IS COUNSELLING FOR ME?
Services
Areas of Expertise and Styles of Counselling
Counselling is collaborative and tailored to your individual circumstances rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. Together, we will identify the issues that are affecting your life, understand the patterns that may be keeping you stuck, and develop practical strategies that you can apply in your everyday life. The goal is to provide support that is compassionate and understanding while remaining focused on meaningful, sustainable change.
More information about the areas of my expertise and styles of counselling that I use are listed in the following two sections. More information and further reading about both can be found in the resources page of this website.
01.
Areas of Expertise
Anxiety
Relationships
ADHD
Addictions
Depression
02.
Styles of Counselling
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Existential Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
01.
Areas of Expertise
Find out more about each of my areas of research and training here.
LONELINESS AND CONFLICT
Relationships
Close relationships can provide some of the deepest experiences of connection, intimacy, and support, while also being a significant source of conflict, frustration, and emotional distress. Patterns of communication are often shaped by past experiences, learned behaviours, and social and cultural influences, which can sometimes result in ineffective or unhelpful ways of relating to others.
Counselling provides an opportunity to examine these patterns and develop greater awareness of how communication may be contributing to relationship difficulties. By exploring challenging interactions together, we can identify recurring communication patterns, clarify underlying needs and expectations, and consider alternative ways of expressing thoughts, emotions, and boundaries. Through this process, you can develop communication strategies that are authentic to you while promoting greater clarity, assertiveness, mutual understanding, and respect. The goal is to help you communicate more effectively, strengthen your relationships, and respond to interpersonal challenges in ways that are consistent with your values and desired outcomes.
WORRY AND STRESS
Anxiety
My own experience of working through trauma-related, generalized, and social anxiety has provided me with a deeper understanding of the challenges associated with anxiety and the process of developing effective coping strategies. I recognize that working through anxiety can be a gradual and sometimes difficult process, particularly when fear and avoidance have become established patterns. At the same time, personal experience has shown me that meaningful change is possible and that reducing the impact of anxiety can create greater freedom, confidence, and engagement with life.
In counselling, we will work collaboratively to understand how anxiety affects your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and daily functioning, and identify practical strategies that are manageable within your individual circumstances. The goal is to take gradual, sustainable steps toward reducing the influence of fear and supporting improved confidence, well-being, and quality of life.
FRUSTRATION AND CONFUSION
ADHD
Living with ADHD/ADD can provide a unique perspective on the challenges, strengths, and misunderstandings that often accompany the condition. Having been diagnosed with ADHD at an early age, I have personal experience of how ADHD can affect individuals across different stages of life. This lived experience, combined with professional understanding, allows me to approach counselling with empathy and an appreciation for the ways ADHD can influence education, employment, relationships, organization, emotional regulation, and everyday functioning.
ADHD/ADD is often misunderstood, and individuals may be unfairly described as lazy, careless, unmotivated, or unintelligent when they are actually working extremely hard to manage challenges that others may not see. Counselling can provide an opportunity to develop a clearer understanding of how ADHD affects your individual experience and to distinguish ADHD-related challenges from difficulties that may have other contributing factors.
An ADHD diagnosis does not define an individual’s abilities or limitations. Many people with ADHD also identify significant strengths, such as creativity, curiosity, problem-solving ability, enthusiasm, adaptability, and the capacity for intense focus when engaged in areas of interest. Understanding both challenges and strengths can help individuals make more informed decisions about education, career development, relationships, routines, and living environments that support their well-being and allow them to function at their best.
Counselling can also help you examine how ADHD interacts with other aspects of your mental and emotional health. Rather than applying strategies that assume everyone thinks, processes information, or responds to their environment in the same way, we can explore approaches that are practical, realistic, and compatible with the way your brain works. This may involve developing strategies for organization, time management, emotional regulation, communication, motivation, task initiation, or managing overwhelm.
The goal is not to change who you are or force you to function according to expectations that may not fit your needs. Instead, counselling can help you better understand yourself, recognize your strengths, identify the challenges that are most relevant to your ADHD, and develop individualized strategies for creating greater confidence, effectiveness, and satisfaction in your personal, academic, and professional life.
ISOLATION AND REMORSE
Addictions
For more than 20 years, I have worked with individuals affected by substance use, behavioural addictions, and other process disorders, including experience at Edgewood Treatment Centre, a well-regarded treatment facility in North America. Through this work, I have developed a deep understanding of the complex and individual nature of addiction and recovery. I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to develop a life characterized by greater well-being, connection, and a sense of inner stability without relying on substances or behaviours as their primary means of coping or finding comfort.
