

Kim’s goal in her private practice and work is to provide High River, Okotoks, Calgary, and the wider rural communities of Southern Alberta with grass-roots counselling, coaching, and mediation service; one that is affordable for individuals, couples, families, and businesses who require help, while still providing the highest level of skilled, empathic, and confidential services to help people make real and positive changes in their lives. Kim also strives for a service that is user-friendly by providing a comfortable, non-threatening, and non-clinical environment in her office in High River for those who may have never gone for counselling, coaching, and mediation and find the process intimidating. Kim knows that trust and credibility are absolutely vital to the process and, in this sense, continually seeks to provide the highest level of service and confidentiality to her clients. To further increase availability and ease of use, Kim’s working hours are flexible and include evenings and Saturdays by agreement to accommodate her client’s busy and unique schedules.

One thing which is clearly evident in Kim is the passion, dedication, and empathy she has for her clients. She believes everyone faces problems in life from time to time and that each person, no matter their circumstances, deserves quality service, respect, confidentiality, and hope for the future. Kim’s business, REAL Consulting, strives to provide just that by helping make a real difference in people’s lives.

Recently she completed 167 hours of coaching training through Tony Robbins and completed certification in Unleash the Power Within (UPW.) This experience impacted her learning as a life coach and birthed her desire to write a book. Strongly passionate with concern for clients engaging in the Family Court system, including mandated and non-mandated mediation and counselling, she observed breakdown in systems leading to negative cause and effect outcomes in clients’ lives. To this end, Kim is writing a book, Candor, Truth and Personal Empowerment – Failing Systems in Parenting/Custody Dilemma to Radical Change.