Kate Higgison

I offer a compassionate, inclusive, and non-judgmental space whereby we can develop a meaningful connection. I seek to help you foster your own insight and self-compassion in a world that can be harsh, fast, and uncaring. As therapy can be an intimidating process where you may feel vulnerable, it is my primary goal to help you feel comfortable and safe. I work from a Rogerian person-centred, decolonizing, feminist, and trauma-informed lens that considers your social context, race, class, gender, and systemic realities. The psychotherapeutic modality I use is integrative, drawing from emotion-focused therapy, psychodynamic, narrative, relational cultural, sensorimotor/somatic and Internal Family Systems. I will follow your pace so that we may work collaboratively to help you foster insight and to help empower you to make positive and lasting changes in your life. I believe that everyone has an important story to tell, and my hope is to be with you along your journey while you find your voice to tell your stories in your own way, and to support you in finding meaning and purpose in them. I’m a Registered/Licensed Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. I am also a Member of the Ontario Society of Registered Psychotherapists. What drew me to become a psychotherapist are people like you and your important stories. What I’ve realized through connecting with people during my past career in the restaurant industry, and especially now as I provide psychotherapy, is that connecting with people is at the core of our well-being and that our relationships, stories, and the history we have with others are what forms our worldview and how we feel about ourselves. Over the years, I have also conducted psychological research in labs at Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and the Department of Justice, where my research has focused on gender-based/family violence, gender inequality, social psychology, sex trafficking, loneliness, (de)colonization, and experiences of the mental healthcare system among Indigenous peoples. The research I have and continue to do helps to inform the lens through which I practice psychotherapy. In addition to holding a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology from UOttawa, I also hold an Honours Degree in Personality and Social Psychology from Carleton, and I have a second BA from The University of Toronto in a different field. I'm also currently completing certification in complex trauma (CCTP/CCTP-II).