Compassion Focused Therapists in Collingwood, ON

Samantha Duarte Alvarez

Samantha Duarte Alvarez

Registered Psychotherapist (RP)

Virtual

New clients are welcome! I'm Sam, a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario specializing in trauma, grief, and work stress for adults navigating difficult experiences and life transitions. Together, we work to make sense of what you’re experiencing, gently connect with your nervous system and emotions, and support meaningful shifts that feel aligned with who you are.

Cierra DoCouto

Cierra DoCouto

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

Helping adults in Burlington, Ontario navigate anxiety, self-esteem challenges, relationship concerns, and attachment patterns. Offering in-person and virtual psychotherapy that is collaborative, evidence-informed, and tailored to support personal growth, emotional well-being, and resilience.

Salima Jadavji

Salima Jadavji

Registered Social Worker, MSW, RSW, CHyp™

Virtual

I support high-functioning professionals and caregivers who feel exhausted, anxious, or disconnected beneath the surface. Using a trauma-informed, collaborative approach, I help you move beyond coping toward steadiness and self-trust. Email [email protected] to book a free consultation and see if we’re a fit.

Christina Hong

Christina Hong

Registered Provisional Psychologist

Virtual

Hello there! I am Christina, I have a genuine love and care for connecting with people. I’m here to support you if anxiety has been making life feel heavy or overwhelming. I believe that, counselling at its core is the genuine collaborative connection of individuals coming together to navigate this wonderfully bizarrely life of ours. In my role, my mission is to create a warm, supportive, and j…

Katharine De Santos

Katharine De Santos

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

Healthy Minds Psychotherapy was founded in 2018 with the mission of providing psychotherapeutic care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, fostering resilience in each person and our community as a whole.

Varshini Skantharajah

Varshini Skantharajah

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

Amanda Rennick-Hazen

Amanda Rennick-Hazen

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

I enjoy using a variety of techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Strategies, Mindfulness Meditation, Trauma Informed, Compassion Focused, & Emotion Focused. Depression & Sadness Anxiety & Worry Work , Home, & School Stress ​Grief & Loss Divorce & Separation Unexpected life transitions, unexpected change, lost opportunities

Martha Li

Martha Li

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

I am a Registered Psychotherapist based in Oakville, Ontario. I help you feel understood and supported as we explore what's weighing on you. Together, we uncover patterns, build coping strategies, and nurture the skills you need to thrive. My goal is to create a safe space where you can grow, heal, and feel more connected.

Allison Mundle

Allison Mundle

Registered Psychotherapist, Sandalwood Psychotherapy

Virtual

Online therapy for women in Ontario navigating anxiety, relationships, and emotional overwhelm. You may look like you are holding everything together, while inside you feel anxious, emotionally drained, or disconnected from yourself. Maybe you are used to keeping the peace, carrying too much, or saying yes when something inside you is saying no.

Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

Sisu Therapy offers virtual psychotherapy to adults across Ontario. A calm, collaborative space for anxiety, overwhelm, life transitions, and navigating cultural or family expectations, with care taken to move forward at a manageable pace.

Emma Laughlan

Emma Laughlan

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Virtual

I work with children (10+), teens, and adults who feel anxious, overwhelmed, or exhausted by the pressure to get everything “right.” You may be stuck in overthinking, people‑pleasing, panic symptoms, health anxiety, or relationship patterns that leave you doubting yourself. On the outside, you might appear high‑achieving and capable. Inside, you feel tense, self‑critical, or never quite enough.

Abby Tait

Abby Tait

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Virtual

You might come to therapy feeling stuck in familiar patterns - ways of coping, thinking, or relating that once made sense but now feel hard to shift. You may be thoughtful and self-aware, yet find yourself overthinking, avoiding certain emotions, or feeling disconnected from who you are or where you’re headed. Questions about identity, values, and purpose often sit quietly underneath these experi…

Sarah Perone

Sarah Perone

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Virtual

I help individuals and couples break painful relationship cycles so they can feel more connected, secure, and confident. I support concerns like recurrent conflict, relationship anxiety (and ROCD), limerence, and resentment. Using an attachment- and evidence-based approach, I offer warm, non-judgmental virtual therapy across Ontario. Book a free 15-minute consultation to get started.

Eleni Anagnosti

Eleni Anagnosti

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), ADHD-CCSP, MS, HBA, BA

Virtual

My approach is compassionate, culturally attuned, and collaborative. I draw from CBT, strengths-based, solution-focused, and trauma-informed approaches to support ADHD, anxiety, depression, burnout, grief, life transitions, and relationship patterns. Together, we focus on building practical tools, emotional balance, and a stronger sense of self-trust.

Grace Gao

Grace Gao

Registered Social Worker

Virtual

Grace is passionate about creating accessible and culturally responsive mental health support, particularly for individuals who may feel hesitant to seek formal counseling services. As a bilingual professional fluent in English and Mandarin, she values creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment where clients feel heard and respected.

