I provide counselling to clients 18 and over for $130 per hour. I understand that many people find the current rates for counselling to be too expensive, and I am open to discussing different fee structures and rates with those that may need more support.

In the case of missing a session or cancelling less than ten hours before your session begins, you will be charged the full fee ($130).

If you cancel within 48 hours in advance of your session you will be charged $75.

All cancellations prior to the 48 hours in advance of your session will be done free of charge.

When working with me, it is expected that clients pay immediately after the session. This is done through the OWL clinical platform where clients add a credit or debit card upon registration. I do not accept cash payments.

I am currently located in Toronto, Ontario, in the historic Wrigley building at 235 Carlaw Avenue on floor five, suite 588 and see people online and in person. I use the OWL clinical platform for online sessions and billing.

First and foremost, I am an integrative therapist. I do not believe there is a ‘one size fits all’ approach to counselling. With every client I continue to assess their goals and needs and incorporate numerous different perspectives into case conceptualization and treatment. I also emphasize that your input, not just theory, is paramount to treatment process. I also regularly research and seek consultation and supervision on my current cases to ensure that my clients receive the best care possible. It is also paramount that my clients know that their input into the counselling process is welcomed by me at points of treatment, and that they have control into how treatment moves forward.

Please consider reading about the approaches and use and perspectives that I consider when working with you below.

Integrative Approach to Counselling

Integrative psychotherapy is a flexible and holistic approach that combines elements from various therapeutic modalities to tailor treatment to the individual needs of each client. This method recognizes that no single therapeutic approach is effective for everyone, and that integrating different techniques can enhance the healing process.

Key Features

Eclectic Approach: Integrative psychotherapy draws from multiple schools of thought, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, humanistic approaches, and systemic therapy. This eclecticism allows therapists to utilize the most appropriate techniques based on the client’s unique situation.

Client-Centered Focus: The therapist takes into account the client’s preferences, goals, and life experiences. This personalized approach fosters a collaborative relationship where clients feel heard and empowered.

Holistic Understanding: Integrative therapy considers the whole person, including emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational aspects. It recognizes that psychological issues often interconnect with physical, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Adaptability: Therapists can adjust their methods as therapy progresses, incorporating different techniques and strategies that align with the client’s evolving needs and responses.

Therapeutic Techniques

Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques: Used to identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, promoting practical problem-solving and emotional regulation.

Psychodynamic Techniques: Focus on exploring past experiences, unconscious processes, and relational patterns to enhance self-awareness and emotional insight.

Humanistic Approaches: Emphasize self-exploration, personal growth, and the therapeutic relationship, fostering a safe environment for clients to express themselves.

Mindfulness and Body-Based Approaches: Techniques that incorporate mindfulness, somatic practices, or meditation can help clients become more aware of their bodily sensations and emotional states.

Goals

Personalized Treatment: By integrating different methods, therapists can create a treatment plan that resonates with the client’s unique issues and goals.

Enhanced Self-Awareness: Clients gain deeper insights into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, fostering greater self-understanding.

Improved Coping Skills: By learning and practicing diverse techniques, clients develop a wider range of tools to manage their emotional and psychological challenges.

Integrative psychotherapy offers a comprehensive and adaptive approach to mental health care, recognizing the complexity of human experience. By combining various therapeutic techniques, it aims to provide a more effective and personalized healing journey, ultimately promoting well-being and personal growth.

Person-Centered Therapy (PCT), developed by Carl Rogers, is a humanistic approach that emphasizes the individual’s capacity for self-direction and personal growth. Here are its key components:

Core Conditions PCT is grounded in three essential conditions that the therapist must provide:

Unconditional Positive Regard: Acceptance and support regardless of what the client says or does.
Empathy: Deep understanding and sharing of the client’s feelings and experiences.
Congruence: Authenticity and transparency from the therapist, ensuring that their feelings and responses align with what they express.

Client-Centered Focus The therapy is centered on the client’s experiences and feelings. Clients are encouraged to explore their thoughts and emotions in a safe environment, allowing them to gain insights and make meaningful choices.

Self-Actualization PCT posits that individuals have an inherent drive toward self-actualization, which is the realization of their full potential. The therapy aims to facilitate this process by helping clients connect with their true selves.

