Looking for a therapist who has special knowledge and training related to perinatal mental health in Ontario? Here are some colleagues that I love and recommend. If you are looking for someone outside of Ontario you can also find someone on the CPMHT Directory.
*Alphabetical order with bios are quoted from each professionals website*
Dannielle Samuel (she/her) Social Work
“With robust lived and professional experience, Dannielle has a passion for connecting people to their best selves to unleash their collective commonalities. She has in-depth counselling and group facilitation capabilities. She particularly excels at approaching conflict from a common thread perspective, providing a calm yet energizing space to open the listening mind. Dannielle is adept at energizing people, either individually or in small groups, to work towards a common goal. She is specifically focused on issues surrounding loss, grief and post adoption supports. Dannielle also has a keen interest in diversity and inclusion work, providing information and workshops on self-awareness, the concepts of antiracism, and the power of forgiveness.”
Fernanda Villanueva (she/her) Social Work
“For over 10 years, I have supported individuals through various mental health challenges and life transitions. I have seen individuals work through their mental health concerns, overcome obstacles and experience personal growth. I provide an inclusive space where you will be heard, validated and supported. I believe in the power of human resiliency and our innate ability to reflect, process and overcome life’s challenges. My hope is that you learn to trust yourself and your journey, and begin to heal from life’s obstacles in order to reach your full potential”
Haley Blumenfeld (she/her) Social Work
“I provide therapy to adults and couples experiencing diverse challenges such as symptoms related to a mental health concern, low self-esteem, and relationship difficulties. I am particularly passionate about women’s mental health. I have extensive experience supporting clients around reproductive and maternal well-being, including concerns such as role transition challenges, infertility, and postpartum depression. My therapeutic process recognizes client’s as the expert of their experience and is founded on respect for each individual’s pace.”
Kama Lee Jackson (she/her) Psychotherapy
“I’ll help untangle the messy feelings and thoughts that weigh you down, getting in the way, and holding you back from being your best you. Together we’ll identify what you want and how to get you there. I know the wild ride of going through changes and transitions in life and understand the messiness of expectations, disappointments, joys, and hopes that come with making your way through your days and experiences. You are the expert on you and my role is to help you write your story, your way. I am a parent, ex-partner, friend, daughter, sister, feminist, depression and anxiety warrior, and re-inventor of self. All these roles and identities help inform my work as a therapist but I also work from a place of humility and an understanding that your lived experience is not mine. I am committed to my ongoing growth and to supporting you in yours/”
Michelle Farrow (she/her) Psychotherapy
“I offer individual counselling services for adults, using a combination of evidence-based modalities, strategies, and tools that are tailored to your needs. I work with infertility struggles, postpartum/ perinatal parents, birth trauma, and people experiencing depression and/or anxiety. I am committed to supporting others who may be struggling with finding themselves after experiencing a traumatic event. If you are feeling overwhelmed, I want to assist you to develop a deep resiliency to get through life’s challenging moments. Together we can identify your goals, develop coping skills, and process past trauma in order to optimize your everyday well-being, all the while feeling supported and safe.”
Natalie Grynpas (she/her) Social Work
My approach to therapy is non-judgemental, compassionate, and collaborative. Together, we’ll reconnect you to yourself and to your community. We’ll strengthen your inner resilience, make you better able to face whatever challenges you, and – ideally – help you uncover the joy in your life. It is client-centred, compassionate, collaborative and trauma-informed. My approach encourages and promotes self-exploration, healthy family dynamics, coping-skills, resilience and problem-solving.
SKB Keelan-Bishop (she/they) Psychotherapy
” I provide in-culture therapy to neurodivergent folks of all genders. People work with me to process their lived experiences of autism, ADHD, anxiety disorders, and more. My healing-centred approach creates space to safely unmask and explore your authentic self. As a birth and adoptive parent, I have a special interest in working with members of kinship constellations and other non-normative family systems.”
Tanya Colter (she/her) Clinical Psychology
“I’m Doctor Tanya Cotler, an adult and child clinical psychologist – and one of few insight-oriented psychodynamically-trained relational therapists in Toronto. I have a particular interest in parent -child attachment and understand that it is rooted in mindful attunement between parent and child.”
Vania Sukola (she/her) Psychotherapy
“Sometimes, we get stuck in judging ourselves and not feeling the happiness that is expected of us. I’m here to work with you through feelings of unhappiness or depression, low self-esteem or self-worth, anger that you have experienced and/or ‘mom guilt’ that you’re stuck feeling, times where you are especially low or irritable, negative body image, and creating a more intentional way of living. I specifically offer therapeutic support for your mental health, emotion-regulation, re-traumatizing triggers, and nervous system support from an intersectional Feminist lens.”
Couples Counseling
Tynan Rhea (they/them) Psychotherapy
“When I talk to people about experiencing pleasure on their own terms (no matter how bizarre or oppressed it may seem to others) they talk about how it can heal the wounds of trauma. When I talk to people about being able to make informed choices about their body and feel good enough about their body, it changed their ideas about what made them feel worthy in a world so focused on physical beauty. When I talked to people about learning how to move toward relationships that nourished them and away from relationships that depleted them, they said it made space for self love. These kinds of changes can be revolutionary in a person’s life.”
LGBTQ+ Focused Therapy
Sydney Gilchrist (they/them) Social work
“I believe in creating space to tell our stories. Working from a narrative, client-centered approach, I support clients in understanding past experiences and working towards future goals. I practice from a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, harm-reduction framework, and hold a commitment to dismantling colonial structures. My practice is sex-positive, kink-positive, and poly-positive. I promote disability justice, mutual aid, and care work within therapeutic communities.”
Therapy Collectives/Directories Healing In Colour
The Healing Collective
The Womb
Well Parents
West End Mamas