Sometimes in life, we need a mentor, advocate or a careful, accepting and non-judgmental listener for our thought processes. My intention as a therapist is to be there for you with a compassionate presence, contributing my expertise to help you access your needs, self-understanding and inner wisdom.
Where unconscious behaviours and unsuccessful life patterns impede access to fulfillment and happiness in life, I offer skills development for self-care and self-mastery. I welcome clients who experience emotional distress due to trauma, loss, anxiety, panic, low self-esteem, depression and relationship problems as well as provide clients guidance and support for life changes and decision making.
I offer an integrative and personalized variety of treatment approaches that include Client-centred Emotionally Focused Therapy (putting words to emotions and emotions into words), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cognitive re-structuring and behavioural change directed at realizing values and achieving goals) and EMDR (trauma de-sensitization and re-processing).
I also welcome couples into my practice, following the protocol of Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. Through this process we discover the relationship's distressing negative cycle and facilitate healing and the creation of a loving safe haven.
My background as an educator (PhD in experiential learning) and 30 years in teaching (children, teens and adults) enables me to understand learning styles and thus offer differentiated therapeutic techniques to accommodate a diversity of clientele.
E-mail: j.balaisis_sympatico.ca
Phone: 416-518-0153
Working in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, Canada
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EMDR is a therapy, developed in the late 80s in the US, which was first used with combat veterans suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR reached its gold standard helping trauma victims of the Oklahoma bombing and the Dunblane, Scotland school massacre. It continues to be widely used in all trauma events.
EMDR was quickly found to be useful in eliminating symptoms associated with stress and trauma from PTSD, symptoms like flashbacks, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and phobias. Also, it was found to be very effective in alleviating ALL symptoms of stress, including depression, over-reactive anger, worry, anxiety, disturbed sleep and grief.
Although EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, it is not directly related to the eyes, but to brain functioning. It is believed that EMDR re-processes trauma similarly to how REM (rapid eye movement) sleep restores and heals.
How it works: Trauma happens first to the body but at times gets stuck in the limbic (emotional, fight/flight) centre of the brain where it does not have sufficient access to the cerebral cortex (our organizational & information-processing brain centre). Stuck trauma (little "t" or big "T") causes distressful mental, emotional, physical pain and suffering.
EMDR utilizes a pulse, beat, tap, or back and forth eye movements, in a well-structured EMDR session with specific therapist verbal prompts to engage the brains own healing mechanisms. Stored unpleasant memories, that create negative symptoms, are unlocked, de-sensitized and adaptively processed. Ultimately we are at peace with the previous upset and are able to say, "That was bad but Im okay now."
EMDR has been studied extensively and has been validated and regulated by governmental bodies in the US and around the world. To find out more about EMDR go to EMDR Canada or EMDR International Association.
ICEEFT - International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy
EFT at York University Psychology Clinic
Emotion Focused Therapy
EMDR Canada
EMDR International Association
