Glossary
Understanding therapy terms can help you find the right support. Here's a guide to the approaches our therapists use and the areas where we can help.
Therapeutic Approaches
These are the methods and frameworks our therapists use to support your healing and growth.
2SLGBTQAI+
An inclusive acronym representing Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Asexual, Intersex, and other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Our therapists are affirming and knowledgeable about the unique experiences of this community.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
A form of therapy that helps you accept difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to actions that align with your values. It emphasizes psychological flexibility and mindfulness.
Adlerian Therapy
Based on Alfred Adler's work, this approach focuses on understanding how early life experiences shape your sense of self and your goals. It emphasizes social connection, purpose, and overcoming feelings of inferiority.
Anti-Oppressive
A therapeutic approach that actively works against systems of oppression and recognizes how power dynamics, discrimination, and social inequities impact mental health.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Focuses on how early relationships with caregivers shape our patterns of connecting with others. Helps heal attachment wounds and develop healthier relationship patterns.
BIPOC
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Our therapists are trained to provide culturally responsive care that acknowledges the unique experiences and challenges faced by racialized communities.
Body Positive
An approach that promotes acceptance of all body types and challenges societal standards of beauty. Therapists help clients develop a healthier relationship with their bodies.
Christian Counselling
Integrates Christian faith and spiritual principles with therapeutic practices for clients who wish to incorporate their religious beliefs into the healing process.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
A structured, goal-oriented therapy that helps identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours. It's effective for anxiety, depression, and many other concerns.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
A specific type of cognitive therapy designed to help people recover from PTSD and trauma by examining and restructuring thoughts related to traumatic experiences.
Compassion Focused
A therapy approach that helps develop self-compassion and addresses feelings of shame and self-criticism. Particularly helpful for those who struggle with harsh self-judgment.
Crisis Interventions
Immediate, short-term support for individuals experiencing acute mental health crises. Focuses on safety, stabilization, and connecting to ongoing care.
Culturally Sensitive
An approach that respects and integrates clients' cultural backgrounds, values, and traditions into the therapeutic process, recognizing that culture shapes our experiences.
Developmental
Considers how developmental stages and life transitions impact mental health, addressing age-appropriate challenges and growth opportunities.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
Combines cognitive-behavioural techniques with mindfulness. Teaches skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Helps individuals and couples understand and reshape emotional responses. Particularly effective for improving attachment bonds in relationships.
Existential
Explores fundamental questions about meaning, freedom, responsibility, and mortality. Helps clients find purpose and navigate life's big questions.
Exposure Therapy
A behavioural technique that gradually and safely exposes clients to feared situations, objects, or memories to reduce anxiety and avoidance. Highly effective for phobias, anxiety disorders, and PTSD.
Family Systems
Views individuals within the context of their family relationships and dynamics. Addresses patterns, roles, and communication within the family unit.
Feminist
Recognizes how gender, power dynamics, and societal expectations impact mental health. Empowers clients to challenge oppressive structures and embrace their authentic selves.
Gender-Affirming
Supportive of all gender identities and expressions. Therapists provide a safe space for exploring gender and support clients through any aspect of their gender journey.
Humanistic
Emphasizes personal growth, self-actualization, and the inherent goodness in people. Focuses on the whole person and their potential for positive change.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Views the mind as made up of different 'parts' with their own perspectives. Helps heal wounded parts and develop self-leadership for greater internal harmony.
Mindfulness
Practices that cultivate present-moment awareness without judgment. Helps reduce stress, improve emotional regulation, and increase self-awareness.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
A collaborative conversation style that strengthens your own motivation for change. Particularly helpful when you feel ambivalent about making life changes.
Narrative
Helps you rewrite the stories you tell about yourself and your life. Separates problems from identity and finds alternative, more empowering narratives.
Neurodivergent Affirming
Celebrates neurological differences (like ADHD, autism) as natural variations rather than deficits. Provides support that respects neurodivergent experiences and needs.
Person-Centred Therapy
Created by Carl Rogers, this approach trusts in your capacity for self-direction and growth. The therapist provides empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard.
Psychodynamic
Explores how unconscious processes and past experiences influence current behaviour and relationships. Helps develop insight and self-awareness.
Solution-Focused
Concentrates on finding solutions rather than analyzing problems. Focuses on your strengths and resources to create positive change quickly.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
A short-term, goal-directed approach that focuses on solutions rather than problems. Helps identify what's already working and build on your existing strengths.
Somatic
Recognizes the connection between body and mind. Uses body awareness and physical techniques to process emotions and heal trauma stored in the body.
Strengths Based
Focuses on your existing strengths, resources, and resilience rather than deficits. Builds on what's working to address challenges.
Structural Family Therapy
Examines and restructures family organization, boundaries, and hierarchies to improve family functioning and relationships.
Trauma-Informed
Recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and integrates this understanding into all aspects of care. Creates safety and avoids re-traumatization.
Who We Work With
Our therapists work with a variety of clients.
Adults
Individuals 18 years and older seeking support for personal growth, mental health concerns, or life challenges.