Non-Directive Approach The therapist takes a non-directive stance, allowing clients to lead the conversation. This empowers clients to explore their issues at their own pace, fostering a sense of agency.

Therapeutic Relationship The quality of the relationship between therapist and client is crucial. A strong, trusting bond enables deeper exploration and healing.

Overall, Person-Centered Therapy promotes personal growth, self-acceptance, and emotional well-being, making it effective for a wide range of psychological issues.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, time-limited psychotherapeutic approach that focuses on the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Here are its key features:

Cognitive Restructuring CBT helps individuals identify and challenge negative or distorted thoughts (cognitive distortions) that contribute to emotional distress. By reframing these thoughts, clients can develop a more balanced perspective.

Behavioral Activation The therapy encourages individuals to engage in positive activities that can improve mood and reduce avoidance behaviors. This might include scheduling pleasurable activities or confronting fears gradually.

Goal-Oriented and Problem-Solving CBT is typically focused on specific goals and practical solutions. Therapists work collaboratively with clients to identify issues and develop strategies to address them.

Skills Development Clients learn coping skills and techniques, such as mindfulness, relaxation strategies, and problem-solving skills, to manage symptoms and improve resilience.

Structured Sessions CBT sessions are usually structured with a clear agenda, including homework assignments that reinforce learning and practice outside of therapy.

Empirical Support CBT is backed by extensive research and is effective for a variety of conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and OCD.

Overall, CBT empowers individuals to take an active role in their mental health by changing maladaptive thought patterns and behaviors, leading to improved emotional well-being

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a specialized form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) primarily used to treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders. Here are its key components:

Exposure ERP involves gradually exposing individuals to the thoughts, situations, or objects that trigger their anxiety (known as obsessions). This exposure is done in a controlled and systematic manner, starting with less anxiety-provoking scenarios and progressively moving to more challenging ones.

Response Prevention After exposure, the individual is encouraged to refrain from engaging in compulsive behaviors or rituals that they typically use to alleviate their anxiety. This helps them learn to tolerate the anxiety without resorting to these behaviors.

Hierarchy of Fears Clients often create a fear hierarchy, listing situations that provoke anxiety from least to most distressing. This allows for a structured approach to exposure, where the client can gradually work through their fears at a manageable pace.

Cognitive Restructuring While the primary focus is on exposure and prevention of compulsions, ERP may also include cognitive strategies to help clients challenge and reframe irrational beliefs associated with their fears.

Building Tolerance The goal of ERP is to help individuals build tolerance to anxiety over time, reducing the intensity of their fears and the compulsive behaviors associated with them.

Therapeutic Support A therapist guides the client through the process, providing support, encouragement, and strategies to manage anxiety during exposure tasks.

ERP is considered one of the most effective treatments for OCD, helping individuals gain control over their symptoms and improve their overall quality of life.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a structured, evidence-based treatment developed by Marsha Linehan, primarily designed for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) but effective for various mental health issues. Here are its key features:

Dialectical Philosophy DBT is based on the idea of balancing opposites, such as acceptance and change. It helps clients accept their current experiences while working towards personal growth and behavioral change.

Core Components DBT consists of four main modules:
Mindfulness: Teaching clients to be present and aware of their thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment.
Distress Tolerance: Developing skills to tolerate painful emotions and crises without resorting to harmful behaviors.
Emotional Regulation: Learning to identify and manage intense emotions, reducing emotional vulnerability and increasing emotional resilience.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: Building skills for effective communication and relationship management, helping clients assert their needs while maintaining healthy relationships.

Individual Therapy and Skills Training DBT typically involves both one-on-one therapy and group skills training sessions. Individual therapy focuses on personal issues, while group sessions teach and practice DBT skills.

Phone Coaching Clients can access support between sessions through phone coaching, helping them apply skills in real-life situations.

Therapeutic Alliance The relationship between the therapist and client is essential. DBT emphasizes validation, understanding, and a non-judgmental approach to create a safe environment for growth.

Focus on Behavioral Change DBT places importance on changing harmful behaviors, particularly self-destructive or impulsive actions, while also fostering acceptance and self-compassion.

