My Approach To Therapy

I strongly believe in your right to self-determination and personal choice.  Working together you and I will get a clear understanding of the issues you want to address in therapy, identify your related goals for positive change, and develop a treatment plan to help get you there.  While I will thoughtfully tailor your therapy to your unique needs and goals and what you bring to each session, the therapy I provide is always person-centered, trauma-informed, strengths-based and informed by evidence-based approaches, including:  Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT); Solution-Focused Therapy; Dialectical-Behavioural Therapy (DBT); Mindfulness-Based Therapy; Motivational Interviewing; Narrative Therapy; Attachment Theory; Gottman Method Couples Therapy.

I also firmly believe that knowledge is power.  That’s why I typically incorporate some relevant information about neuroscience and how your brain works into the therapy I provide.  Understanding why you think, feel, and behave the way you do is an important step in developing meaningful and sustainable ways of coping or changing, and will also enable you to find more self-compassion, leading to healthier and happier relationships with yourself and others.  

You will regularly leave each session with something tangible to apply to your daily life: something to think about, something to try, something to read, or another tool to begin making the small changes that add up to big transformation.

All that said, research shows that the most important aspect of successful therapy is the quality of the therapeutic relationship rather than the specific therapeutic techniques used.

So, I encourage you to read on to learn a little more about my philosophy to see if I might be the right therapist for you.

I believe therapy takes courage and involves hard work.  I also believe it is a worthwhile endeavour if you’re looking to make enduring changes that will enrich and enhance your life and help you thrive.  Experience has shown me that therapy can be the catalyst to healthy and positive changes; I also know it can be perceived as a very intimidating process.  Although therapy should always feel "safe," I know even positive change can be stressful. I understand how difficult it can be to talk about how you’re feeling. It can be overwhelming, and sometimes you’re not even sure where to start.  I know that for many people, I’m the first person they open up to; I respect and honour that privilege for what it is.  I will give you the time and space to explore areas of your life that you’re struggling with and meet you wherever you are on your mental health journey. Together, we will first develop a trusting relationship which will provide a solid foundation for our work together.  With your specific needs and goals guiding the time that we spend together, my job is to create a non-judgmental, collaborative space for you to feel comfortable exploring the issues you’re facing and to help ensure our time together is useful to you in shaping a positive, happier future.

Human beings are fascinatingly complicated and unique.  And so are the issues that bring them to therapy.  Therefore, I use a comprehensive approach to therapy and conceptualize things from a biopsychosocial perspective taking into consideration complex interactions of biological (e.g., genetic, neurochemical) and environmental (e.g., trauma, unmet needs) factors as well as your unique identity and life experience. I also rely on the principles of neuroscience and draw upon a variety of evidence-based theoretical orientations, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Gottman Method Couples Therapy.  As no one person or partnership is the same, I integrate components from multiple theoretical modalities and develop a personalized, distinctive approach for each individual or couple. I strongly believe that while founded in science, therapy itself is both a science and an art and part of the artfulness is in understanding how to adapt my knowledge and services to best meet your needs.