Our Specializations
Trauma And PTSD
A natural response to going through a difficult and traumatic event or situation, is to start questioning your own life and the intentions of others around you.
You might feel alone in dealing with the social stigma that is attached to experiencing intense emotions, and you might experience strong reactions such as nightmares, flashbacks, loss of concentration, memory problems and loss of interest in usual activities.
You might feel anger for what happened, but also feel guilt and wonder if you could have done something more. You might be in shock about the details, but also feel confused trying to understand what happened.
Some people develop their own, less healthy ways of dealing with trauma. They might feel they need to unwind at the end of the day with a bottle of wine or a case of beer. Others may find that they cannot fall asleep or have a restful sleep without using medication or drugs.
In our sessions, we will focus on recovering from your trauma and finding ways to move you from feeling stuck to moving forward in life. We will look at coping strategies to coach you through this difficult time in your life. And we will explore how your core belief systems have been altered due to this experience.
To make sure the process of recovery will go smoothly, we might schedule weekly 1.5 hour sessions and will ask you to practice at home what you have learned in your sessions. This is to ensure that the coping techniques and skills will become easy for you to use when you feel you need a little extra help.
All our sessions start with a free phone consultation. In this phone call you can ask us any questions you may have about therapy, what you’d like to work on in therapy, and anything else related to therapy. This conversation also serves as an assessment to discover which one of our therapists might be best suited to help and work with you.
Many people report feeling a mix of nervousness and relief associated with the first session, as they are ready to get help but are unsure of what to expect and how they will feel. After the first session, people are often pleased with the sense of relief and newfound optimism that they feel from having “the tough part” over with.
In the sessions that follow, psychotherapy often has a fairly structured framework that is explained to each client so you are comfortable knowing what to expect from our time together. Our sessions are tailored to your needs and your goals, which we will explore in our first appointment.
Whatever your struggle is, psychotherapy is a helpful way to sort out your difficulties and learn tools and skills to manage life’s challenges. These tools can continue to help you long beyond therapy and help you navigate whatever the future brings.
We all have moments in our life’s where we feel anxious, or overwhelmed, or an immense sense of sadness. We also all have experiences in which we doubt our own abilities, or we wonder if people are judging us, or we would rather stay at home than meet-up with our friends. We may even go through a phase where we are terrified of spiders or driving in traffic.
Anxiety Disorders
However, when these feelings take over our life’s and it seems like we have no control over our thoughts or emotions, counseling can help to get your life back on track.
Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety-related thoughts can come in different shapes and forms, such as
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Phobias
- Obsessive and Compulsive Disorders
- What-if thoughts
- Fear of Judgement
- Fear of Exclusion
- Worst-Case Scenario Thoughts
Sometimes, anxiety can lead to experiencing panic attacks. Other times, anxiety can lead to a sense of overwhelming dread and stuckness.
People develop different ways of coping with their anxiety. What we see most often is that people have developed a tendency to avoid what causes them to feel anxious. This might mean isolating from friends and family, creating compulsions or habits to deal the anxiety, or sometimes depending on medication or drugs to numb all feelings.
In our sessions, we will focus our work on the goals we identify during our first session. In each of our subsequent sessions, we will explore a new coping technique which you will practice at home. Therapy is not a one-size-fits-all, and so practicing what we discuss in our sessions is vital for a positive therapy outcome. We might look into different therapy modalities, such as Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, EMDR, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or Narrative Therapy.
Here’s what you can expect from our work together:
• Caring and confidential conversations about why and how your brain is making you feel these painful emotions;
• A therapy plan that is tailored to your goals and your needs;
• You will discover and practice coping techniques that will help you see yourself and the world in a more pleasant and exciting light;
• We will set up personal experiments so you get the chance to put into practice what we discuss in our sessions;
• You will learn skills to help you change your mindset and shift your perception to experience life more positively.
Are you ready to start making some life-altering personal changes?
Coping With Grief And Loss
There is no right way to grieve, and no-one grief’s a like. Over the decades, many theories have been developed around grief leading to the 7 stages, or the 5 stages, or the 3 stages of grief. We experience grief for the death of a loved one, over the break-up of a relationship, after a divorce, and after retirement. Grief is not fun, but it is a vital human experience we need to go through and make space for.
Because going through the process of grief is painful and without a time indication, many people try to avoid grief. Some people use alcohol or drugs to numb the emotional pain, others keep themselves extra busy with work or household chores. One important feature of grief to remember, is that experiencing one loss triggers them all.
During an initial phone consultation, we will discuss what to expect from therapy and answer any questions you may have regarding the therapy process or administrative side of therapy. This conversation will assess which one of our therapists will be best suited to help you through your grief therapy journey.
Our top priority in helping you move forward from your loss, is to guide you into developing positive coping skills. Most of these techniques with have a foundation in Mindfulness-Based Therapy, meaning that we look at the brain-body connection to discover where you hold tension and what this signals to your brain. We will ask you to practice at home what you have learned in your sessions. This is to ensure that the coping techniques and skills will become easy for you to use when you feel you need a little extra help.
A vital part contributing to the success of therapy, is that we work towards goals that are important to you. During our first appointment we will be exploring what you are hoping to work on in therapy. Your therapist will have an idea of what to work towards, but it’s not about what the therapist feels you need, but what you would like to get out of herapy.
Many people report feeling a mix of nervousness and relief associated with the first session, as they are ready to get elp but are unsure of what to expect and how they will feel. After the first session, people are often pleased with the sense of relief and newfound optimism that they feel from having “the tough part” over with.
Book A Free ConsultationIn the sessions that follow, psychotherapy often has a fairly structured framework that is explained to each client so you are comfortable knowing what to expect from our time together. Our sessions are tailored to your needs and your goals, which we will explore in our first appointment.