Areas of Specialization

Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma refers to traumatic experiences and symptoms that are passed down from one generation to another. Examples include growing up in high conflict home environments, childhood emotional neglect, or poverty. Understanding how your family of origin impacts who you are today and the interpersonal challenges you face can bring clarity, renewed sense of purpose, and hope.

Religious Trauma

Religious trauma can occur when an individual is raised in a strict or extremist religious environment or community and is taught that love and social inclusion is conditional upon following doctrine. Removing themselves from such environments requires tremendous courage. Common challenges include community isolation, questioning beliefs, and deep fears about navigating society at large. Wherever you are in this process, you do not have to navigate these complexities alone.

Relationship Concerns and Dynamics

Do you find it difficult to raise concerns with your partner, friend, or family member? Are you questioning whether your relationship is meeting your needs? Do you struggle with navigating conflict? If any of these resonate, you might benefit from addressing these concerns in therapy.

Adult Children of Narcissistic or Emotionally Immature Parents

If you experienced emotional neglect, absence, or parents who consistently dismissed your needs as a child, you might find these experiences impacting your adult relationships in unexpected ways. You may question whether your feelings matter and struggle with taking up space in social situations. You may also have a difficult time expressing strong emotions such as anger and sadness. Therapy can help you reclaim your voice by practicing emotional self-awareness, developing self-compassion, and coming home to yourself.

Cross-Cultural and Racial Experiences

Were you raised in an immigrant household? Do you struggle with feelings of cultural identity? Do you feel as though you live between worlds, not fully fitting in? These experiences can impact your sense of identity, self-esteem, and belonging. You can discover how to navigate cross-cultural values in a way that is authentic to you through culturally competent therapy.

Interpersonal Boundaries and Communication Skills

If you find it intimidating or anxiety inducing to set boundaries at work, with family, friends or partners, therapy can help you identify where these learned behaviours come from and how to assert yourself confidently.

Identity Exploration and Spirituality

Over the course of our lives, we might question what makes us who we are. What are our values? What are our goals? What do we seek in relationships to feel fulfilled? Has our sexual orientation or gender identity evolved? How do we create meaning in our lives? Do we believe in a Higher Power or Universal Consciousness? How do we foster connection within ourselves, with others, and with nature? Self discovery and reflection are transformative journeys to embark on through therapy.

Inner Child Work

Somewhere along the hustle and bustle of life, many of us lose touch with our inner child. Therapy is a great opportunity to identify and reconnect with the younger version of you and show up in ways that maybe you once longed for.

Anxiety

Anxiety is an uncomfortable emotional and physiological experience that we will likely all experience from time to time. For some, anxiety can be crippling and lead to avoidance and dysfunction in various contexts. If you find yourself missing out an social events or struggling with negative thoughts, therapy can be a helpful tool to identify underlying concerns and work through them.

Life Transitions

Facing significant changes can disrupt our routines and feel destabilizing. It is common to have mixed feelings even if these changes were intentional. Whether you are moving out, ending a relationship, switching careers, retiring, you might notice feelings of distress, self-doubt, and overwhelm. Therapy can help by creating the space to talking through these concerns and help you identify ways to ease transitions.

Student and Young Adult Experiences

Are you navigating your first adult relationship or break up? Feeling lost and overwhelmed at college or university? Moving away from home? Young adulthood can be an exciting time of transition and increased independence, and it can also feel terrifying at times. You are not alone in processing these changes, and exploring your stressors in therapy can help increase your self-esteem, sense of self, and confidence.