our philosophy

The work is always done with you, never to you.

We believe that when someone trusts us with their vulnerability, we owe them our full attention and care. That means being fully engaged, collaborative, and truly working with you to meet you where you are, not where we or anyone else think you should be.

We also believe that growth doesn’t have to happen all at once, and it doesn’t have to be linear. That’s the beauty of therapy. You can come to focus on foundational skills, we can go a little deeper, or we can help you get regulated in the present. Whatever your goals are, therapy can be adjusted to meet your needs. The deeper work only begins when you decide you're ready for it.

We believe that people already have the resources within themselves. Our role is to help clients hone in on and strengthen what’s already there (...plus a bit extra). We don't tell you what to do and we don't give you advice... We help you do right by you.

our approach

Therapy is flexible, practical, and always personalized.

We focus on building skills and practicing them in real time. What does this look like? Well, we might interrupt you sometimes (with your permission).

Everything is practical and co-created because insight alone isn’t enough; we help you turn understanding into action.

If we have an intervention in mind, we'll run it by you - we'll share with you what the intervention is, why we think it might help, and what it entails. One of our main focuses is on making therapy emotionally relevant to you, so that you develop and sustain internal motivation in order to do the work.

We also focus on intentionality more than perfection or the behaviour itself. It's not about never eating that piece of cake for breakfast, it's about whether you chose it intentionally or compulsively.

Therapy isn't supposed to be doom and gloom all the time. Therapy also tends to be healing, enlightening, empowering, energizing, and fun as you discover who you are.

Bodily Awareness (Interoception)

Increasing sensitivity to bodily cues so you can catch the distress before it gets out of control.
Increasing somatic vocabulary.
Developing self-care habits.
Meeting basic bodily needs.

Emotional Intelligence

Increasing emotional vocabulary.
Identifying emotions.
Understanding emotions as they come up for you and others.
Exploring how all emotions serve a purpose - there are no "bad" feelings.
Exploring meta-emotions: how you feel about certain feelings

Psychoeducation

Different physiological states (fight/flight/freeze) and how they can affect your physical and mental health.
Why your struggles are biologically correct (as opposed to a personality flaw).
How to overcome mental health struggles by developing internal resources.
Child development and attachment.

Reprocessing Memories

How memories are stored.
Why some memories get stuck in the past.
Retelling vs. Reliving.
Using EMDR, IFS, Play Therapy, Psychodrama, Narrative Therapy, and Gestalt to reprocess disturbing memories.

Distress Tolerance and Coping Skills

The difference between the two
What coping skills can help with.
What coping skills cannot help with.
When to use which coping strategies.
Breathwork, grounding, dual awareness, visualization, body attunement, and meta-cognition and meta-emotion.

Integrative Approach

Why therapy may not have worked for you in the past.
Discussing which therapy you need and when, as different therapies work with different parts of the brain.
Asking for permission before we change therapies.
Retelling vs. Reliving.