Frequently Asked Questions

The fear you’re experiencing is natural as you think about facing some painful and difficult emotions. Coming to therapy takes courage. Although you may temporarily feel worse as you connect with feelings and memories you have been avoiding, this will lead to new insights that will help you better understand your needs and the actions needed to move forward.

Know that therapy will progress at a pace that you feel comfortable with – you will never be forced to speak about anything you are not ready to discuss. Openly speaking about all that you have been hiding can be very healing and help you build skills to better address challenges now and in the future.

We know that therapy is stigmatized and misunderstood in many cultures and communities. You may face judgement and criticism for not being strong enough to “just get over it.”

Firstly, know that this expectation is as unfair as expecting you to “just get over” a broken leg. Unfortunately, this type of thinking is all too common and grounded in misunderstandings of the mind-body connection.

Also, know that your presence in our offices and that our work together is held in strict confidence. Our clinicians are governed by strict privacy and confidentiality laws that protect your private personal health information. With few exceptions (e.g., safety concerns), the fact that you are a client and anything that you say to us cannot be repeated without your consent.

Full privacy and confidentiality guidelines will be discussed with you prior to beginning therapy.

It is important for you to spend time with yourself to identify your priorities, your resources (e.g., time, energy), and how you would best like to use your resources. Cultural conflict, lack of belonging, and identity confusion can cause problems with low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and body image/eating problems.

It is often very difficult to make sense of the inner chaos on your own. It may be helpful to think about therapy as an investment in yourself, your relationships, and your future.

By investing in a course of therapy, you are proactively making a choice to feel better sooner and build the life you envision for yourself.

It can feel like you are dishonoring parts of yourself if you to pursue therapy instead of engaging in cultural or religious healing practices. This is part of the experiences of fragmentation that can come with bicultural stress.

When working with bicultural stress difficulties, our goal is to help you connect to and honor all parts of you– including any cultural, spiritual, religious or community healing practices that feel important and meaningful to you.

Our work together will help you choose the combination of healing practices that feel good for all parts of you.

Your depression symptoms are telling you that something is not quite balanced in your life. It is important for us to pay attention to our feelings and to their underlying messages.

When you better understand your symptoms, you will better understand yourself, improve your coping skills, and become better equipped to handle life’s difficult situations. Know that depression treatment will progress at a pace that feels comfortable for you and that you will never be forced to speak about something you don’t feel comfortable speaking about.

Medication is often not needed for mild to moderate depression. In these cases, therapy combined with lifestyle changes can be very effective in alleviating symptoms. Ultimately it is your choice to pursue medication treatment. We are a team of mental health clinicians who provide assessment and psychotherapy services.

We help you better understand your depression and learn techniques to manage depressive symptoms in your day to day life. We do not prescribe medication. Should you require a medication consult, we will discuss it and you may be referred to a psychiatrist or physician for this purpose.

There is no question about benefits of a gratitude practice. It is such a beautiful practice and important coping tool. Unfortunately, when taken to the point of invalidating very real and difficult emotions, it can become a problem.

We invite you to give yourself space and compassion to accept all parts of you – even the parts that feel unsatisfied or hurt. Those hurt parts are holding important information about your needs.

It’s amazing what can happen when we listen to parts of us that we’ve ignored for so long. Our therapists can help you connect to and honour all parts of you. This will ultimately improve your mood.

We get this fear. And you won’t be expected to talk about it until you are ready. In the beginning of trauma treatment, we will address the immediate problems in your life that are causing you the most pain (e.g., difficulty regulating your feelings).

As you begin to feel more stable and feel ready to manage the memories and feelings related to the trauma, we will move towards trauma processing. Know that the pace of therapy is up to you – together, we will collaboratively decide on goals and the best course of treatment.

When the people in our lives are both the source of safety, love, care AND the source of significant hurt and trauma, we feel confused. On one hand, we want to protect them because we love them, but on the other hand, we want to heal. Our job as therapists is to help you understand the nature of your injuries.

