+ What are your areas of focus?

My Psychotherapy practice has focused on working individually with adults who are ready to heal and cultivate a life they may have never imagined by being open-minded to a new way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. I work with adults who are ready to reach within themselves in a safe way allowing them to emerge from the experience in a way that leaves them feeling confident to live each and every day, with the ability to face the challenges each and every day presents. Sometimes that means starting to learn how to feel. Much of the work completed with couples and families is completed on an individual basis as well. Healing of the mind, body, and soul can come from targeted work in the areas of anxiety, anger, addiction, stress, frustration, despair, guilt, and shame.

Another part of my practice focuses on the specific experiences of entrepreneurs and business owners who may be struggling physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Helping you to heal in these areas can help you to explode in your business, build the free you have been looking for, and thrive in your personal life and relationships.

+ How long will I need to participate in therapy before I feel better?

Clients often report that they begin to feel better after only working with a therapist for one session. This is not to say that their issue has completely been resolved, but you may find that speaking openly with a non-judgemental and supportive individual, such as a therapist, provides you with some relief almost immediately.

Depending on the reason you are seeking counselling services, effective therapy typically takes 5-12 sessions, and sometimes longer to complete. Goal setting with your therapist will enable you to have a clear plan for where you would like your sessions and therapy experience to go. Together, you and I can determine what will fit best given your goals for therapy.

+ What can I expect to happen in a therapy session?

The first therapy session is unlike other sessions as it’s a time for both myself and you to get to know one another. The majority of the session is spent with me collecting information about your past, and specifically your experiences related to what you’ve come to therapy to work on – when did it start, what’s happened since, what have you tried that works and doesn’t work, etc. We will also discuss what your goals are and what you’d like to achieve from our work together. This allows me to capture what we’ll be working on and I can then take what I know to collaboratively create a plan of how we’ll work to meet your goals together in therapy.

The first session is also a time to begin developing our working relationship. Trust is incredibly important in therapy and it all starts in the first session. With time, this relationship can grow to be a powerful container for you to explore parts of yourself that you may never have, and make changes in your life that you might never imagined possible.

Sessions after this will be focused on working towards your therapy goals. I firmly believe that you as a client are the expert in your own life. I also believe that well-being is achieved through the act of being well. While I provide my clinical knowledge, wisdom, and support to try what might be too scary for you to try on your own, you know yourself better than anyone. Together, we’ll utilize various therapeutic techniques, with feedback from you on what you find to be the most helpful.

As a therapist and working with clients who have experienced trauma, I always take care in my sessions to be helpful and not harmful. This includes taking steps to ensure that my clients are grounded in session and not using techniques that may lead to re-traumatization. If this is a concern for you, it is important to speak about it.

+ Do you offer e-counselling/online counselling?

Therapy sessions can be done in-person, over the phone, or via video conference for e-therapy/online counselling/tele-health/tele-therapy.

+ What are your hours?

Therapy session options are provided to fit the different needs of clients with day and evening appointments available.

+ What are the costs of seeing a psychotherapist?

Costs of sessions is dependent on the length of each session and whether the client is attending individually or with a partner or family member. Sessions are subject to applicable taxes and increases. As a Registered Psychotherapist my fees are as follows:

Individual Session, 50 minutes - $110

Couple/Family Session, 70 minutes - $165

Sliding-scale options are not currently available.

+ Do you accept Extended-Health Insurance coverage?

Some employee benefit insurance programs cover the costs with seeing a Registered Psychotherapist; however, not all do. You will need to check with your insurance company and group plan to ensure what type of coverage you have. If your employee benefit insurance plan does cover these services, you will be required to make payment and will need to submit a copy of your receipt to them. Payments are due at the beginning or end of each session.

+ What type of payment do you accept for counselling services?

You are able to pay for your session by cash, debit, credit card, or email money transfer, at the beginning or end of your session.

+ If I need medication, or diagnosis, can you prescribe or refer me to someone who does?

The decision to begin medication to treat your mental health concern is ultimately your own, under the supervision of your medical doctor as I do not diagnose or prescribe. If you do not currently have a family doctor, I would be happy to assist you in this search. Working with a counsellor is highly recommended, even when a client is prescribed medications. While the medication may help subside some of the unpleasant symptoms of the mental health issue you are experiencing, working with a counsellor will enable you to identify the unhelpful traps you have fallen into in the past, learn new strategies for coping more effectively and support your transition should you and your medical doctor choose to discontinue medication use at any time.

This being said, there are some mental health issues that require consistent medical monitoring and medication to treat, and unfortunately, counselling alone will not remedy this. Talk to your counsellor and medical doctor before making any decisions about beginning or stopping a medication regime.

Besides counselling therapists, there are also other mental health professionals who may be of help to you.

+ Do you give homework or reading to do between sessions?

Homework can be beneficial for some and not for others. Self-work is done during therapy sessions together and will often be productive. However, various triggers, people, environments, and contexts that contribute and are affected by what you have come to work on, are not in the therapy office. This process is practical and much of the work is completed outside of the therapy office. Well-being is achieved through the act of being well. Homework will be tailored to your needs and may help to reinforce what you have learned from sessions; providing an opportunity to practice what you have learned in your everyday life. We will come up with a plan for this together, so you have support, input, and feedback on what you think will work best for you. Sometimes you won’t know and that is absolutely ok, it’s part of the process. We will fine tune the skills and adjust as needed. Although I appreciate the privilege of being able to help you to acquire the tools you need so you can enjoy the benefit of improving your life, the aim here is to equip you with the tools you need from within, so that you move towards a reliance and trust in yourself.