Carolyn Holmes

Carolyn Holmes

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Virtual

Offering affordable virtual sessions for infertility, ADHD, PMDD, grief/loss, stress, anxiety, and depression. Trained in DBT, CBT, humanistic/client led, solution focused, narrative therapy approaches. A warm, open counsellor to help with immediate availability.

Emma Hartley

Emma Hartley

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), MACP, BA (she, her)

Virtual

Are you looking for a therapist that knows what it's like to feel lost or overwhelmed and how to find your footing again? Noticing yourself feeling more anxious, "just tired", and craving a space to slow down and reconnect with a sense of meaning or purpose? Trying to make sense of shifts in mood, questioning careers, exploring relationships, parenting and identity, or a major life transition?

Lylla Goheen

Lylla Goheen

Registered Psychotherapist RP (Qualifying), Certified Canadian Counsellor (CCC)

Virtual

Do you and your partner speak different languages? Whether it’s the silence of a "roommate phase," sexual dysfunction, or the weight of chronic illness, you don't have to navigate it alone. I provide inclusive Sex Therapy, Gottman Couples Counselling, and Chronic Pain support in Etobicoke & Toronto. My practice is judgment-free and not "one-size-fits-all." Let's start your new era.

Lisa O’Donovan

Lisa O’Donovan

Registered Psychotherapist

Virtual

I offer Psychodynamic, trauma-informed therapy for adults and couples in-person in Burlington and virtually. I support clients navigating complex trauma, relationship difficulties, addiction and recovery, family dysfunction, and life transitions helping to uncover and understand emotional and relational patterns, process experiences, build greater self-awareness in a safe, compassionate space.

Mara Behan

Mara Behan

Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)

Virtual

I help couples and individuals find growth, healing, and stronger connections. Using evidence-based and individualized approaches, I support those struggling with women's health concerns (e.g., pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause), relationship concerns (e.g., resentment, infidelity), and life transitions (e.g., separation/divorce, parenting). I offer a free 15-minute consultation!

How do therapists in Collingwood, ON compare?

Number of therapists listed

53

Average years in practice

5.1 Years

Currently accepting new clients

100 %

Therapists in Collingwood, ON who prioritize treating:

77% Anxiety
68% Relationship Issues
42% Depression
38% Trauma and PTSD
36% Self Esteem
30% Emotional Dysregulation
28% Stress
26% ADHD

How therapists see their clients

100% Online Only

Top therapy approaches used in Collingwood, ON:

100% Compassion Focused
81% Person-Centered
77% Cognitive Behavioural (CBT)
75% Strength-Based
70% Trauma Focused
66% Attachment-based
62% Acceptance and Commitment (ACT)
60% Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Frequently Asked Questions About Compassion Focused

What is Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)?

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is a form of psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert that integrates evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, cognitive therapy, and Buddhist psychology. CFT targets what Gilbert identified as a core feature of many people's psychological suffering: intense, chronic shame and self-criticism. It aims to cultivate compassion — for oneself and others — as a means of reducing shame-based suffering, regulating threat-based emotional systems, and activating the soothing-affiliation system associated with warmth, care, and psychological security.

What does CFT treat?

CFT is particularly suited to people with high levels of self-criticism and shame — which are common across depression, anxiety, eating disorders, personality disorders, trauma, and addictions. It was originally developed for people with severe, complex presentations who had not responded adequately to CBT. Research supports its effectiveness for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder. CFT is also used in oncology settings, chronic pain, and with people experiencing psychosis, where self-compassion is an important resource.

What does a CFT session look like?

CFT sessions involve psychoeducation about the evolved nature of our emotional systems (threat, drive, and soothing/affiliation), exploration of how early experiences shaped the person's particular patterns of self-criticism and shame, and practices specifically designed to cultivate the compassionate self — including compassionate imagery (imagining a deeply wise and compassionate figure), compassionate letter writing, and mindfulness practice focused on warmth and care. The emphasis is on experiential rather than purely cognitive work.

Why is self-compassion so important in CFT?

Gilbert's research showed that changing the content of self-critical thoughts (as in CBT) was often insufficient for people with deep shame — because the problem was not just the thoughts but the hostile, contemptuous tone in which they were delivered to oneself. Cultivating a warm, compassionate inner voice — one that responds to one's own pain the way a deeply caring person would — produces psychological change that thought-challenging alone does not. Many people initially find self-compassion very difficult, which is itself part of the therapeutic work.

How long does CFT take?

CFT is typically delivered over 12–20 sessions for focused presentations, but longer-term work is common for complex trauma or personality difficulties. The time needed to establish a compassionate self-relationship and overcome resistance to self-compassion (which is often strong) varies significantly between individuals. CFT can also be integrated into longer-term psychodynamic or CBT work as a specific intervention for shame and self-criticism rather than used as a complete standalone therapy.