DBT has been shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of BPD, self-harm, and suicidal behaviors, and it can also benefit individuals with anxiety, depression, and other emotional regulation challenges.

Attachment Theory, developed by John Bowlby and further expanded by Mary Ainsworth, explores the dynamics of long-term relationships and how early interactions with caregivers shape emotional development and interpersonal relationships. In counseling, Attachment Theory provides a framework for understanding clients’ behaviors, emotions, and relationship patterns. Here are its key components:

Attachment Styles Individuals typically develop one of four attachment styles based on their early experiences:

Secure: Characterized by trust and healthy relationships. Securely attached individuals are comfortable with intimacy and independence.
Anxious: Marked by fear of abandonment and a preoccupation with relationships. Anxiously attached individuals may seek constant reassurance and validation.
Avoidant: Often exhibit discomfort with closeness and may prioritize independence over intimacy. They may suppress emotions and avoid dependency on others.
Disorganized: A combination of anxious and avoidant behaviors, often resulting from trauma or inconsistent caregiving. Disorganized individuals may have difficulty managing emotions and relationships.

Understanding Patterns In counseling, therapists use Attachment Theory to help clients identify and understand their attachment styles and how these influence their current relationships, emotional responses, and coping strategies.

Healing Through Relationships The therapeutic relationship itself can serve as a corrective emotional experience. A secure, supportive bond with the therapist allows clients to explore their attachment issues and develop healthier relational patterns.

Emotional Regulation Attachment Theory highlights the importance of emotional regulation. Counselors can help clients develop skills to manage their emotions effectively, particularly if they have experienced insecure attachments in childhood.

Interventions Therapists may use various interventions to address attachment-related issues, such as:

Exploring family history and early relationships.
Identifying and reframing negative beliefs about oneself and others.
Developing communication and relational skills.

Impact on Mental Health Attachment styles can significantly influence mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties. Understanding these patterns allows for targeted interventions.

Object Relations Theory is a psychoanalytic framework that focuses on the internalized relationships individuals have with significant others (objects) and how these relationships shape their emotional and psychological functioning. Developed by theorists like Melanie Klein and Ronald Fairbairn, this theory emphasizes the importance of early childhood experiences in forming one’s sense of self and interpersonal dynamics. Here’s how it applies to counseling:

Key Components

Internal Objects: According to Object Relations Theory, individuals internalize their experiences with primary caregivers and significant figures, creating “internal objects.” These internal representations influence their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in relationships throughout life.

Relationships and Identity: The theory posits that early relationships shape not only how individuals perceive themselves but also how they relate to others. Patterns of interaction with caregivers can lead to various relational styles in adulthood.

Defense Mechanisms: Individuals often use defense mechanisms to manage the anxiety stemming from their internal object relationships. Common defenses include splitting (viewing others as all good or all bad), projection, and introjection.

Therapeutic Relationship: The counseling relationship itself is crucial. Therapists become a “transitional object,” allowing clients to explore and reprocess past relationships in a safe environment. This can facilitate healing and growth.

Counseling Applications

Exploring Early Relationships: Therapists may guide clients to reflect on their childhood experiences and how these have influenced their current behaviors and relationships. This exploration helps clients identify patterns that may be unhelpful or maladaptive.

Understanding Projections: Clients often project feelings about significant others onto the therapist. By examining these projections, clients can gain insights into their internal conflicts and relational patterns.

Building New Relationships: The therapeutic relationship allows clients to practice healthier relational dynamics. By experiencing a supportive, nonjudgmental relationship with the therapist, clients can develop new ways of relating to others.

Emotional Awareness: Clients are encouraged to become aware of their emotional responses and the underlying internal objects that may be influencing these feelings. This awareness can lead to greater emotional regulation and healthier relationships.

Integration of Self: The goal is to help clients integrate fragmented aspects of their self-concept and develop a more cohesive and secure sense of identity.

Object Relations Theory in counseling emphasizes the impact of early relationships on current emotional and relational functioning. By exploring and understanding these dynamics, clients can work toward healing, greater self-awareness, and healthier interpersonal relationships.

