Areas of Treatment
Using various modalities, we strive to help you make positive and lasting changes in your life by changing unwanted behaviours or habits and replacing them with healthy desirable behaviours based on your own values.
We offer individual counselling for all ages, including adults, children and teens, using various psychotherapeutic models such as cognitive behavioural models, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and other therapeutic approaches including Motivational Interviewing, Person-Centred and Psychoanalytical models as well as Hypnotherapy and Coaching. Our approaches are motivational, compassionate, person-centred, emotionally focused and culturally sensitive.
Click on the area of treatment listed below for more information on some of the most common areas of treatment for which people seek help.
Pain
Pain can have a devastating impact on your ability to function in your day to day life, in your relationships and in the workplace. Our treatment focuses on helping you change your relationship with your pain, so that you notice it less, function more and start to enjoy your life again, without the suffering that often comes for the ride when we experience chronic pain.
Anxiety and Stress
Anxiety & Stress can impact every aspect of life at any age. Even babies can experience significant distress from anxiety, such as separation anxiety. Other ways in which anxiety manifests from a very young age and into adulthood are through selective mutism or social anxiety. People with or without anxiety may experience panic attacks and this might develop into a panic disorder. Other forms of anxiety include agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder and specific phobias (more on this below). Any of these conditions can take over and make it impossible for you to enjoy your job, your relationships, any hobbies or interests to the point that it feels like they are ruining your life. If you suffer from one or more of these conditions, treatment will focus on helping you explore, identify and process your anxiety triggers and the unwanted feelings or behaviours these lead to. You will learn lasting and empowering skills that change your relationship with these triggers and develop new skills and behaviours that enrich your life. Start your journey towards living a rich life today by taking control of your anxiety now!
Fears and Phobias
Fears & Phobias can range from fearing certain situations such as the fear of needles, bodily fluids, things in nature, insects, water, heights, being constricted in a confined space, becoming ill, vomiting, being in an elevator or on an escalator and travelling in a car or by plane. Basically, a person can fear any place, object, situation or living thing. Fears and phobias can lead to various levels of avoidance, which can lead to an extreme restriction in a person’s lifestyle, and consequently, enjoyment of life for themselves and the people around them. If you have a fear or phobia then you likely already know that there is no rational reason for you to feel the way you do, but that does not make you feel better. Basically, you have been running the fear / phobia program in your mind for so long it has become automatic, like walking or breathing. Compounding this problem, people with fears or phobias can experience a wide range of physical or cognitive symptoms. These can include the feeling of choking, a feeling of tightness or pain in the chest, feeling your heart racing, feeling uneasy in your stomach, nausea, sensations in your hands and feet like pins and needles, feeling a rush of hot or cold through your body, shaking or shivering, breading rapidly, headaches, dizziness or feeling confused. If you suffer from a fear or phobia, you can seek therapy to learn new skills to retake control of your life and change the defeating program running in the back of your mind. You can start creating a rich life today by putting those fears and phobias behind you!
Depression and Grief
If you are experiencing grief over the loss of a loved one or if you suffer from depression you may already know the sense of helplessness, isolation, guilt, shame and anger this can cause. In fact you may be experiencing a myriad of symptoms that feel uncontrollable and overwhelming, impacting almost all areas of your life. Depression and grief can impact any person at any age. Whether this is your first experience or whether you have been struggling with these conditions on a long-term basis, you can make changes in your life that change the way you respond to negative feelings, sad memories, thoughts of guilt or worthlessness, anxiety or any other symptoms that are part of your condition. You can learn strategies that help you dramatically improve the quality of your life and bring meaning back to your life.
Trauma
Trauma, either emotional or physical, can be experienced by any person at any age, as a result of a sudden distressing event or a series of events such as repeated or prolonged emotional, physical or sexual abuse. Trauma survivors often don’t believe it is possible to recover since the event or events cannot be erased. They often feel shame, guilt or responsibility for the events that occurred, and therefore may not consider getting help even years after the event or prolonged exposure to traumatic events. However, the symptom of trauma can cause significant distress in the lives of people who experienced them, affecting every aspect of daily life. Symptoms can range from repeated intrusive memories of the trauma during the day or at night, affecting sleep quality and duration, negative beliefs about self-worth, being fearful, unable to trust or connect with others, feeling anxious or depressed and more. Some people are afraid to get help because they feel going to counselling will require them to relive the details of their trauma. However, the choice to disclose the information is yours and yours alone. Rest assured that you can work on changing the impact the trauma has had on your life either with or without discussing the details of the trauma. Whatever you chose, you will be treated with the utmost compassion and respect for your autonomy while you work towards building positive experiences, defining and pursuing a life full of meaning, strengthening your self-esteem, learning to manage intrusive memories, feelings of guilt, anxiety, depression, loss and identifying appropriate and attainable goals that are right for you.
Motivation and Confidence
Do you ever find yourself procrastinating or gripped with the inability to make a change or a decision? Are you waiting for motivation but feel it’s like waiting to win the lottery before you can have a rich and meaningful life? Do you lack the confidence in your ability to make decisions or carry them through? This is a common trap we find ourselves in when we belief motivation only comes from an external source. This belief itself is discouraging and leads to a viscous cycle of avoidance and being stuck in old routines. But that does not have to be your story. You can build motivation and self-confidence internally today even if you don’t realize that there are plenty of rewarding experiences ahead of you. You can stop a bad habit or create an effective one, and you can start making those changes today. Contact us now to find out which of our treatment modalities is best for you to start making decisions, engaging in positive behaviours and building a meaningful, rewarding life.