Psychotherapy (sometimes called talk therapy) addresses personal difficulties and concerns. It gives you a space to speak openly and confidentially about your concerns and feelings with one of our trained professionals. Together with your therapist, you will develop a confidential and trusting relationship to discuss problematic thoughts, feelings or behaviours. There are many issues that psychotherapy can help, see our services page for a comprehensive list. Some common concerns in individual psychotherapy are: anxiety, depression, self-esteem, relationship issues, disordered eating, sleep difficulties, indecision, trauma, panic attacks, behaviour change, grief/loss, identity issues, and stress. While attending therapy can sometimes feel daunting and nerve wracking, our therapists job is to make you feel comfortable and able to share your thoughts and feelings. The therapeutic relationship is unique, unlike a friendship or a family relationship. The structure and uniqueness of the relationship, with strict boundaries and ethical guidelines, are what enable trust and create change in therapy.
Though CBT can be given as manualized treatment, our therapists are compassionate and supportive and get to know you and the presenting concern thoroughly, so that the CBT techniques they use will be meaningful and helpful.
The basic premise of CBT is that our thoughts influence our emotions. Thus, the goal of CBT is to change patterns of thinking and associated behaviours in order to improve mood and emotions. In line with the CBT model, your therapist will explore different troubling situations with you and discuss: your thoughts and images, physiological reactions, behaviours, and emotions for each situation. In the cognitive model, CBT imagines our thoughts as a tree. The trunk of the tree is made up of our “core beliefs”. These are our innate beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world. Some examples of core beliefs might include: “I am not good enough” , “the world is a dangerous place”, or “other people don’t care about me”. The branches of the tree are what CBT calls “intermediate beliefs”. These tend to be your “rules for living”. For example: “if I don’t get close to people I can’t get hurt”. Lastly, the leaves of the tree are our every day “automatic thoughts”. These are thoughts related to your core and intermediate beliefs that float through your head during the day. They tend to be quick, fleeting thoughts, for example: “I don’t think they like me”, or “that was a stupid thing to say”. Your therapist will then help you work on changing these cognitive processes and their associated behaviours. In addition to this basic premise of CBT, each presenting concern has specific techniques to help such as: diaphragmatic breathing, worry time, thought records, challenging automatic thoughts, identifying cognitive errors, schema change, behavioural activation, activity scheduling, grounding techniques, and response prevention, to name a few.
Couples therapy can be helpful wherever you are in the trajectory of your relationship. We offer therapy whether you are just beginning to date, in need of premarital counselling, working through ongoing challenges or transitions, or considering or experiencing separation/divorce, Our therapists provide a space to help you explore your needs and your role in your relationship and use this to create lasting change in relationship dynamics. Couples therapy can help establish common goals and create a safe space for each member of the couple to hear the other and feel heard. Our therapists focus on strengthening the foundation of your relationship and rebuilding friendship when there has been conflict and hurt. They use an active, strength-based, and, at times, structured approach to help you build important communication and relationship skills. They frequently offer thought provoking questions to create dialogue and re/connection and to find ways couples can support one another more effectively. Couples therapy can be helpful for a wide variety of concerns, including: communication, fighting, problem solving, infertility and pregnancy loss, long-distance, life transition, and affair recovery. Our therapists can also help you explore, proceed with, or recover from uncoupling. Additionally, we offer sex therapy for couples who are facing issues around intimacy and sexuality. Our services are LGBTQ-positive/queer-positive and poly-positive.
Families can have a significant impact on the way that we see ourselves and interact with others. When we feel safe, loved, and understood in our families, we are able to explore the world and take risks, knowing that we have a secure base to return to. There are many things that can get in the way of families functioning the way they used to, or the way they would prefer. Families often face challenges related to life transitions, separation/divorce, blended families, conflict, loss, changing roles and responsibilities, differing values, communication issues, and gaps in understanding one another. Issues that affect one person, such as mental health concerns, addiction, and disability, can significantly impact the whole family. Family therapy can help to establish common goals between family members and create a safe space for each member of the family to hear one another and feel heard. Our therapists are trained to be attuned to power dynamics that can sometimes make it challenging for family members to communicate and understand each other’s perspectives and needs. As family therapists, we help to explore the strengths and resources of your family, get at the root of issues, and find ways family members can support one another more effectively.
$170 per 75 minute session
We offer couples therapy for all types of partnerships and concerns. Our therapists focus on strengthening the foundation of your relationship and rebuilding friendship when there has been conflict and hurt. They can further address your needs around premarital counselling, arguing, communication, problem solving, and infidelity. We also help individuals and couples with issues around separation and divorce.
With both Gottman Method and Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy, our therapists give you the opportunity to consider yourself and your relationship from a new perspective, and learn new skills and ways of thinking that will enable you to move forward.
We offer virtual therapy sessions for individuals and couples through a secure video chat program.
We offer phone sessions for your convenience when in-person or virtual sessions are not possible.