Mental Health Therapy

Our Therapists

Mindfulness

At Embody Therapy Group, the teaching of mindfulness and practice of mindfulness sets the foundation for all the work in our clinic, an overall mindful approach has proven effective in treating many mental health concerns, psychosocial stressors, as well as chronic pain and illness. The basis of mindfulness is the increasing awareness, or the ability to pay attention in a particular way that is intentional and nonjudgmental.

We offer in session support and encourage out-of-session practice to help skills develop consistently over time. Once the skill of mindfulness has been learned, it can be applied in all areas of our lives as it helps us remain “in the driver’s seat in all interactions, even ones you may have considered to be overwhelming or intolerable in the past. As we address the entire mind/body continuum, you may be interested in exploring nutrition and movement therapy to support your journey as well.

Depression Treatment

If you are wondering how depression therapy can improve your quality of life, you are in the right place. Low energy, fatigue, and lethargy; negative thoughts about self, others and/or life itself; change in appetite; mistrust in the world as a whole; feelings of hopelessness and helplessness; emotions of guilt, shame and unworthiness; insomnia, sleeping too little or too much, and trouble getting out of bed; low self-esteem and devaluing yourself, feeling on edge and irritable; feelings of numbness, emptiness and abandonment; thoughts of suicide and/or self-harm, feeling detached from others or oneself: these are the things depression is made of.

Depression can be a debilitating condition that is more than mere sadness. Depression sucks your energy and makes living life a daunting, overwhelming, and exhausting task.

You may be wondering what the best treatment for depression is. Our approach to treating depression is a holistic one, meaning we are looking at the whole person, and their environment. This includes everything from your sleep, your nutrition, your support system, your occupation, your activity, to the thoughts you repeat in your head (which we tend to call your inner critic). We also like to help you explore what you value in life and help you align your behaviors so you can fully embody your values. (See below for a description of particular approaches our therapists are skilled in.)

Anxiety Treatment

Anxiety Therapy, with a mindful approach, can help liberate you from the confines of your mind. While we all experience a little anxiety from time to time, sometimes anxiety becomes crippling and interferes with daily functioning: your ability to go to school/work, approach social situations, perform at your best, complete daily life tasks, or even leave the house. Know that life does not have to be this way for you.

Anxiety is a fear-based condition that is characterized by heightened arousal to external and/or internal triggers. External triggers are things outside of our own bodies. They can be situations, external triggers, particular places or other people. Internal triggers are things like your own thoughts or feelings that cause or worsen your anxiety.  When a person struggles with anxiety it is not uncommon that they feel it will always be that way. This is not true. You can feel better, and less anxious.

In therapy for anxiety, we will explore your external and internal triggers. We’ll look at how your anxiety is related to very specific thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs, some of which you may not be aware you have. In dissecting and challenging these thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs, you will start to notice some relief. Depending on your particular situation, we will decide what to do next. Sometimes the next step is exposure; gradually allowing yourself to come face-to-face with your phobias or external triggers, in a controlled setting and for a specific period of time. We will use mindfulness as a self-regulation tool. We also explore which therapeutic approach will also support your recovery from evidenced based approaches such as CBT, ACT, DBT, EMDR. (See below for a description of these particular approaches our therapists are skilled in.)

Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders & Body Image Distress

Do you want to be at peace with food and your body?

Do you think about food a significant part of your day; when to eat, what to eat, how to eat?

Do you feel guilty when you aren’t sticking to your “plan,” “eating clean,” “starting tomorrow…..”?

Do you ever feel once you stop eating you can’t stop?

Have you ever thought that once you weigh a certain amount, or look a certain way, life will be better?

Do you feel addicted to food?

Are you caught in the diet cycle?

Do you want to learn how to respond better to your body and practice more mindful eating?

Have you lost trust in your body to tell you when you are hungry or full?

Do you need help with body acceptance?

Would you like your choices about food and physical activity to be desire based choices and not should-based-choices?

If you are seeking help for eating that feels out of control, or wanting to improve your body image, we will help you explore the underlying emotional issues that may be continuing to drive your concerns. Our team can assist you to reconnect to you body’s signals of hunger and fullness. We will help you let go of the “diet mentality” and align your actions with your values so you can fully embody the life you want to live. Because let’s face it, the diet industry wants to keep us feeling inferior to keep them in business. The diet mentality is what gets us thinking in distorted ways; good food/bad food, shoulds/shouldn’ts. This mentality leads us to make choices that are not intuitive and we stop trusting ourselves. We become confused about how, when, why, and what we like to eat. We make ourselves do physical activity that we do not enjoy.  We move away from our inherent intuition about nutrition and movement and search the internet to see if what we are doing is “right”. If this resonates with you, connect with us at Embody Therapy Group and we can help you recover from this way of thinking and acting that is robbing you of the joy you deserve to get out of life!

Eating disorders are very complex diseases that can have severe physical and emotional consequences if left untreated.  For this reason, it is imperative that men or women dealing with eating disorders seek professional help. Utilizing a professional treatment team who specialize in eating disorders can be one of the most powerful and influential resources for enhancing recovery.  Though the journey of recovery if often long and can include many highs and lows, the rewards reaped are invaluable and life-saving.

