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Depression

Symptoms may include feeling sad, empty, hopeless; not enjoying the activities that were fun before; insomnia or hypersomnia, restlessness, fatigue, feeling worthless, difficulty concentrating, suicidal ideas, self- criticism.

Anxiety

Symptoms may include excessive worry, difficulty controlling the worries, feeling restless, irritable, having muscle tension, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, chest pain, shaking, chills, feeling dizzy/ lightheaded, sweaty palms, pounding heart, nausea or abdominal discomfort, fear of dying, fear of losing control.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

When you have experienced or witnessed traumatic events that caused you significant emotional distress such that you have intrusive distressing memories, dreams, or flashbacks; you avoid people, places, conversations, activities, situations that remind you of the distressing event or arouse distressing thoughts and feelings in you; you blame yourself or others for what happened. When these difficulties affect your everyday life and you find yourself coping by withdrawing, becoming angry and demanding, using unhealthy methods of coping, working with a therapist who is trained in treatment of post- traumatic stress is very crucial to your recovery.

Self- Harming Behaviour

When you harm yourself on purpose to cope with your emotional pain. You may cut, burn or hit yourself, or you may pick at your wounds in a way that it prevents healing. Other forms may include consuming harmful amounts of alcohol, or other substances. Talking to a psychologist may help.

Relationship Conflict

You may have difficulties in your marriage or with your partner. You may have difficulties with your teen-aged or adult children. When these difficulties cause you stress and strain your relationships, therapy may help you work through these differences. You may learn new ways to communicate or solve your problems more constructively.

Disordered Eating

When you have a dysfunctional relationship with food and you eat to manage your stress, it may have physical or emotional consequences. Therapy helps explore sources of stress and cope with healthier strategies to manage your difficulties.

Parenting Stress

When your children don’t cooperate or listen to you, when they don’t follow the rules and you find yourself coping by yelling and screaming. When at the end of the day, you wonder if you are a failure as a parent or there is something wrong with your children. When you find yourself doubting your ability to parent and doubt your children’s ability to grow up as healthy productive members of society, it may be helpful to talk to a therapist.

Grief

Grief is a natural emotion we all experience when we lose someone or something we love dearly. Grief may come from losing a loved one- a person or a pet. You may feel grief when you lose a job or move locations. You may feel grief from never getting the chance to form relationships you so wished to make. Grief maybe normal and natural but it is very painful to go through it alone. When you find you don’t have friends or family who meet your needs to deal with your grief, you may benefit from talking to a therapist.

Low Self-Esteem

When you feel like you don’t matter. You find yourself doubting your worth. When you feel like no one will notice if you didn’t show up to a party, or show up at school. When your constant experience within your mind is that you are less than others and ‘others’ are better than you, it may help to see a therapist. Working with a therapist may provide the support you need to get to a place of inner well-being and accept and love yourself for who you are.

Teen-Age Concerns

Adolescence is a stage when young people are in the process of developing their identity and learning to move in the world independently. During this time, they may have questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity, they may struggle to say ‘No’ to alcohol/ drugs, or, other risky behaviours. They may be self- conscious and concerned about the ‘dating scene’. They may find it hard to maintain their grades, be worried about the future. It doesn’t take much to get overwhelmed at this stage. If you find your teen-age child is having any of these struggles and their difficulties are affecting their mood, their grades or their well- being in any way, you and your teen- aged child may find it supportive to explore these concerns in therapy.

Work- Related Stress

We spend a good number of our waking hours at work. Long hours, deadlines, heavy workloads, job insecurity, conflict with co-workers or bosses, not getting the raise, the promotion or the acknowledgement you deserve, can all be sources of stress leading to feeling undervalued, depressed, anxious or exhausted. It may impair your sleep, appetite, or cause psychosomatic complaints. Your motivation to work may be impacted leading to increased sick time to cope. Talking to a therapist may help develop new insights and new ways to cope.

Adjusting to Transitions

Life brings multiple transitions that push our limits and cause emotional struggle. Going through separation, divorce, relocations, job changes, etc. are very complex experiences. They bring up a range of unpleasant emotions that are, at times, hard to navigate. It is easy to slip into unhealthy ways to cope by over-using food, alcohol, social media, or binge-watching TV shows. Therapeutic support during these transitions can offer deep insights into our own needs, goals and behaviours. It can help us orient to more constructive ways to cope and prioritize self- care.

Medical Conditions

Adjusting to medical conditions like Epilepsy, Cancer.

Treatments include

Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

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DBT informed interventions

Mindfulness integrated CBT

Written Exposure Therapy for Trauma

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Mindfulness-based Interventions

EMDR

Clinical Hypnosis

Emotionally Focussed Family Therapy (EFFT)

Play Therapy and Art therapy based intervention (only available at in- person sessions)

Conditions and Treatments

Treatments include