I am a licensed clinical psychologist in both Ontario and Nova Scotia. I have experience in hospital, university, and private practice healthcare settings. I completed my graduate training in Clinical Psychology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, and practiced in Halifax for close to six years before relocating to Ottawa in the summer of 2020. While I am functionally proficient in French, as of now I only offer services in English.

I have been lucky enough to learn from some incredible mentors and supervisors, though my clients continue to be my greatest teachers; I am endlessly inspired by their resilience, courage, and capacity for growth.

My Therapy Approach

I aim to provide a client-focused environment that is genuine and empathic.

Therapy doesn't have to be all doom and gloom; humour can be an important catalyst in self-discovery and insight. Fundamentally, I am humanistic in my approach, and I believe that the therapeutic relationship is of utmost importance in working towards personal and relational growth (and this is strongly supported by research).

My work with clients is based on evidence-informed psychotherapeutic approaches. Like most psychologists, during grad school I was trained in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). Since then, I have studied various other approaches, including emotionally-focused, psychodynamic, acceptance & commitment, attachment, somatic, mindfulness, and compassion-based modalities. I have specific training in relationship and sex therapy, and hold a certificate in Sexual Health & Sex Therapy from the University of Michigan (If you’d like, you can see my CV here). I actively seek out new learning opportunities and stay up-to-date with best practice research.

This being said, in my experience therapy is most successful when there remains some room for creativity. I do not rigidly adhere to any particular treatment modality, and instead tailor my approach to reflect the uniqueness each person or couple brings to therapy. As esteemed psychiatrist Dr. Irvin Yalom states in The Gift of Therapy, a “therapist must strive to create a new therapy for each patient.” With this in mind, I use an informed biopsychosocial lens to consider how a client’s identity and context may be affecting their experience and worldview. In every case, I collaborate with the client to decide what works best for them, and from there integrate various evidence-based techniques and modalities into the therapeutic process. I believe that this gives the client the best opportunity to achieve further understanding and insight, and ultimately transform this self-discovery into meaningful and lasting change.

Learn more about the services that Katherine offers:

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