Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, and ADHD.

  • Helping adults in Ontario discover ways to manage whatever life throws at them.

    Life comes with a lot of constant worries and concerns. Most people who start therapy for anxiety feel stuck in a rut, unable to move forward. Perhaps you can relate. Maybe you check things off of your to-do list, but you don't feel like you're getting anything done. Or you're noticing that you complain a lot about feeling stressed, tired, and unfulfilled.

    Stuck in negativity and feeling worried all the time, you may feel like life is controlled by anxiety. Therapy can help you rise above your challenges and start moving towards your ideal life with less less suffering and more fulfillment

    You will get you the effective skills you need to find your way through difficult feelings and situations and manage your stress. I’ve helped people struggling with constant worry find their way to feeling more calm and in control of their minds.

    I specialize in treating anxiety disorders and working with people who struggle with managing ADHD symptoms. I have also worked with people experiencing depression or who are having difficulty adjusting to big life changes. You can read more below about some of my areas of focus.

    If you’re not sure if my skills and approach are a good fit for you, consider booking a 15-minute introductory call. If I’m not the right fit, I will be happy to try to connect you with someone who is.

My Treatment Focus

  • Everybody worries, and sometimes worrying can help us to do useful things like plan or solve problems. But if you worry too much, or it starts to become repetitive, this can lead you to feel anxious, exhausted, or depressed.

    If you find that you spend an excessive amount of time worrying about possible future scenarios (e.g., things that might happen sometime in the future), and you find it hard to control these worries, you could benefit from treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

    Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the recommended psychological treatments for GAD. Using CBT, we will work together to understand what keeps your worry going, and to work on strategies that will help reduce the amount of control worrying has over your life.

  • A panic attack is an episode that often comes on suddenly and causes intense thoughts and body sensations. Panic attacks feel very scary, and about 1 in 4 people who go to the hospital for chest pain in fact have panic attacks. Some people might experience a single panic attack and never have another one. Other people, who spend a lot of time worrying about having panic attacks and doing things to prevent panic attacks, would fall into the category of experiencing Panic Disorder.

    Panic attacks happen when your brain’s fight or flight response, sort of like a ‘false alarm’ in the brain, gets set off at the wrong time. Because of how humans have evolved, our brains are great at identifying threats, but sometimes we have trouble telling the difference actual threats and imagined threats that our minds produce.

    Treatment for panic disorder focuses on what keeps the panic attacks going. Together, we will focus on strategies to help you notice what sets off the fight or flight ‘false alarm’, including the meaning you make of your panic symptoms. We will also find ways for you to learn to recognize and develop more tolerance for panic symptoms.

    Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a very effective treatment for panic disorder.

  • Do you feel anxious and self-conscious in social situations, worrying that you’ll be judged by others for something about yourself? Do you tend to avoid social situations, or put forth a huge effort trying to force yourself to get through them? Do you regularly worry about what other people think of you?

    Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for social anxiety. Together, we will explore how negative self-image, as well as automatic thoughts and images, can lead you to engage in unhelpful behaviours that can provide more fuel for social anxiety to keep going.

  • Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder that develops in childhood. Symptoms of ADHD include distractibility, impulsivity, disorganization, and trouble following through on tasks. These symptoms can make it difficult for people with ADHD to learn effective coping skills. For this reason, people with ADHD might come to believe that they are “underachievers”, which can lead to a pattern of self-criticism. Over time, this can lead to other issues likes anxiety and depression.

    Because of these symptoms, individuals with ADHD typically have sustained underachievement, or other experiences that they might label as “failures”

    • This history of failures can result in people with ADHD developing overly negative beliefs about themselves, as well as negative, maladaptive thinking when approaching tasks

    • The negative thoughts and beliefs that ensue can therefore add to avoidance or distractibility

    • People with ADHD shift their attention even more when confronted with tasks or problems that they may find difficult or boring, and related behavioural symptoms can get worse

    Therapy can help people with ADHD strengthen their organization and planning skills, better manage distractions, and develop strategies for more adaptive thinking.