Anxiety & Intrusive Thoughts
Counselling for Anxiety/Obsessive and Intrusive Thoughts
Everyone feels anxious at times, but overwhelming amounts of anxiety can get in the way of daily life. Anxiety can be experienced as general ongoing worry, intrusive and persistent thoughts associated with a stressful event, or even engaging in repetitive behaviours and having sudden feelings of terror.
I am trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as well as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) which is the standard treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I can help you become aware of your repetitive, intrusive thoughts, and open up to new ways of coping and support you in creating a new relationship with your anxiety. Together, we can help you take difficult, but meaningful actions in your life, face your fears, and ultimately live your life with more ease, and freedom.
Counselling for Trauma and PTSD
Trauma is the lasting response after living through singular or repeated distressing events. When we’ve experienced trauma we might try to escape reality with substance use, addictive or unhealthy relationships, and overall find it incredibly painful to be ourselves, often resulting in a deep sense of shame. Gabor Mate shares that “trauma is not the bad things that happen to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.”
Through compassionate inquiry into our own deepest needs we can reconnect with our genuine, authentic, wholly integrated self. I use therapies like Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) as a tool for emotion regulation and distress tolerance, and I practice and teach exercises for polyvagal safety and connection.
Counselling for Depression and Low Mood
People who experience depression often feel persistent sadness and a loss of motivation in life. You may notice that you struggle with day to day activities and you may even feel at times that your life isn’t worth living. Depression is more than just the blues and you can’t just “snap out of it.”
I have been passionate about learning and healing from depression after struggling with my own experiences of depression. Through psychotherapy and mindfulness practice I was able to learn skills and tools to better support myself. I work with several different modalities including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), mindfulness, somatic awareness, as well as self-compassion skills to support you in your journey to recovery from depression.