Do you find yourself avoiding things that remind you of your painful experiences?

Have you tried to push down your feelings and hope that your symptoms would just disappear?

Have you perfected the art of avoidance? Do you numb your emotions?

Do people complain that you are cold and detached?

Are your struggles stopping you from enjoying a fulfilling career and/or relationships?

We Want You To Know That You Are Not Alone

We understand that sharing your trauma experience is a very scary experience. We want to reassure you that our expert counselors, psychotherapists in Kingston are trained in a variety of trauma treatments. We want you to know that we will meet you where you are. This means the pace of your therapy is matched to where you are in your healing journey. We use a variety of therapies such as EMDR, CBT, CPT, and many more. We tailor-make your therapy to suit your needs. We meet you in whatever place you are in your therapy journey.

Treatment for Trauma can be truly life-changing

At J&K Mental Health, you will hear our therapists continually repeat our favorite mantra that “avoidance keeps you stuck”. The truth is, at the core of many mental health conditions is usually unresolved trauma. When we say “unresolved”, we are referring to trauma symptoms that get in the way of your life such as stopping you from engaging in an occupation or stopping you from enjoying a fulfilling relationship. The problem with ignoring your trauma or not addressing your trauma is that your symptoms actually never go away. Therapy helps you do the opposite of this. Therapy helps you learn skills in how to tolerate your symptoms. “Resolving trauma” does not mean that you have an absence of symptoms. It means that your symptoms do not get in the way of your life.

You do not have to share your most painful experiences in detail with your therapist on your first session

Many of our clients come to therapy feeling so scared that they will be expected to share their most painful experiences with their therapist on their first session. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THIS. Some of our clients want to share their painful experiences in great detail, while others start off with the “thing that happened to me”. If we are completely honest, the details of what you experienced are not “the game changers”. What is so important in therapy is the impact of your experience. Did it leave you feeling all alone? Did it result in you not trusting other people? Did it make you isolate yourself from others? Did it make you feel like you are no good? In therapy, we will address these distorted perceptions to help you overcome and heal from your trauma.

Your body does not have the ability to lie

Many people who have experienced trauma will try to undermine their experience by trying to convince themselves that what they experienced “wasn’t too bad” or sometimes their mind will try and convince them that their experience did not even happen. We do not have the ability to go back in time to “prove” or “disprove” what happened. However, our bodies tell us the truth. The physical reaction that you feel in your body when you are reminded of your trauma is all the proof we need to “prove” you experienced something scary. Your body cannot lie. We need to listen to our body and teach it skills to feel safe. This is called “grounding” and is often the first skill we teach in therapy. Your therapist will ALWAYS believe you.

We would love to show you, that your trauma no longer needs to stop you from living your life.

You May Still Have Questions Or Concerns About Trauma Therapy

Is talk therapy the right approach to treating unresolved trauma?

Absolutely! Our expert Therapists, Counsellors, Psychotherapists are trained in a variety of therapies that have been proven to be highly effective in treating trauma.

I have been told that I need a certain therapy such as CBT or EMDR by a friend or professional?

The advantage of being treated by a registered mental health professional is that our therapists at J&K Mental Health are trained in a variety of therapy models to treat trauma.

Our Expert Team of Psychotherapists and Counsellors in Kingston are trained in

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

• Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT)

• Attachment Therapy

• Trauma Focussed CBT

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

• Brainspotting

• Emotion Focussed Couples Therapy (EFT)

• The Gotman Method (Couple Therapy)

• EMDR

• Narrative Therapy

• and many more.

You may be wondering if you need to take medication alongside receiving talk therapy.

In some cases taking medication can be beneficial. However, for the majority of our clients, taking medication is not necessary. Therapy provides you with the skills to manage your symptoms. Psychotherapists & Counsellors do not prescribe medication and cannot advise whether you should take it or not. However, we highly encourage you to speak to your family doctor about whether medication would be helpful or not to treat your unresolved trauma.