I’m Mike, a Registered Clinical Counsellor (#18241). I am not currently taking new clients. I work with adults and with youth older than 16 years old. Psychotherapy involves a relationship between the client and the psychotherapist, in which both people can use the relationship to learn about the life and experience of the client. I aim to create an environment in which the client can say what they really think and feel. Psychotherapy may involve a focus on identity, emotions, relationships, aspirations, how we solve problems, how we make meaning. When people have better insight into themselves, they often feel more free to make decisions they value, to react to themselves and to others in healthier or more creative ways. Participating in psychotherapy does not guarantee that one's problems will improve. A person may in fact feel worse, at times, because psychotherapy involves addressing material from one's life that is troubling, shameful, sad, traumatic, etc. That said, psychotherapy is one way, not to say the only way, that people can work toward more fully participating in their own lives.

In practice, I hope that my curiosity about my clients inspires curiosity about themselves. My clients can expect me to listen to them, and can also expect me to constructively confront them. I do not assign homework. Sessions may focus on content, e.g., what happened, what the client wants or is afraid of, and on process, e.g., what is going on right now between the psychotherapist and the client. Both content and process can be useful for learning about the client. In the beginning, we will start to put together an understanding of what brings the client to therapy, whom the client is, if and how I may be able to help, and what a relevant focus may be. This is with the understanding that life happens, and that the client can use psychotherapy to talk about what is most pressing to them. The client is a valued expert on their own life, and is free and encouraged to disagree with or clarify how I am understanding them.

I offer a 15-minute, free consultation over the phone. This is to help potential clients to decide if they can imagine themselves working with me, and to help me decide whether I am the right fit for the client and the thing(s) they want to work on in psychotherapy.