What is Psychotherapy?

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A private, confidential, within certain limits, interaction between yourself and the treating psychologist, where you bring your concerns to achieve understanding and strategies in order to manage or reduce your psychological distress, and to improve your mental well-being. 

 

The interaction between clients and therapist is based on certain fundamental principles. The College of Psychologists of Ontario regulates this interaction by setting standards and guidelines to which all practicing psychologists in the province are required to adhere. 

 

First, it is a formal agreement of what clients should expect regarding their treatment, how their information is used and stored, and their privacy protected. Second, clients should always expect to be treated with respect and dignity. Third, they should experience the therapist as non-judgemental, and their issues treated with due concern. They should expect the psychologist to be knowledgeable about current treatments related to their condition, and offer treatments based on scientific evidence. If the condition is beyond the psychologist's area of expertise, clients should expect to be referred.

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What Type of Therapy?

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Dr. Maing offers individual therapy on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for all clients.  Therapy is tailored to suit your specific needs and utilize your unique strengths. My therapeutic approach integrates Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy with elements of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Positive Psychology and Attachment.

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Group therapy is also offered to children and adolescents for the following issues, Anxiety and Depression.  Among the benefits of group therapy are its cost-effectiveness and the opportunity to have group members provide support and act as a sounding board.

 

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely used evidence-based treatment that has been found to be successful with a variety of mental health challenges, including, depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. CBT is an intensive, short-term approach that examines how our interpretation of events influence our emotions and behaviour. CBT was designed to focus on goals, and improve individuals’ coping skills.

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Mindfulness is a practice of paying attention to your experience in the present moment. Cultivating greater awareness of what we are doing, rather than being caught up in and judging our thoughts and emotions, allows us to reduce our stress and our ruminating on negative events. Research has demonstrated the benefits to those who are feeling depressed and anxious. Self-compassion, or being kind to oneself, has been linked to positive mental health outcomes, including optimism and greater social connectedness.

 

The field of Positive Psychology explores how we can improve our well-being, and by so doing flourish. Activities that increase our positive emotions, involve other people, are meaningful, engage us, and provide us with a sense of accomplishment promote our well-being. Research on those activities, such as keeping a gratitude journal or a ”what went well” diary, has demonstrated improvements in mood.

 

Attachment examines how our early interactions with our primary caregiver provide us with a template of how we expect others to interact with us, and consequently, how we will respond in return. If, for example, our early attachments were secure, we are more likely to be trusting and communicate our thoughts and feelings in an adaptive manner. In contrast, if our early attachments were insecure, we are more likely to experience interpersonal difficulties, and struggle with feelings of anger, anxiety, or depression. In therapy, establishing a secure, trusting relationship allows the individual to communicate more openly.

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Who Will Benefit?

 

Children, adolescents, and adults who are struggling with: 

• Experiences related to interpersonal relationships, grief or bereavement, stress, traumatic incidents.

• Significant difficulty in managing their emotions in a healthy manner.

• Constant thoughts or beliefs that are highly self-critical or are negative about others.

• Withdrawal from family and friends or from their social or leisure activities.

• Concentrating at school, home, or work.

• Behaving in a compulsive manner and/or having obsessive thoughts.

• Behaving impulsively or recklessly.

• Suicide or self-harmful behaviour and/or thoughts.