Introduction

I seek to create therapeutic spaces that are both supportive and exploratory. Drawing on my training as a therapist and literary scholar, I believe in the value of thinking carefully, deeply, and creatively about the stories we tell (and sometimes don’t tell) about ourselves. By learning to tell their stories, and perhaps learning to tell their stories differently, my clients are able to find balance, take risks, and centre healing in their lives.

Psychoanalysts contend that psychological pain and unwelcome behaviours need first not to be eliminated, but understood.
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About Me

I am a Psychoanalytic Candidate at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis, a constituent organization of the International Psychoanalytic Association or IPA. As an instructor in the Humanities, I have taught courses at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, and the University of Cambridge in the UK. 

What is Psychoanalysis?

Psychoanalysis represents diverse therapeutic approaches unified by interest in working with unconscious material. Similarly, psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a form of Psychodynamic treatment that works with the “dynamics” between the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. I offer both treatments. When you are considering treatment, it is important to consider what kind of therapy you are interested in. If you are interested in a highly exploratory approach, you may want to consider psychoanalysis, which is a more intensive and time committed form of therapy. Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is less intensive but does require a close working relationship in which emotions, thinking patterns and behaviors are closely examined with your therapist. Both forms of psychoanalytic therapy require an initial assessment, which is an opportunity to discuss what would like help with, and how that might be addressed through therapy or analysis. This is a process in which both you and the therapist can assess whether the therapeutic relationship feels like a good fit, and an opportunity to better understand the benefits of engaging in a long-term therapy.

Services

I work with individuals 18 years and older, providing psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

I offer culturally reflexive therapy from a harm reduction perspective, recognizing how intersecting identities of race, class, gender, culture, sexuality, and so on shape what trauma, resilience, and healing means for different people. I am trans, queer, poly, and kink affirming and welcome and affirm the experiences of people who have been marginalized including sex workers and people who use drugs.

Possible issues include: Abuse, Addiction, Anxiety, Bereavement, Career/Work, Depression, Gender and Sexual Identity, Academic Difficulties, Body Image, Dysmorphia, Social Trauma, Experiences of Oppression, Grief/Loss, Intergenerational Trauma, LGBTQ, Obsessive/Compulsive Tendencies, Relationships/Family, Sexuality and Gender.

I am a member of the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professionals (OAMHP) and abide by its code of ethics.

Low-cost Psychoanalysis

I currently offer lower-cost Psychoanalysis (four-times weekly therapy) for those interested in this deep and sustainted form of therapy but who otherwise would not be able to afford it.