Coping Patterns, Substance Use & Behavioral Compulsions
At times, substances or behaviours can become ways of managing stress, emotions, grief, trauma, or other difficult experiences. What may begin as a source of relief can sometimes become a pattern that feels increasingly difficult to control or step away from.
Breaking old patterns.
Building new coping.
Substance Use
Compulsive Behaviours
Explore your relationship with alcohol or other substances and the ways use may be affecting your well-being, relationships, or daily life.
Understand behaviours that feel difficult to resist or stop, even when you recognize that they may be creating challenges. This may include gaming, gambling, excessive shopping, gaming, pornography/sexual behaviours, or other repetitive behaviours used to cope with difficult emotions or stress.
How I can support...
Support is available when emotional pain feels overwhelming or self-harm or thoughts of suicide have become ways of coping. Understand what is underneath these experiences, strengthen coping and safety strategies, and identify additional supports when needed.
Explore the relationship between food, eating, body image, and self-worth, including patterns that may feel difficult to change or that are affecting your well-being.
Suicidality & Self-Harm
Eating & Body Image
You may find yourself returning to a pattern of substance or behaviour even when part of you wants things to be different. Even when that pattern is creating problems, it may still provide a sense of relief, escape, control, or comfort in the moment.
Therapy can help you slow down and understand what happens before, during, and after the behaviour. Together, we can explore triggers, emotional needs, thoughts, and circumstances that may be contributing to the pattern, while building greater awareness of the choices available to you.
Our work may include exploring what created these patterns, developing healthier ways to regulate emotions, increasing your ability to tolerate distress, strengthening relationships and support systems, and creating practical strategies for moments when urges feel particularly strong.
Change does not have to happen all at once. Whether you are questioning your relationship with a substance or behaviour, hoping to reduce its impact, or ready to make a larger change, therapy can meet you where you are.
The goal is not simply to take away a coping strategy. It is to help you develop ways of coping that provide relief without continuing to create harm, while building a greater sense of choice, stability, and connection in your life.
How Therapy can Help
Working With Coping Patterns
I draw from evidence-informed approaches that can be adapted to the patterns, relationships, and emotional experiences you are navigating. Our work is collaborative and paced to support safety, stability, and meaningful change.
Here are some ways I can support you:
Harm Reduction
Explore ways to reduce the potential harms associated with substance use or other behaviours while working toward changes that feel realistic and meaningful for you. The focus is on safety, choice, and meeting you where you are.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Explore the different parts of yourself that may show up around substance use or other coping patterns, including parts that seek relief, avoid difficult emotions, or feel conflicted about change.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Explore the connections between thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and patterns that may be maintaining unwanted coping strategies.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
Process distressing or traumatic experiences that may continue to influence emotions, beliefs, and coping patterns, with the goal of reducing their emotional impact and supporting greater flexibility in how you respond.
Emotion-Focused Approaches
Explore the emotions and underlying needs that may be connected to substance use or compulsive patterns.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Explore what you want to change, what may be getting in the way, and what matters most to you—without pressure or judgment. MI can help strengthen your own motivation and confidence as you consider making changes.
Moving Beyond Old Patterns.
If you’re ready to explore your relationship with a substance or behaviour, I invite you to reach out when you’re ready to explore what change could look like for you.