Seeking help for Eating Disorders

Confronting the eating disorder is the first step of eating disorder recovery.  If you are suffering with an eating disorder, it is important to admit that you need help.  Though this can be the most painful and difficult part of the process, it is essential in order for recovery to begin.  By reaching out for help and confiding in others that you love and trust about your struggles, you are taking the biggest step towards victory over your eating disorder.  If you have a loved one who is suffering from an eating disorder and are worried about their eating behaviours or attitudes, it is crucial to communicate your concerns in a loving and supportive way.  Confronting the person you care about is a necessary step towards getting them the help and treatment they deserve.  This should occur in a private and comfortable setting and expressed in a non-confrontational tone.  We can support you in this challenge as well.

Life Transitions Support

Major transitions in our lives can lead us to move away from behaviours that support our wellbeing and eventually lead us to feel like everything is unravelling. Changes such as; moving to a new community, marriage, medical diagnosis, caregiver burnout, career change, grief, divorce, empty nest, “mid-life crisis” and other areas that have us feeling like a fish out of water can go a lot smoother with support. We can help you with values assessment that can assist you to get grounded in the present while still doing some future planning. Some people can feel shame for having difficulty with managing these changes as they think they “should” be able to handle it. A place to share your feelings will make a positive difference and help you bring new meaning and direction in your life. We can help you see these transitions as an opportunity to learn about yourself in a different way.

Interpersonal Relationships and Intimacy Support

Do you find yourself continuously involved in relationships that leave you feeling misunderstood or even used? Are your current relationships feeling one-sided and not supportive of your interests, goals or overall direction in life? Our early childhood relationships lay the groundwork for which our future relationships are built. As children we learn about the world through our relationships; we create ideas about our worthiness based on the messages others send us about our adequacy as human beings. We form our identity and self-concept based on these relational experiences and create self-fulfilling patterns in our ongoing relationships with others.

If you struggle in your relationships, the good news is that there are root causes to these struggles and our therapists can explore these origins with you and support you to improve your relationships, first in relationship with yourself and second in your relationships with others.

Mindfulness Based Oreintations

At Embody Therapy Group, the teaching of mindfulness and practice of mindfulness sets the foundation for all the work in our clinic, an overall mindful approach has proven effective in treating many mental health concerns, psychosocial stressors, as well as chronic pain and illness. The basis of mindfulness is the increasing awareness, or the ability to pay attention in a particular way that is intentional and nonjudgmental.

We offer in session support and encourage out-of-session practice to help skills develop consistently over time. Once the skill of mindfulness has been learned, it can be applied in all areas of our lives as it helps us remain “in the driver’s seat" in all interactions, even ones you may have considered to be overwhelming or intolerable in the past. As we address the entire mind/body continuum, you may be interested in exploring nutrition and yoga therapy to support your journey as well.

Trauma Informed Care

When a person has experienced trauma, it can impact the physical, mental, social and behavioural areas of their lives. Our therapists provide trauma informed care as we are aware that it is an range of experiences over a person's lifetime that contribute to health behaviours and health status. We take into account our clients lived experiences and assess what coping mechanisms may have developed as a result of trauma and when necessary assist them with better understanding and coping strategies to create a healthier and more adaptive meaning of the traumatic experiences that have taken place.

Eye Movement Desensitization and reprocessing therapy (emdr)

EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the client to briefly focus a traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms. Ongoing research supports positive clinical outcomes showing EMDR therapy as a helpful treatment for disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, addictions, and other distressing life experiences. EMDR therapy has even been shown to be superior to Prozac in trauma treatment (Van der Kolk et al., 2007).

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is used to help people concentrate on ways to become aware of and accept their emotions and experiences.  This therapy is beneficial in eating disorder recovery as it helps individuals develop a healthier relationship with their emotions and intellect. There is some great new research showing the value of ACT for recovery from eating disorders, disordered eating and the concerns that often accompany them such as perfectionism, shame, self-stigma, body image dissatisfaction, anxiety and depression.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of therapy that focuses on negative patterns of thinking as well as beliefs that contribute to these thought patterns.  CBT teaches participants skills that allow them to identify problematic beliefs as well as healthy ways to cope with emotions.

CBT has been shown to effectively help those who may be struggling with disordered eating, mood disorders, anxiety and decrease destructive behaviours. During treatment, you will learn more about your stuck thinking patterns, their symptoms, and how to predict when symptoms will most likely recur. CBT often includes exercises and practices in the session but also can involve “homework” or exercises outside of session in order to help practice and develop coping skills in changing thoughts, behaviours, and emotions.

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a form of psychotherapy that connects cognitive and behavioral methods as an approach to coping with painful emotions.  The focus of this therapy is usually for individuals who react to emotional circumstances with extreme behaviours. Components of DBT include the practice of mindfulness as well as emotional regulation.  Although DBT was originally designed for those that suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder, it has become an effective treatment therapy for men and women who deal with emotional instability. The skills taught in DBT allow individuals to better deal with conflict and stress while gaining increased control over negative thoughts and emotions.