Welcome

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anais Nin

I am a psychotherapist in private practice in Guelph, Ontario. I provide support, insight, and learning opportunities for individuals, couples, and families. I journey with people who have decided that now is the time to open, change, and grow.

I am a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist. I am also trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I assist people who are healing from disturbing experiences in the past or present to have greater health and happiness.

I use a variety of clinical approaches, some of which are described on this website to give you a sense of how we might work together. I would be happy to meet with you to consider your unique situation and to discuss how I might be of assistance.

We can have a conversation focused on your needs and goals prior to booking an initial appointment. That way, you can see for yourself whether you think my services would be a good fit for you, for your relationship, or for someone in your family. I hope this website will help you in the choice process.

About Me

I earned my M.Sc. in Family Relations and Human Development from the University of Guelph. I am a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. I am trained in EMDR, and have extensive training in trauma and trauma recovery. I think about people in the context of their family relationships, past and present.

Prior to my clinical training, I taught at the University of Guelph in the Family Relations department. I have over 20 years of experience faciliating groups. My most important teachers have been my own relationships and my personal healing journey.

We are all of us all the time coming together and falling apart. The point is, we are not rocks. Who wants to be one anyways - impermeable, unchanging, our history already played out? ~John Rosenthal

I’'ve been practicing psychotherapy since 2006, mostly in community counselling agencies, addressing a wide range of clients and concerns. I bring to my practice:

a keen interest in current research

a passion for healthy relationships and personal healing

clinical experience with people of many socio-economic backgrounds

insights borne out of many years of being a partner, a parent, and a human being on a path towards wholeness and joy

Working with me, you`’ll be respectfully invited into new conversations facilitating awareness, insight, change, and healing. You`’ll be equipped with new ways to help yourself feel better and relate to others better on a daily basis.

Services

Psychotherapy for Individuals, Couples, and Families In providing psychotherapy I collaborate with clients to find an approach that fits the presenting concern, and to decide who will be participating in the therapy process. Sometimes the focus is individual: resolving painful memories in early relationships shifting internalized beliefs developing healthy coping strategies working through major decisions I use a wide variety of strategies to assist couples seeking to rekindle, strengthen, or heal their partnerships, addressing concerns about: communication satisfying emotional connection sexual intimacy negotiating boundaries family-of-origin and in-law conflicts I provide family therapy, usually beginning with parents, to address numerous issues: effective discipline co-parenting strategies parent-teen conflict healthy attachment supporting youth engaged in risky behaviours Tending to our family relationships is a way to deeply support our own wellness and also provide for the long-term health and happiness of our children.

Three things differentiate living from the soul versus living from the ego only. They are: the ability to sense and learn new ways, the tenacity to ride a rough road, and the patience to learn deep love over time. ~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

EMDR

Heroes are people who do good or necessary things at great personal cost. Heroism must be judged by the courage and grit required to do what needs doing. That`s why trauma - the great terrorizer - produces heroes. No one has to over-ride fear the way a trauma survivor does. ~Bellaruth Naparstek

My experience and training (academic and clinical) have taught me that often:

1. suffering (physically, emotionally, mentally) has its roots in traumatic experiences

2. trauma is resolvable.

Every week I come across new studies on the neuroplasticity of the brain. The mind can heal. And healing in the body follows changes in the mind.

Energy healing, massage and other bodywork, homeopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy, chiropractic etc. all have ways of assisting in this trauma resolution process.

Psychotherapy, particularly relational therapy and interventions like EMDR that directly impact neurobiology, can play a key role in this resolution. It can help put basic building blocks of healing in place so that other types of healing become accessible. In therapy, we can respectfully and collaboratively work together to help you move beyond protective strategies that kept you alive during traumatic experiences but have interfered with full healing later on in life.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) Therapy provides relief from traumatic experiences and other disturbing memories locked in the body. EMDR is a well-researched treatment that efficiently resolves traumatic and other disturbing memories that become locked and frozen in the body, awaiting resolution (Shapiro, Francine. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. New York: Guilford Press, 2001.)

For more information, check out: www.emdria.org

Resourses

Coming Soon

Contact Me

Vera Dyck, M.Sc., R.M.F.T.

519-829-9508

421 Woolwich St.

Guelph, ON, N1H 3X2

More info at