Healing Begins with Understanding
The word addiction comes from the Latin term meaning “to be bound to” or “enslaved by.” It’s a powerful image — and one that speaks to how overwhelming and consuming certain behaviours can feel.
In my work as a clinical counsellor over the past 15 years, I’ve come to understand addiction not as a personal failing or simply a disease, but as a response to life’s pain, disconnection, or overwhelm. Often, it reflects our best efforts to cope with stress, trauma, or loss — especially when other options don’t feel accessible or safe.
Addiction doesn’t always involve substances. It can also show up in patterns like compulsive gambling, problematic pornography use, or rituals around eating, gaming, or social media. What these behaviours often have in common is a repetitive pull — a strong drive to seek relief, pleasure, or escape — even when it starts to interfere with other parts of life.
Sometimes these behaviours offer short-term comfort. But over time, they may create more distress, isolation, or shame.
When we view addiction as a response to suffering — rather than a moral or psychological flaw — it opens the door to compassion, curiosity, and more effective healing. Therapy can offer a space to understand what’s driving these patterns and gently explore other ways of meeting your needs.
Tools for Healing and Change
Supporting growth with curiosity, compassion, and evidence-based care
Over the past 15 years, I’ve come to understand that there’s no single path to healing. Each person’s relationship with substances or behaviours is shaped by their unique history, environment, and needs.
That’s why I draw from a range of therapeutic tools — adapting each one to support you, not to “fix” you. Whether you’re feeling stuck, ambivalent about change, or already moving toward something different, we’ll work together at a pace that feels right for you.
Finding Your Motivation – Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Motivational Interviewing helps you clarify your own reasons for change. If you’re unsure about what you want or feel torn about taking the next step, MI offers a space for collaborative conversation — not pressure. It’s about uncovering what matters to you and building change from the inside out.
Learning to Stay Present – Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP)
Mindfulness can help you slow things down and respond more intentionally to urges, cravings, and stress. In MBRP, we use present-moment practices to reduce automatic behaviours, reconnect with the body, and build awareness of your inner experience — all without judgment.
Understanding Your Patterns – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps us explore the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. We’ll look at how unhelpful patterns may have formed — often as ways of coping — and identify new tools that align more closely with your values. It’s practical, grounded, and collaborative.
Reclaiming Your Story – Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy invites you to step outside of problem-saturated stories and reconnect with your resilience and agency. Together, we’ll explore how your identity has been shaped by personal experiences and cultural messages — and how you want to redefine it. Addiction is not who you are. You are the author of your life, and new stories are possible.
Beginning Your Journey
Honouring your story. Walking with you toward change.
My approach draws from culturally responsive, evidence-based therapies within a trauma-informed and strength-based framework. This means our work together won’t just address the behavioural or psychological aspects of addiction — it will also honour your lived experience, personal story, and cultural context.
Together, we’ll define what meaningful recovery looks like for you — whether that means complete abstinence, moderation, or harm reduction. There is no one-size-fits-all path, and you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Our focus will be on understanding the root causes of your struggles, creating personalized strategies to support change, and building skills to prevent relapse and sustain healing.
Wherever you are on your path, I’m here to walk alongside you — with care, curiosity, and respect.
“addictive behavior is often a search for safety rather than an attempt to rebel or a selfish turn inward”
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