Our therapists understand the complexity of intergenerational trauma and how it impacts the resourcing of our caregivers and community. We are not here to blame or judge. We are here to help you integrate all parts of your experience.

To help you make decisions about what/who to keep close and what/who you need to distance from. The work will happen at a pace that you feel comfortable with.

Indeed, trauma treatment can take time and is emotionally challenging. You are invited to think about trauma therapy as an investment in yourself, your well-being, and your future.

Untreated trauma can have significant negative impact on your mood, anxiety, and daily functioning. With appropriate trauma therapy, over time, you will feel better as you gain control over your emotions and behaviours, and improve your day to day functioning.

Religious and community leaders play a vital role in healing. We believe in integrating all your supports in all forms throughout your healing journey.

Sometimes, additional support is needed through the services of a qualified mental health professional. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or that you shouldn’t turn to your culture or community for support. It just means that we may need to add additional tools to your toolbox.

Our therapists will work with you to help provide you with the integrated support you need.

You will also learn to communicate better with others and set appropriate boundaries. Through this work, you will create new relational patterns and increase your capacity for fulfilling personal connections.

With new skills and increased self-awareness, you can move towards building the types of relationships you’ve always envisioned for yourself. There is hope, regardless of how long and how hard you have been struggling with your relationships.

Feeling good about yourself and maintaining meaningful, strong, and healthy relationships with others is a central part of your well-being. The stress created by unfulfilling and failed relationships can take its toll on your self-confidence and lead to conflict and feelings of loneliness.

This can further interfere with your relationships and negatively impact other important areas of your life, such as your physical wellness. It may be helpful to consider therapy as an investment in YOU that can help you break this cycle by increasing self-awareness, building your self-esteem, and increasing readiness and capacity for fulling personal connections.

Feeling unsafe in relationships is often related to your attachment history. Your therapist will spend time understanding your relationship history and ways in which you learned to be on guard or insecure.

Relationships difficulties are often associated with symptoms of anxiety. We are integrative in our approach to therapy and will be able to help you understand and address both sets of challenges.

We honour, encourage and celebrate healing in all its forms. Religion and spirituality can be important sources of comfort, connection, and healing. Disconnection from healing practices from our specific religious, cultural or spiritual communities is harmful.

We encourage reconnection to those practices that predated psychology. We are integrative in our approach and will help you incorporate religious and spiritual healing practices into your work with us in a way that honours all parts of you.

We understand that therapy is stigmatized in many cultures. We also understand that the secrecy and hiding often associating with eating and body image difficulties can make it difficult to seek help.

Through telling our stories in a safe and non-judgmental space, we overcome shame. Know that your presence in our offices and our work together is held in strict confidence. Our therapists are governed by strict privacy and confidentiality laws that protect your private personal health information.

With few exceptions (e.g., safety concerns), the fact that you’re a client and anything that you say to us cannot be repeated without your consent. Full privacy and confidentiality guidelines will be discussed with you before beginning therapy.

It takes courage to pursue therapy. Your difficulties with food and your body are signs that something is not quite balanced in your life. It is important for us to pay attention to these signs and to understand their underlying messages. When you better understand your symptoms, you will better understand yourself, improve your coping skills, and become better equipped to handle life’s difficult situations.

You will work towards a healthier relationship with food and your body and ultimately towards better holistic physical and mental well-being. Know that treatment for body image and eating difficulties will progress at a pace that feels comfortable for you and that you will never be forced to speak about something you don’t feel comfortable speaking about.

We are committed to helping you maintain connection to your religious, cultural and community ties and practices. Our work will be collaborative and may involve consultation with spiritual leaders to help ensure that your needs as a whole person – mind, body, spirit – are met.

Indeed, this type of treatment can take time. It may be helpful to think about therapy as an investment in yourself, your well-being, and your future.

Untreated difficulties with food and body image can have a significant negative impact on your mood, anxiety, relationships, ability to focus/concentrate, physical health, and daily functioning.

With appropriate therapy, over time, you will feel better as you gain control over your emotions and behaviours, improve your day-to-day functioning, and feel better in your own skin.