Recovery is not a one-size-fits-all process, and each individual’s experiences, circumstances, strengths, and goals are unique. Counselling provides an opportunity to work collaboratively to understand the factors contributing to addictive patterns, develop healthier coping strategies, and identify meaningful and sustainable steps toward greater balance, autonomy, and fulfillment. My goal is to support you in discovering an approach to recovery that is personally meaningful and helps you move toward greater freedom and quality of life.
SADNESS AND HOPELESSNESS
Depression
Both persistent and situational experiences of depression can be difficult to navigate without appropriate support. My own experience of working through depression, as well as witnessing others face similar challenges, has given me a personal understanding of how difficult it can be to recognize the factors contributing to low mood and feelings of discouragement. At times, individuals may know that something is not right without being able to identify exactly what is contributing to their distress.
Counselling can provide a supportive and non-judgmental space to explore these experiences, examine patterns that may be maintaining emotional difficulties, and develop a clearer understanding of the underlying concerns. Through collaborative conversation and reflection, we can work toward identifying the factors that may be keeping you feeling stuck and explore practical steps that can support greater well-being, direction, and engagement with life.
TIME FOR A CHANGE
Career Counselling
While some of my clients are graduating university and looking for direction in their future plans, other clients are just at a cross-roads in their life and need a change. Having worked in many different fields during my career, I understand how difficult it can be to figure out what to do next.
Talking through our values and aspirations is important, but there is more to selecting a career that will work for us than what online tests can tell us. Often when I am not sure what I should do with my career, I am in need of an outside perspective. By talking about my life situation with a counsellor, we can find where I am not noticing important talents and throw out options that are not right for me, though I may be telling myself that they ‘should’ be.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Socrates
02
Styles of Counselling
Find out more about each of my chosen modes of therapy here.
02.
Styles of Counselling
Find out more about each of my chosen modes of therapy here.
ONE AND DONE
Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
What is SFBT?
What problems is it used for?
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a goal-oriented approach that focuses on solutions, strengths, and existing resources rather than extensively exploring the origins of a problem. The emphasis is on what is happening now, what you want to change, and practical steps toward a preferred future. SFBT helps clients identify what is already working, recognize their abilities, and build on past successes and exceptions to current difficulties. By developing more effective ways of responding to challenges, clients can increase confidence, resilience, and a sense of personal agency.
- Depression and low mood
- Anxiety and worry
- Low self-esteem and confidence
- Personal and work-related stress
- Substance use and addictive behaviours
- Relationship difficulties
- Life transitions and adjustment
- Achieving personal goals
Is SFBT Right for Me?
What will therapy be like?
SFBT is particularly suited to individuals who have a specific concern they want to address or a meaningful goal they want to achieve. For more complex or severe psychiatric conditions, SFBT may be most appropriately used alongside other psychological or psychiatric treatment.
- Talk about the current issues you are experiencing
- Look for strengths you possess that can be used to solve the problem
- Identify specific tasks to use in the time between sessions to address the issue
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your attempts over the last week
- Adjust strategies to find another solution if the issue remains
- When the issue is resolved, we begin work on the next problem or end counselling
- We can restart counselling in the future when new problems arise
THE EASIEST WAY TO FEELING BETTER
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
What is CBT?
What problems is it used for?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented, and generally short-term approach based on the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. CBT helps clients identify unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour and develop more balanced and effective responses to challenging situations.
- Depression and anxiety
- Stress and anger
- Post-traumatic stress
- Obsessive-compulsive difficulties
- Relationship difficulties
- Chronic pain
- ADHD
- Substance use disorders
Is CBT Right for Me?
What will therapy be like?
CBT is an active form of counselling, and you will need to practise skills or complete exercises between sessions. This helps you apply what you learn to everyday situations and build greater confidence in managing challenges independently. Therapy primarily focuses on present-day concerns, although past experiences may be explored when they help explain current patterns. The goal is to develop practical skills that support meaningful and lasting change beyond counselling.
- Talk about the current issues you are experiencing
- Identify cognitive distortions, such as: all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing and personalization
- Decide which method will be most effective in your specific situation: altering the thoughts or altering the behaviours that are causing the specific negative emotions
- Make a plan as to what strategy you will implement in the time between sessions
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your attempts over the last week
- Adjust strategies to find another solution if the issue remains
- When the issue is resolved, we begin work on the next problem
- We can restart counselling in the future when new problems arise
JOY LIVES IN THE PRESENT MOMENT
Mindfulness-Based Therapy (MBT)
What is MBT?
