Our Team
I am a mental health therapist, supervisor and instructor with over 15 years experience. I specialize in work with low mood, stress and anxiety, trauma and all forms of life transitions.
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My role is to create a safe and welcoming environment to support my clients through all and any challenges that may arise throughout the life cycle.
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Together, we gently explore your needs and unmet needs, to achieve mental wellbeing and create meaningul and lasting change.
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I practice using well-researched and up-do-date methodologies including CBT, EMDR, Mindfulness Meditation and Somatic Healing.
Kristina Schwalm, MSW, RSW
Owner, Therapist, Supervisor/Instructor
Spencer Small, MSW, RSW
Therapist
I am a therapist who has worked in the social services field for the past 15 years, providing clinical social work services for the past 11years.
I firmly believe that individuals can reach their full potential when they are able to identify their strengths, embrace their uniqueness, and cultivate meaning in their lives. All people are powerful - more powerful than they know. I help clients tap into that power by helping them realize that they are more than the thoughts in their heads, the emotions they experience, or the mental health diagnosis they may have received.
Life is hard, pain is inevitable, but suffering is not. I believe that we are all deserving of a better life, one in which we feel connected to ourselves, others and our environment. I work passionately with my clients to create that life.
My training in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Trauma Informed Therapy and 2SLGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy has allowed me to help clients get to the root of their issues instead of just coping with their symptoms.
Talking to a counsellor for the very first time can feel strange and uncomfortable. I pride himself in being able make people feel welcomed, safe, accepted, and open to the challenges and rewards that counselling can bring.
You are a complex, worthy human being. I will work collaboratively with you and use our time together how you would like to. I can process hard stuff with you, help you reach your goals, provide strategies (if you’d like) or just be a listening ear.
Specializing in Anxiety Treatment, Depression, Stress and Life Transitions
Anxiety
Anxiety is a perpetual state of overwhelm. It can be debilitating. It comes when our minds and bodies begin to perceive threat and lose confidence in our ability to cope with it.
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Most of my clients are surprised to learn that anxiety is not something they have to endure. We can soothe our anxious minds and bodies, and return to a state of calm, relaxation and strength.
Low Mood & Depression
Depression and low mood can impact any of us. In a low mood state our minds and bodies disengage with the world around us. We become more prone to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.
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The right therapeutic support is non-judgemental, compassionate and understanding. Therapy can move us beyond hopelessness and helplessness, and allow us to reengage with our lives and the things we love.
Stress
Most of us are acutely familiar with this feeling. Sometimes it becomes pervasive, a state of being. We hold it in our bodies and in our minds.
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When stress is left unchecked it can impact our bodies and our minds, our productivity and our relationships with the people with love.
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In therapy we learn effective skills to slow things down and soothe our nervous system to achieve wellbeing and mental health.
Trauma
When we experience deep pain or fear it leaves a residue. No one should have to deal with that alone.
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Therapy allows us to recover and resolve our memories gently. To understand our pain and our pasts and move forward with new love for ourselves, new strength and new knowledge.
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Life Transitions
Life is always moving forward and it is important to slow down sometimes and give space to our mind and body as it adapts to change.
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Grief, illness, growth, new environments, new love, babies, careers, we are constantly adapting. Our minds and bodies need space to absorb and gently respond to change.
General Wellbeing
The demands of life can feel like too much sometimes. Maintaining fullness, wholeness, self-love and kindness is a practice, and sometimes it is difficult to hold on our own.
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The right therapy can bring us closer to our inner strengths. It can help us to rekindle joy, and love, and feel at peace with our world, and our time here.