[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/healingtreemontreal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Depositphotos_13794817_xl-2015-scaled.jpg” background_position=”bottom_center” background_vertical_offset=”45%” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” height=”250px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” min_height=”250px” custom_padding=”70px|||50px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” header_font_size=”41px” min_height=”114px” custom_padding=”5px|||||” global_module=”3733″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” header_line_height=”2em” header_2_line_height=”2em” header_3_line_height=”2em” header_4_line_height=”2em” max_width=”74%” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n We believe that most struggles make sense \u2014 once you understand the context they developed in.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n What shows up as anxiety, depression, disconnection, or difficulty in relationships is rarely random.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s often the result of how your mind, body, and inner world have adapted to what you’ve experienced \u2014 including what happened, what was missing, and what you had to manage on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n Our role is not to tell you what’s wrong with you.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s to help you understand what’s underneath \u2014 and why it’s still showing up.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 <\/span>Explore what we help with<\/b><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Symptoms \u2014 anxiety, low mood, emotional overwhelm, disconnection \u2014 are not the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n They’re how the problem shows up.<\/span><\/p>\n Beneath most symptoms, there is usually something trying to protect you: a part of you that learned, at some point, that this response was necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n We don’t focus on suppressing or managing what’s on the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n We work to understand what’s underneath \u2014 the patterns, adaptations, and experiences that are keeping you stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n This is why our work tends to create lasting change \u2014 rather than temporary relief.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Many of the struggles people bring to therapy are also rooted in how the nervous system has responded to overwhelming or unsupported experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n Symptoms like anxiety, shutdown, numbness, or emotional reactivity are often <\/span>automatic nervous system responses<\/b> \u2014 not personal failures or character flaws.<\/span><\/p>\n Understanding how your nervous system works \u2014 and how it has adapted \u2014 is an important part of making sense of your experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Our work integrates this understanding alongside the inner work, because lasting change happens at both levels: in how your body responds, and in your relationship with yourself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Healing doesn’t happen only through insight and conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n The body holds what the mind has experienced \u2014 and it needs to be part of the process.<\/span><\/p>\n We integrate <\/span>somatic (body-based) approaches<\/b> alongside talk therapy \u2014 helping you work with physical sensations, nervous system states, and the ways your body carries what you’ve been through.<\/span><\/p>\n This isn’t about performing exercises or following a protocol.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s about helping your whole system \u2014 not just your thinking mind \u2014 feel safer and more regulated.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We don’t push you to move faster than you’re ready for.<\/span><\/p>\n We don’t ask you to revisit experiences before your system feels safe enough to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n Safety and pacing are not just preferences \u2014 they’re clinical priorities.<\/b><\/p>\n Real change happens when you feel supported, not pushed. When there’s enough trust in the room to go toward what’s difficult, rather than away from it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The ways you’ve learned to cope, protect yourself, and relate to others developed for a reason.<\/span><\/p>\n We don’t treat those patterns as problems to be eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n We approach them with genuine curiosity \u2014 trying to understand what they’re protecting, why they developed, and what they might need in order to shift.<\/span><\/p>\n This includes the responses that feel the hardest to be with: the self-criticism, the shutdown, the anger, the part of you that doesn’t believe things can change.<\/span><\/p>\n We don’t ask you to get rid of any of it.<\/span><\/p>\n We ask what it’s trying to tell you.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 <\/span>Talk to a therapist who works this way<\/b><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n One of the approaches we draw on significantly is <\/span>Internal Family Systems (IFS)<\/b> \u2014 a well-researched, non-pathologizing model that understands the mind as made up of different parts, each with its own perspective, feelings, and protective role.<\/span><\/p>\n You might already notice this in yourself:<\/span><\/p>\n These aren’t contradictions or signs that something is wrong with you.<\/span><\/p>\n They’re reflections of a complex inner life \u2014 one that has often developed in response to difficult or unsupported experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n IFS gives us a way to approach these parts with curiosity and compassion rather than trying to override or silence them. Over time, this tends to create a more settled, grounded relationship with yourself \u2014 one that isn’t so easily destabilized by your own inner reactions.<\/span><\/p>\n You don’t need to know anything about IFS to benefit from this way of working.<\/span><\/p>\n You just need to be willing to get a little curious about what’s going on inside.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 <\/span>Talk to a therapist who works this way<\/b><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n We understand that trauma \u2014 including the trauma of what didn’t happen, not just what did \u2014 shapes how people feel, think, relate, and move through the world.<\/span><\/p>\n We bring this understanding into every aspect of our work, regardless of whether trauma is the presenting concern.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We don’t reduce people to diagnoses or deficit-based frameworks.<\/span><\/p>\n We see the people we work with as whole, adaptive human beings \u2014 whose struggles reflect what they’ve been through, not who they are.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Research consistently shows that the relationship between therapist and client is one of the most important factors in meaningful change.<\/span><\/p>\n We take that seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n We show up as genuine human beings \u2014 not blank slates. We are warm, direct, and honest. We won’t tell you what you want to hear. And we won’t hide behind clinical distance.<\/span><\/p>\n The goal is a working relationship where you feel safe enough to be fully honest \u2014 including about the parts of yourself you’ve kept hidden, or haven’t fully understood yet.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We recognize that the contexts people live in \u2014 including experiences of marginalization, discrimination, patriarchy, systemic inequity, and cultural disconnection \u2014 shape mental health in real and significant ways.<\/span><\/p>\n We bring an anti-oppressive lens to our work, and we work to create a space where every person feels genuinely seen and respected.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We don’t offer symptom management as an end goal.<\/span><\/p>\n Meaningful, lasting change comes from understanding and working through the roots of what you’re carrying \u2014 not just finding better ways to manage it.<\/span><\/p>\n This takes time. It’s not always linear.<\/span><\/p>\n And it’s worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 <\/span>Book a free consultation<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/h1>\n
Our Approach<\/span><\/h2>\n
How We Think About Healing<\/span><\/h3>\n
We look underneath the symptoms<\/h4>\n
We take a nervous system\u2013aware approach<\/h4>\n
We integrate body-based approaches<\/h4>\n
We work at your pace<\/h4>\n
We approach your patterns with curiosity \u2014 not judgment<\/h4>\n
We work with your inner world<\/h4>\n
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Our Values<\/h3>\n
We are trauma-informed<\/h4>\n
We are non-pathologizing<\/h4>\n
We believe healing happens in relationship<\/h4>\n
We are anti-oppressive<\/b><\/h4>\n
We believe in depth over quick fixes<\/h4>\n