What problems is it used for?
Mindfulness-Based Therapy involves intentionally paying attention to the present moment with openness and without judgment. It helps individuals become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behavioural patterns without automatically reacting to them.
- Depression and low mood
- Anxiety and worry
- Depression and low mood
- Anxiety
- Obsessive-compulsive difficulties
- Addictive behaviours and substance use
- Chronic stress
Is MBT Right for Me?
What will therapy be like?
Mindfulness does not necessarily require formal meditation. In counselling, we explore practical ways of developing present-moment awareness that fit naturally into everyday life. Different techniques work for different people, so we will identify approaches that are meaningful for you. For example, a reminder on your phone or watch can provide a cue to pause, notice your thoughts and physical sensations, and reconnect with the present moment. Other approaches may involve intentionally focusing attention during everyday activities or noticing when your attention has become absorbed in past experiences or future worries. The goal is to develop mindfulness skills that are accessible, sustainable, and useful in daily life.
- Talk about the current issues you are experiencing
- Motivate ourselves for change by looking for times when more present awareness would have helped the situation
- Identify mindfulness practices that will work for you in particular
- Make a plan to use these in the time between sessions
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your attempts over the last week
- Adjust strategies to find another solution if the issue remains
- Add more mindfulness techniques when appropriate
YOU ONLY GET ONE LIFE
Existential Therapy (ET)
What is ET?
What problems is it used for?
Existential therapy recognizes that uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness, loss, and questions about meaning are natural aspects of being human. These experiences are not necessarily signs of psychological dysfunction and, when explored constructively, can become opportunities for growth and change. In therapy, we confront the issues of uncertainty, mortality, responsibility, isolation, and meaning. A central goal is authenticity—living in a way that is consistent with one’s own values rather than being primarily driven by social expectations, fear, or the desire to please others. The goal is to achieve serenity and self-confidence through ego destruction and self-actualization.
- Depression and anxiety
- Stress and anger
- Obsessive-compulsive difficulties
- Relationship difficulties
- Chronic pain and associated distress
- Substance use disorders
- Suicidal ideation
- Grief and loss
Is ET Right for Me?
What will therapy be like?
Existential therapy may be particularly helpful when you are experiencing questions about meaning, identity, purpose, relationships, responsibility, or major life transitions. It can also support individuals experiencing anxiety, grief, loneliness, dissatisfaction, uncertainty, or a sense that their current life does not reflect their values. ET is a revealing and confronting form of counselling. It requires enormous bravery and an ability to endure embarrassment for greater prestige and accomplishment. This form of counselling is appropriate for clients with strong self-insight skills.
- Talk about the current issues you are experiencing
- Identify areas where you are not living authentically or are avoiding reality
- Decide what course of action you will take to change your circumstances
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your attempts over the last week
- Adjust strategies to find another solution if the issue remains
- When the issue is resolved, we begin work on the next problem or end counselling for the time being
- We restart counselling in the future when you are ready for more growth. There is no end to being better, except death.
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, NOT THE UNIMPORTANT ONES
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
What is ACT?
What problems is it used for?
ACT focuses on understanding how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours influence one another. Together, we explore patterns such as avoidance, withdrawal, or attempts to control difficult emotions that may provide short-term relief but create longer-term difficulties. Clients learn to accept what cannot immediately be changed while focusing their energy on actions that can move their lives in a meaningful direction.
- Relationship Issues
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Obsessive-compulsive difficulties
- Addictive behaviours and substance use
- Chronic stress and burnout
- Chronic pain and health-related challenges
Is ACT Right for Me?
What will therapy be like?
ACT is a practical, action-oriented form of psychotherapy that requires clients to practice techniques in the time between sessions. These strategies fall into six general areas: acceptance (making space for difficult thoughts and emotions rather than fighting or avoiding them,) cognitive defusion (learning to observe thoughts as thoughts rather than automatically treating them as facts,) being present (developing greater awareness of the present moment and responding intentionally rather than automatically,) self as context (recognizing that you are more than your thoughts, emotions, experiences, or diagnosis,) values (identifying what genuinely matters to you and the kind of person you want to be) and committed action (taking practical steps toward your values and goals, even when difficult emotions are present.)
- Talk about the current issues you are experiencing
- Identify areas of resistance
- Make a plan of how to respond differently to these problem situations in the time between sessions
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your attempts over the last week
- Adjust strategies to find another solution if the issue remains
- When the issue is resolved, we begin work on the next problem or end counselling.