What Makes Us Different
The selection of a qualified mental health professional is an important decision that can ultimately determine the success of therapy. The single most important factor in predicting successful outcomes in therapy is the relationship between therapist and client. Therefore in choosing a therapist or counsellor, it is important to find the right fit. Here are some of the reasons that make Counselling Associates a viable choice in helping to meet your therapy needs.
Experience
The therapists at Counselling Associates are highly skilled and experienced. We have more than 3 decades of combined therapy, counselling and advocacy experience in helping individuals, couples and families make changes in their lives. We have worked in a diverse range of settings throughout the Greater Toronto Areas including but not limited to hospitals, community health centres, family health teams, youth mental health agencies, trauma, domestic violence,sexual assault care centres.
Advanced Training
Each therapist is trained at the Master’s level and has a specialized training in therapeutic approaches that have been proven effective in addressing some of the most common issues for which people seek therapy. Our approaches to counselling and therapy are informed by multiple schools of thought that include:
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy : This approach helps clients develop insight into the influence of early life experiences on adult psychological functioning. Equipped with greater self-awareness and empathy clients are better able to cultivate a healthier and more functional sense of self.
Solution Focused Therapy: The focus of this approach is on finding solutions to life issues that clients bring therapy. It emphasizes collaborative problem solving in the present while working toward a future where these issues are less impactful.
Narrative Therapy: This approach to therapy works with clients find their authentic voice and tell their own stories. Clients are invited to explore how cultural, societal and political story lines impact how they make sense of their challenges and personal stories. Through this process clients are empowered to look at their own life stories as sources of knowledge about themselves they have learned to ignore. In doing so, they are able to construct more useful narratives about their identity, experiences and life purpose.
Mindfulness: This is a therapeutic practice that helps clients to become more aware and fully functional in the present moment. By becoming more aware of their own thoughts, feelings, urges and actions, clients have greater voluntary control in responding to the external events in their lives.
Dialetical Behavioural Therapy (DBT): This form of psychotherapy help clients develop skills to deal with heightened emotions and/or harmful coping behaviours. Clients learn 4 core sets of coping skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation.
Emotion Focused Therapy: (EFT): This therapy model helps clients develop skills for coping, regulating and transforming their emotions. As clients become more aware of the important functions that their emotions serve, they become more skillful in using emotions to improve their lives and relationships. Although EFT is best known as a couples intervention, it is also used with individual and families.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT): This therapeutic approach provides strategies to help clients manage, resolve and improve their interpersonal relationships and social functioning. The focus is on helping clients change relationship patterns and interpersonal challenges that contribute to depression and other mental health issues.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): This widely known form of therapy helps clients to understand the power of thougths in influencing feelings and behaviours. CBT is commonly used to treat a wide range of disorders, including phobias, addictions, depression, and anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): This form of therapy facilitates the processing of traumatic memories, emotions and sensations in order to bring about a resolution. It helps clients acquire the skills they need for adaptive functioning in the future.
Family Systems Therapy (FST): This form of therapy works to address specific issues impacting the overall health and functioning of a family unit. Families are better able to understand how each individual member’s actions impact the functioning of the family unit as a whole. Challenges can be more readily addressed or resolved when families have this awareness. Family systems therapy is used to help families navigate difficult transitions and function more optimally in the face of addictions, illness, mental health challenges of one or more of its members.
We are committed to ongoing professional development and incorporate new insights, understandings and techniques to meet the ever evolving needs of clients seeking counselling and therapy.
Specialties
At Counselling Associates we have helped thousands of clients navigate a broad range of life issues. Our areas of focus and clinical interest however include the following specialties:
Trauma, PTSD ( e.g. domestic violence, date rape, sexual violence, intimate partner abuse)
Anxiety ( e.g. panic attacks, worry, rumination, catastrophizing)
Grief and Loss ( e.g. child loss, traumatized grief, suicide, homicide)
Midlife Transitions (e.g. mid-life crises, break-up recovery, empty nest)
Depression ( e.g major depression, post-partum depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder)
Anger Management (e.g. passive aggression, chronic irritation, road rage )
Relationship/couples issues (e.g. infidelity, communication, household labor)
Self Esteem & Assertiveness (e.g. impostor syndrome )
Codependency (e.g. people pleasing, unhealthy relationships )
Diversity & Multicultural Issues (e.g. acculturative stress, identity development)
Personalized Care
At Counselling Associates, we believe that each individual, couple, teen and family is unique and should have a therapeutic experience that reflects this uniqueness. Through a collaborative process we develop a plan for achieving goals for therapy that is tailor made to our clients’ strengths, needs and circumstances.
We actively encourage feedback during the process to ensure that the collaborative efforts are helping our clients to meet their goals.
Private & Confidential
At Counselling Associates, we believe that therapy must be a safe and private place for clients to work through their challenges. Therapy is personal and your privacy is paramount. No one will be informed about you participation in counselling and therapy unless you direct us to do otherwise. Should you need us to communicate with someone regarding your treatment, such as a doctor, lawyer or insurance carrier, a signed release of information is required in order for us to do so. Click here to access our confidentiality policy.
Comfort & Accessibility
At Counselling Associates, we provide a welcoming, safe and convenient environment to facilitate your healing process. Our offices are decorated with your safety and comfort in mind. The therapy environment at Counselling Associates has a professional but laid back vibe so that you can achieve a sense of internal calm and relaxation while dealing with you concerns and challenges.
We are conveniently located at Markham Rd and Milner Ave is Scarborough. We are minutes from the highway 401 and easily accessible by transit (located minutes away from Scarborough Town Center).
We offer both evening and weekend appointments. Same day appointments may be available in emergency or crisis situations.
Diversity Affirmative
Counselling Associates is a diversity affirmative practice. This means that we are dedicated to understanding and meeting the unique needs of clients from diverse races, religions, gender identities, nationalities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds and family types.
Counselling from a multicultural lens is a valued and necessary skill in our increasingly diverse society. We approach therapy through the context of the client’s world and limit where possible the imposition of our own cultural values. By blending cultural competence with cultural humility we create a safe space for clients to come as ‘who they are’ not who they are expected to be. Managing stigma and dispelling stereotypes should not be a client’s job.
“Nothing Ever Becomes Real Unil It is Experienced”