Children
Young clients typically under 12 years old. Child therapy uses age-appropriate techniques like play therapy to help children express and process emotions.
Couples
Partners seeking to improve their relationship, communication, intimacy, or work through conflicts together.
Family
Therapy involving multiple family members to address family dynamics, communication, and relationships.
Individuals
One-on-one therapy sessions focused on personal concerns, growth, and healing.
Parents
Adults navigating the challenges of raising children at any stage, seeking support for themselves as individuals beyond their parenting role.
Teens
Adolescents typically between 13-17 years old navigating the unique challenges of teenage years including identity, peer relationships, academic pressure, and emotional development.
Areas We Can Help With
These are some of the challenges and concerns our therapists are trained to support.
(c)PTSD and Trauma
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and trauma-related symptoms from single events or prolonged experiences. Includes flashbacks, hypervigilance, and emotional dysregulation.
Academic Counselling
Support for educational challenges including study skills, academic stress, learning difficulties, and navigating school systems.
Addiction
Support for compulsive behaviours around substances or activities (gambling, gaming, etc.) that interfere with daily life and wellbeing.
ADHD and Autism
Support for individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum conditions, including coping strategies and self-understanding.
Agoraphobia
Fear of situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable, often leading to avoidance of public spaces or leaving home.
Anxiety
Excessive worry, nervousness, or fear that interferes with daily life. Includes generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and phobias.
Body Image
Concerns about how you perceive and feel about your physical appearance, including disordered eating patterns and body dysmorphia.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
A condition characterized by emotional instability, intense relationships, identity concerns, and impulsive behaviours. Highly treatable with appropriate therapy.
Boundaries
Learning to set and maintain healthy limits in relationships, work, and personal life to protect your wellbeing.
Career Counselling
Support for career decisions, job transitions, workplace challenges, and finding meaningful work aligned with your values.
Codependency
Patterns of excessive caretaking, people-pleasing, or losing yourself in relationships. Learning to prioritize your own needs.
Concurrent Disorders
When mental health concerns and substance use issues occur together, requiring integrated treatment approaches.
Depression
Persistent sadness, loss of interest, low energy, and hopelessness that affects daily functioning. Very treatable with proper support.
Domestic Violence Recovery
Healing from intimate partner abuse, including physical, emotional, psychological, or financial abuse. Safety planning and trauma recovery.
Gender Identity and Sexuality
Exploring and understanding your gender identity, sexual orientation, and navigating related life experiences and challenges.
Grief
Processing loss of any kind—death, relationships, jobs, health, or life changes. Support through all stages of grieving.
Immigration
Support for challenges related to immigrating, including cultural adjustment, documentation stress, family separation, and building a new life.
Insomnia
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting restful sleep. Addressing the psychological factors that disrupt sleep.
Life Transitions
Navigating major changes like moving, divorce, retirement, becoming a parent, or other significant life shifts.
Men's Issues
Challenges specific to men's experiences, including masculinity, emotional expression, fatherhood, and societal expectations.
Mental Health Support
General support for emotional wellbeing, coping skills, and maintaining mental health.
Narcissistic Abuse
Recovery from relationships with narcissistic individuals, including rebuilding self-worth and recognizing manipulation patterns.
Panic Attacks
Sudden episodes of intense fear with physical symptoms like racing heart, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Highly treatable.
Phobias
Intense, irrational fears of specific objects, situations, or activities that cause significant distress or avoidance. Highly treatable with exposure-based therapies.
Parenting
Support for parenting challenges at any stage, including discipline, communication, co-parenting, and managing parental stress.
Racial Identity
Exploring racial identity development, addressing racial trauma, and navigating experiences of racism and discrimination.
Refugees
Specialized support for refugee experiences including displacement trauma, resettlement challenges, and cultural adjustment.
Relationship Issues
Challenges with romantic partners, family members, friends, or colleagues. Improving communication and connection.
Religion
Integrating religious beliefs and practices into therapy, or exploring questions of faith and spirituality.
Self-Esteem
Building confidence, self-worth, and a positive self-image. Overcoming negative self-talk and self-doubt.
Self-harm
Support for those who cope through self-injury. Developing healthier coping strategies and addressing underlying pain.
Seniors
Mental health support for older adults, including aging-related challenges, retirement, grief, and life review.
Sex-Trafficking Survivors
Specialized trauma support for survivors of sex trafficking, focusing on safety, healing, and rebuilding life.
Spirituality
Exploring meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than yourself, whether religious or secular.
Stress
Managing everyday pressures, overwhelm, and burnout. Developing coping strategies and work-life balance.
Students
Support for students at any level dealing with academic pressure, social challenges, identity development, and transitions.
Substance Abuse
Support for problematic use of alcohol, drugs, or other substances. Harm reduction or abstinence-based approaches.
Substance Use
Addressing patterns of substance use that may be concerning, exploring your relationship with substances.
Suicidality
Support for thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Safety planning, crisis support, and addressing underlying pain.
Women's Health
Issues specific to women's experiences including reproductive health, hormonal changes, motherhood, and gender-based challenges.
Ready to get started?
Browse our team to find a therapist whose approach resonates with you.
Meet Our Team