Amy Graham Psychotherapy

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), BA, MA

CRPO#: 12107

The human experience is messy, non-linear, and excruciatingly lonely at times. Life can be confusing and challenging to navigate as young children, as adolescents, and, certainly, as adults and parents. Having another human truly see us – our strengths and our struggles – creates an experience of being witnessed with compassion. It creates a felt sense of safety and validation through which we can begin relating differently to ourselves and to one another. This belief is foundational to who I am, how I show up in the world, and the way in which I work therapeutically with children, adolescents, and adults of all ages.

About Me

I am a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and a member of the Canadian Association of Play Therapists. I completed a Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology through Yorkville University and prior to that, a Bachelor of Arts in Social Development Studies from the University of Waterloo through which I also obtained a diploma in General Social Work Studies and a certificate in Child Abuse Studies. I have completed both level one and level two training in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and continue to train extensively in the field of Play Therapy. I worked directly with families and children in the social work field for over 16 years prior to moving into private practice.

My Services

Play Therapy

Play therapy is my passion as I believe strongly that children understand the world and their place within it through play – not dialogue. The symbolic function of toys and play provides a rich therapeutic experience for children to process, express, and manage issues they may be navigating and for which they may not have words. The use of puppets, sand play, expressive arts, building, storytelling, role play, and therapeutic games are used in both the assessment and intervention components of work with younger children. Psychoeducation is integrated into these activities to help both children and parents better understand how our bodies and brains work and how we can begin to work with them to function more effectively in our relationships and our world. Rather than asking children to join my language-based world as an adult, I choose, instead, to join their world of play to facilitate therapeutic work in areas such as grief and loss, emotion regulation, anxiety, challenging behaviour, and trauma processing.

Adolescents

My work with adolescents focuses on creating connection and a safe space for them to be fully seen and heard to process all that they are experiencing during a very challenging developmental life phase. Many adolescents feel misunderstood , dismissed, or criticized by the other adults in their life and experience a sense of isolation and loneliness during these years of immense transition. I aim to walk alongside them and support them in navigating the unique challenges that adolescence brings. Experiential activities may be integrated into work with adolescents who are open to it as a helpful way to understand and process what they are experiencing, however, the format of the session is largely driven by the needs and desire of the adolescent. They lead. I follow.

Adults

My individual work with adults is grounded in emotion-focused therapy as together we explore unmet needs underlying painful emotions and life patterns. Through this process, adult clients are supported in understanding, and creating meaning from, challenging life events and experiences.

Session Length

A 60 minute session is scheduled for each client. Each session consists of 50 minutes of client contact in the form of therapeutic work together in my room and 10 minutes for me to complete the required session progress note in the client file.

Session Rate:

$125 per session plus HST