Well-being. Self-insight.
Counselling approaches.
What kinds of counselling does David provide?
David has completed post-graduate educational training to further specialize in different approaches to counselling and intervention. David is an integrative clinical practitioner, drawing from multiple therapeutic philosophies. Below you will find a list of common concerns that David often addresses along with a brief overview of select areas of interest.
Common Concerns:
Trauma & PTSD, and chronic shame
Couples and marriage counselling
Grief & loss
Anxiety, phobias, & panic attacks
Depression & hopelessness
Crisis of faith, cult exiting, & religious-based trauma
Experiences of discrimination, bullying, & homophobia
Navigating uncertainties of identity, meaning, & purpose
Body image concerns
End-of-life & living with a life-limiting illness
Somatic & Attachment Therapy
David brings together his education in early childhood development, attachment theory, the neurobiology of trauma, polyvagal theory, and EMDR to support clients with developing embodied insights into personal challenges and heal trauma.
David has engaged professional training in Somatic and Attachment Psychotherapy with Lisa Mortimore, PhD, and Stacy Adam Jensen, M.Ed, at Bringing the Body Back into Practice in Victoria, BC (www.bringingthebody.ca). David has also completed training in EMDR with Dr. Amanda Bell and colleagues in London, Ontario (www.amandabell.ca).
David recognizes the importance of an embodied approach to psychotherapy, bringing into talk counselling an awareness of the holistic relationship between mind, body, and emotions. Through in-session dialogue, David helps clients to become better attuned to how felt experiences of emotion show up as messengers from the body. David then supports clients to view felt experiences as entry-points for awareness into concerns that come up during therapy. Sometimes this shows up as an opportunity for learning how to identify and regulate emotions in better ways. Other times clients may experience profound insights or a release of stored emotion. In either case, David intends to establish a context of safety, embodied awareness, and practical education regarding all processes that occur in therapy.
Psychodynamic Therapy
David draws from an integration of relational and psychodynamic philosophical approaches to facilitate therapeutic support. In a typical session, this will include an exploration of how experiences from the past have influenced the development of unconscious conditioning or repeating patterns in the present.
David is continuously assessing for how systems of family, institution, community, and culture interact dynamically, influencing our lives and how we come to know ourselves and others in various ways. David intends to help clients become more aware of these influences as an essential step towards healing.
David believes that long-term well-being is created by pursuing opportunities for deepened self-understanding and meaning. When we start to consciously understand who we are and why we act in certain ways, we are in a much better position to take back control over our lives, becoming empowered participants in a more meaningful and purpose-driven life.
Narrative Therapy
David has been a longtime practitioner of narrative therapy, completing an intensive certificate in narrative therapy with Karen Young MSW, RSW at the Windz Centre located in Oakville, Ontario in 2017, along with additional studying and skills-building workshops over the years.
Narrative therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Michael White and David Epston in the 1980s, gaining significant popularity for its anti-oppressive and client-centred focus. It aims to support clients with separating from problems, helping individuals to step back and view challenges objectively. When we view problems objectively, we’re better able to discern where outside factors may be contributing to the various challenges in our lives. When we are no longer overly identified with the problems that we’re facing, it becomes easier to identify solutions and helpful insight.
Narrative therapy is empowering because it helps clients to identify the innate wisdom and knowledge that everyone brings into the therapy room. Drawing from narrative approaches, David guides discussions in ways that are intended to help clients reclaim their stories and create a life that is more empowered.
Counselling Hypnotherapy
David has received certification as a Clinical Counselling Hypnotherapy (C. Hyp) practitioner with Daybreak Therapy and Training located in Toronto, Ontario (www.daybreaktherapy.ca).
David offers clinical hypnotherapy services as an optional integrative component of his regular therapy practice. Clients can request to explore hypnotherapy services as an additional approach to facilitating therapeutic support.
Hypnotherapy is a lesser-known and yet evidence-based and effective approach to helping clients reduce stress, increase self-confidence, and move beyond self-limiting beliefs that can unconsciously contribute to a variety of life challenges.
In a typical hypnotherapy session, David will draw upon techniques of clinical hypnotherapy and mindfulness to help facilitate a deeper experience of relaxation and reduced stress. To read more about clinical counselling hypnotherapy and frequently asked questions, please click here.
Ecological Consciousness
David’s clinical work and research is deeply influenced by his connection to nature. Before moving into clinical practice as a therapist, David completed an undergraduate degree in biology, emphasizing areas related to the ecological sciences.
After becoming a mental health provider and social work researcher, David began to recognize the cultural disconnection of modern society from the natural rhythms and wisdom of nature. David believes that this disconnection is often reproduced socio-culturally in the kinds of ruptures that many people experience in relationship to the body and each other.
In a world that has become increasingly isolating and disconnected from our natural, embodied states, David has become very passionate about drawing from the inspiration and wisdom of nature to help clients reconnect holistically with the embodied self. He also draws from an ecological perspective of interdependence to help individuals and communities understand patterns of shared social and cultural interconnectedness.
David is also conscientious of the historical impacts of colonization on present-day social and sustainability concerns. David recognizes the importance of reconciliation with Indigenous, First Nations, and Inuit communities as an essential part of facilitating positive change.