Identity & Self-Esteem Concerns
Your sense of identity can be shaped by many parts of your life, including your relationships, culture, gender, sexuality, race, experiences, and the ways others have responded to you. Therapy can offer space to explore these experiences and develop a sense of self that feels more authentic and grounded.
Knowing yourself.
Trusting who you are.
Self-Esteem & Self-Worth
Gender & Sexuality
Explore self-criticism, insecurity, comparison, and feelings of not being enough while developing a more compassionate relationship with yourself.
Create a supportive, non-judgmental space to explore gender identity, sexual orientation, coming out, relationships, or questions about how you understand yourself. I offer an affirming space for LGBTQ+ and transgender clients to explore questions of identity, authenticity, belonging, and self-acceptance.
How I can support...
Explore how race, culture, family, community, and experiences of belonging or exclusion may shape your sense of self and relationships with others. This can include experiences of immigration, acculturation, cultural adjustment, bicultural or multicultural identity, and navigating different cultural expectations.
dentity can shift during major transitions such as relationships, parenthood, career changes, migration, or other periods of change.
Race & Culture
Life Transitions & Identity
Identity can be shaped by many experiences, including culture, race, gender, sexuality, family, relationships, and the communities we belong to. Therapy can provide space to explore how different parts of your identity intersect and shape the way you experience yourself and the world around you.
Together, we can explore questions of who you are, where you feel you belong, and how you want to move through the world. Our work may include strengthening self-worth, working through shame or internalized messages, navigating family or cultural expectations, processing experiences of discrimination or exclusion, and finding ways to express yourself that feel more authentic.
You don't need to have your identity figured out before beginning therapy. We can make space for uncertainty, complexity, and the different parts of your experience while supporting you in developing a stronger and more accepting relationship with yourself.
How Therapy can Help
My Work With Identity
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:
Trauma-Informed Approaches
Consider how past experiences may have influenced your sense of safety, identity, relationships, and self-worth.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Explore the different parts of yourself that may contribute to self-criticism, insecurity, or feelings of not being enough. IFS can help you understand these parts with greater compassion and develop a more accepting relationship with yourself.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Identify and challenge patterns of self-criticism, comparison, and negative beliefs about yourself.
Narrative Therapy
Explore the stories and messages that have shaped your identity while making space for perspectives that reflect your strengths and values.
Emotion-Focused Approaches
Develop a deeper understanding of emotions, needs, and experiences connected to self-worth and identity.
Interpersonal therapy
Explore how relationships, communication, life transitions, and interpersonal experiences can influence your sense of self, while building healthier ways of connecting with others.
Supporting Indigenous Clients
Indigenous identity and experience are diverse, shaped by culture, family, community, land, history, and individual lived experience. In Canada, these experiences may also be influenced by the ongoing effects of colonialism, systemic discrimination, displacement, and intergenerational experiences.
Therapy can provide space to explore identity, cultural connection, belonging, family and community relationships, and experiences that have shaped your sense of self and well-being. Whether you feel closely connected to your culture, are exploring or reconnecting with your identity, or are navigating experiences of disconnection or exclusion, we can make space for your individual story.
My approach is grounded in cultural humility, respect, and curiosity, recognizing that each Indigenous person’s relationship with culture, community, spirituality, and healing is unique. I value the importance of storytelling and lived experience, and when meaningful to the client, make space for cultural teachings, traditions, and ways of understanding healing to be part of the therapeutic process.
For clients who wish to incorporate spirituality into their healing, this may include connection with the Creator, ceremony, or practices such as smudging, guided by the client’s own cultural traditions and preferences. My role is not to prescribe what healing should look like, but to create space for the knowledge, values, and practices that are meaningful to you.
Finding Your Authentic Self.
If you’re exploring questions of identity, self-worth, or belonging, I invite you to reach out when you’re ready to explore what feeling more at home in yourself could look like.