Provides a deeper understanding of yourself and/or your concerns; reduction in emotional distress; alleviate psychological symptoms that may be negatively affecting your life; create tools to cope with difficulties and feel more in control; provide you with knowledge and skills; help you establish more meaningful relationships.

The ultimate goal is to help you achieve personal growth and make the changes that you want. The work is done within a safe, supportive and non-judgemental place so that you can explore what is troubling you. Therapy is done through open and honest communication and dialogue in regularly scheduled sessions. Value is placed on tailoring the psychotherapeutic process to each individual and their needs. Some therapeutic techniques that are drawn upon are: 

Trauma Informed Therapy is a compassionate and holistic approach that recognizes the profound impact of trauma on individuals. I integrate a deep understanding of trauma, complex trauma, and perceived trauma into every facet of our treatment, making safety and wellbeing the cornerstone of my approach.

At the core of our Trauma Informed Therapy is the acknowledgment that an individual's experiences significantly shape their sense of safety and wellbeing. I prioritize creating a secure and supportive environment, recognizing the pervasive influence trauma can have on one's outlook, emotions, and behaviour.

At Willow Vine Counselling, I utilize a three phased approach:

Safety and Stabilization
Therapy begins with a focused emphasis on safety and stabilization within each session. I collaborate transparently with my clients, fostering a trusting relationship that empowers them to explore their traumatic experiences at a pace that feels right for them. This phase involves building trust, emotional regulation, and creating a secure space for clients to express themselves.

Reprocessing
I employ a variety of tailored approaches to help individuals navigate and integrate their past traumatic experiences. My goal is to "turn down the volume" on these experiences, fostering resilience and empowering clients to move forward.
Reintegration
This phase focuses on finding a harmonious connection with one's nervous system and the external world. My approach encourages individuals to develop a positive relationship with themselves, recognizing the internal strength and power that reside within them.

Client Centred Approach Tailoring therapy to the unique needs and experiences of each individual.

DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy)
A cognitive behavioural approach that combines acceptance and change strategies.

Mindfulness-Based Practices
Techniques to promote present-moment awareness, reducing anxiety and enhancing self-regulation.

TIST (Trauma Informed Stabilization Technique) Specialized techniques designed to stabilize and ground individuals during the therapeutic process.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
A therapeutic approach that uses bilateral stimulation to process traumatic memories.

DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting) Techniques to address the neurobiological impact of trauma on the brain.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been extensively researched, an effective modality proven to help individuals manage and heal from trauma, as well as distressing life experiences. 

EMDR is designed to help resolve unprocessed traumatic memories in the brain, by allowing the brain to resume its natural healing process. It is a structured process that encourages the brief focus on an event/incident/memory, while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation, which often results in a reduction of the vividness and emotion associated with the associated memories.

Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP) is a holistic approach to healing, incorporating a variety of modalities to increase awareness of how the mind and body relate. It is a mind-body method of therapy for awakening and presence, by enhancing mental, physical and emotional clarity and wellbeing. IBP supports an individual’s somatic experience as a path to self-awareness, in order to gain insight into one’s own self, through experiences of the core self, and the integration of the mind and body to facilitate healing. Often old beliefs, attitudes and fears, emanating from emotional injuries can create blocks or repetitive holding patterns in the body and mind; these can perpetuate patterns and limit new experiences and opportunities for growth and learning. Through IBP space is created to remove those blocks and move into the core self.

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is an innovative trauma psychotherapy approach designed to address the profound impact of attachment shock, wounding, and unresolved traumatic experiences. 

DBR is centred on the understanding that trauma resides not only in our conscious thoughts but deeply within the structures of the brain. This trauma psychotherapy method aims to track the original sequence of physiological responses that occurred when the deep brain perceived a threat or an attachment disruption.

Yoga Therapy

“Yoga therapy is the process of empowering individuals to progress toward improved health and wellbeing through the application of the teachings and practices of yoga (IAYT).”

The yogic tradition sees each individual as a multidimensional system, which includes every aspect of the body, the breath, the mind/intellect and the emotions, and how those systems interact with one another. Yoga therapy takes the application of these teachings within a therapeutic environment to fully support each individual where they are to increase awareness and direction to desired goals.

Ultimately, the goal(s) of each session will vary with each individual. Meeting each individual where they are and working towards reducing, eliminating and/or managing symptoms that are causing suffering; improving health and wellbeing; changing the relationship with and identification with the condition; as well as creating tools to help each individual address and prevent the underlying causes of suffering.

I also have specializations in Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy and Functional Yoga Therapy. Trauma informed yoga therapy is designed for those individuals who are living with the impacts of trauma and offering them the opportunity to feel empowerment in their bodies through movement with present moment experiences, as well as breath awareness. The goal of Functional Yoga Therapy is to guide each individual to their own deeper awareness and greater movement on a continuum of healing.

info@willowvinecounsellingandyogatherapy.ca

(613) 690 - 4075