Joan Barnett, Registered Psychotherapist
Toronto-based Integrative Psychodynamic Therapist
Welcome
Seeking a therapist can be a daunting decision; one that takes a leap of faith. You may think everything is good on the outside and you have it all together. Yet the unhealthy behaviours and relationships persist, and anxiety, shame, or depression are frequent companions. You are not alone.
Often it takes a crisis for people to recognize that they need help and reach out. Therapy isn’t for everybody, but it can benefit in many situations. In some ways it can be just what is needed to make positive and lasting changes in your life.
If you would like to discuss if therapy is the right choice for you, or want more information about the process, please read further into my website, or contact me to set up a complimentary 20 minute conversation.
I share a belief with others; that we humans are instinctively oriented toward personal growth and maturity and that we have a yearning to find meaning and purpose in our lives beyond mere survival. I believe this meaning is possible for everyone who is looking, and arises from our own inner knowing.
– Joan
How Can Therapy Help?
Grief, Loss
When grief or a sense of loss arises, we don’t always know where it is coming from. It may be a current situation of loosing a loved one, or a past childhood trauma being awakened. A therapist can help by listening deeply, allowing the feelings to emerge, and guiding you to face the loss, fear and uncertainty with more presence and connections.
Anxiety, Stress, Hypervigilance
In a world where there is more and more stimulation and high expectations to achieve, it can sometimes feel unbearably dangerous. We can feel like our life is spinning out of control. Society seems to validate and acerbate the inner chaos of our early patterns of survival. Through mindful practices, therapy can offer space to co-regulate that can lead to more flexible states of being.
Sadness, Depression
Being sad is part of our humanness, but depression can be devastating and make it impossible to get out of bed in the morning. Within every numbing of feelings is the root of negative thinking. I’m not good enough, I’m not lovable – or whatever it is for you in that moment. This may feel hard wired, but the truth is therapy can help you change it by going back to the source with conscious awareness and radical acceptance.
Attachment, Relationship Difficulties
Humans are relational by nature and require varying degrees of connections to feel loved, safe, with a sense of belonging. Relationships can be challenging and a lot of work. Whether with partners, friends, or others, therapy can help you access the intimacy, honesty, and vulnerability required to sustain and grow a loving relationship.
Major Life Transitions
Have you had a sudden shift in values and beliefs or had a change in work or relationships that left you feeling like you were free falling on another planet? Are you experiencing a life passage? Therapy can help you pick up the pieces of your life, find new pieces, and regain meaning.
Abuse or Neglect
Most people can relate to having been traumatized in their life. The stress of early trauma can cause a deep chasm within us forcing us to become static – rigidly conforming to the established norms – or dissociating. Therapy can help by making hope manifest and finding ways to reframe those painful events into healing felt experiences that work at mending broken hearts and fractured bodies.
Therapy services
“Trauma is about the fact that we are all given more to experience in this life than we can bear to experience consciously”
— Donald Kalsched
Individual Therapy
Psychotherapy can help by providing tools for building a meaningful life through authentic relationships with self and others. Being deeply seen can bring relief when you have never felt understood or safe to speak about your personal struggles.
Group Therapy
Awareness of self, awareness of others, and being in the here and now, are pivotal to encountering the inner life of the group. This is where you can work with what arises from the past in the present moment – creating new and positive pathways that transform old patterns, with the support of others who share your struggles.
Emotional Bodywork
Emotional bodywork is a process of creating awareness of the relationship between our emotional and mental states. Through body sensations and feelings, we start to see how much of who we are, and what we do and say, come out of our body’s chemistry and anatomy.
