Psychotherapy & Counselling Services
Heather Church, RP
About Me.
Heather Church is a registered psychotherapist (RP), with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and a Registered Behaviour Analyst (ONT.), with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. She is also trained as an advance care planning and end-of-life doula.
She has about 25 years of experience working with clients in mental and developmental health. Her approach uses a combination of psychoeducation (i.e., teaching you about the psychological aspects of your experience so that you can better understand how this experience is impacting upon you and take control over how it does so), along with a healthy dose of humour.
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Education
PhD: Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Promotion - Specialising in Health Equity, Policy, Health & Ageing
MA: Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies, specialising in Special Education
BA: Joint major in Psychology & Indigenous Studies, with a focus on International Studies
In her practice, she uses the following models of psychotherapy:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): Examine how your thoughts and feelings influence your behaviours, the effects of which then inform your thoughts and feelings, developing strategies to break cycles which are interfering with your well-being. Informed by cognitive psychology (i.e., the study of how you process information and think), developmental psychology (i.e., how your thought processes, emotions and functioning develops and shapes across the lifespan) and control systems theory/cybernetics (i.e., how your thoughts and experiences are a circular feedback loop, where one influences the other, which then influences the other on an ongoing basis), with a goal to empower you to break unhealthy cycles.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT): Action-oriented, mindfulness-based therapy which aims to help empower yourself to live according to your values, rather than conforming yourself to thoughts and feelings which are interfering with your well-being.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT): Based on attachment theory (i.e., emotional bonds with loved ones across the lifespan informs emotions, trust and behaviour in your relationships), the focus of EFT is to examine how your experiences and interactions influence your emotions, which then influence your interactions with others and behaviours, to help improve your relationships.
Values and Principles Guiding Her Practice
Heather worked for several years in developmental services, implementing programs intended to meet the needs of children who had Autism and/or other developmental disorders. Recognising that funding requirements and program structures often had unintended negative impacts on her clients and their loved ones, she returned to school to pursue a PhD, specialising in health equity impacts of policy and programs. After stepping away from her career in order to address her own health challenges, Heather Church is resuming her career, harmed but not broken.
She is armed with first-hand experience of various systemic barriers, and the vulnerability and moral injury incurred as a result, which negatively impact on people's health and hamper their ability to achieve and enjoy wellness. With this knowledge, she intends to work with you to help you to achieve well-being through examination of your situation and experience, to help you develop strategies to live according to your values and empower yourself to be the person you wish to be, in spite of circumstances often beyond your control.
She has experience working with people across the lifespan, from childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood and old age. She is skilled at helping clients to work through life transitions, diagnoses of self or loved ones and often stressful/uncertain circumstances life will throw at us.
As a former faculty member in post-secondary education, at the undergraduate, post-graduate and graduate levels, as well as experience as a student, she also offers insight to those navigating the uncertainty and intensity of post-secondary studies and transition to a career.