Psychodynamic counseling is a therapeutic approach rooted in psychodynamic theory, which emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind, early childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships on an individual’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Here are its key components:

Key Concepts

Unconscious Processes: Psychodynamic counseling posits that much of our behavior is influenced by unconscious thoughts and feelings. These may stem from unresolved conflicts, repressed memories, or unmet needs from childhood.

Early Relationships: The theory emphasizes the impact of early relationships, particularly with caregivers, on personality development and emotional functioning. Patterns established in childhood often carry into adult relationships.

Defense Mechanisms: Individuals use various defense mechanisms to cope with anxiety and protect themselves from emotional pain. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial in helping clients recognize how they might be hindering their growth.

Transference and Countertransference: Transference occurs when clients project feelings and attitudes from past relationships onto the therapist. Countertransference refers to the therapist’s emotional reactions to the client. Both concepts are explored to gain insight into relational patterns.

Counseling Process

Exploration of Thoughts and Feelings: Clients are encouraged to discuss their thoughts, feelings, dreams, and memories freely. This exploration helps uncover underlying issues and patterns.

Interpretation: The therapist may offer interpretations to help clients understand the connections between their past experiences and current behaviors. This process can illuminate unconscious motives and facilitate insight.

Therapeutic Relationship: The relationship between the therapist and client is central. A safe, supportive environment allows clients to explore difficult emotions and gain new perspectives on their relationships.

Long-Term Focus: While some psychodynamic counseling can be brief, it often involves longer-term work, allowing for deeper exploration of complex issues and patterns.

Goals

Increased Self-Awareness: Clients gain insight into their unconscious motivations and emotional struggles, leading to greater self-understanding.

Emotional Regulation: By understanding the roots of their emotions, clients can learn to manage them more effectively.

Improved Relationships: Exploring past relationships helps clients identify and change unhelpful relational patterns, fostering healthier connections with others.

Psychodynamic counseling offers a profound exploration of the self, focusing on how past experiences shape present behavior. By bringing unconscious conflicts to light, clients can work through emotional challenges, ultimately leading to personal growth and improved relational dynamics.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a type of psychotherapy that combines mindfulness and behavioral strategies to help individuals create a meaningful life while accepting the difficulties that come with it. Here are its key components:

Key Features

Acceptance: ACT encourages clients to accept their thoughts and feelings rather than fighting against them. This acceptance helps individuals recognize that these experiences are a natural part of life.

Mindfulness: Mindfulness practices are central to ACT, promoting present-moment awareness and helping clients observe their thoughts and emotions without judgment. This fosters a non-reactive stance toward internal experiences.

Values Clarification: Clients are guided to identify their core values—what truly matters to them. This process helps align actions with these values, providing direction and motivation.

Commitment to Action: ACT emphasizes taking committed action toward achieving goals that reflect one’s values. This involves setting specific, actionable steps and facing fears or obstacles that may arise.

Cognitive Diffusion: Clients learn to separate themselves from their thoughts, viewing them as mental events rather than absolute truths. This technique helps reduce the impact of negative thoughts on behavior.

Therapeutic Process

Building Awareness: Therapists guide clients to develop greater awareness of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, encouraging them to notice these experiences without becoming overwhelmed.

Identifying Values: Through discussions and exercises, clients explore their values and how they can live in accordance with them, even in the presence of difficult thoughts and feelings.

Taking Action: Clients are encouraged to set goals that align with their values and take steps toward achieving them, even if they experience discomfort or fear.

Fostering Flexibility: ACT promotes psychological flexibility—the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and respond effectively to challenges.

Goals

Increased Psychological Flexibility: Clients learn to navigate their thoughts and feelings more effectively, reducing avoidance and enhancing resilience.

Meaningful Living: By aligning actions with values, individuals can create a more fulfilling and meaningful life, even in the face of adversity.

Improved Well-Being: ACT aims to enhance overall psychological health by helping clients develop a compassionate and accepting relationship with their inner experiences.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy empowers individuals to embrace their thoughts and feelings while committing to actions that reflect their deepest values. By fostering mindfulness and psychological flexibility, ACT helps clients lead more meaningful lives, despite the challenges they may face.