Em Dyson Psychotherapy

Helping you heal, grow and live authentically.

Em is a Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario, Canada and is deeply committed to supporting the healing and growth of individuals, couples and families in the Barrie area and beyond. Em believes in her clients and is committed to walking the challenging and beautiful healing journey with them.

You are worth your healing.

None of us get through life without battle scars – pain, struggle and vulnerability are all part of being human. On top of this, many of us have also experienced crisis, trauma, abuse, or some seriously difficult challenges in our childhoods or adult life. All of this can lead to disconnection from ourselves and others, using all sorts of coping strategies that don’t support us well in the long run. We can end up living inauthentic lives we feel stuck in and are missing loving connections we long for. Wherever you are now though and how you got there, healing is possible. Reaching out for help can feel risky, it takes enormous courage and strength. I’m here with compassion and expertise to meet you as you take that step.

You truly are worth the work it takes to heal, grow and live a life that is fulfilling.

Why choose Em?

Choosing the right psychotherapist to work with and making the commitment to therapy is an important decision.

Professionalism

Em is a Registered Psychotherapist (a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists and Ontario Society for Registered Psychotherapists). She is also a Daring Way Facilitator™ - having trained with Brené Brown and her team.

Knowledgeable

Em has worked in therapy for over 25 years with people from a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds. Continual and rigorous professional learning is one of Em's passions. Em is committed to trauma informed care.

Compassionate

One of Em’s strengths and core values is compassion. Her warmth and empathic, non-judgemental understanding is valued by her clients.

About Em

I truly love what I do and feel deeply honoured that people choose to share their hearts with me. I wholeheartedly believe in the transformative healing power of psychotherapy – I see this with both my clients and myself. Living through my own trauma lead me to destructive ways of coping and deep disconnections from myself and loving relationships. Many hours of work with some wonderful patient, loving and challenging therapists has been key in my own healing journey. Our healing is a life time journey, at times is deeply painful, needing grit and determination so that we can taste the glorious freedom of loving connection with ourselves and others.

Meet Charlie!

Charlie, a 2 yr old mini golden doodle who loves people! She’s the most gentle (hypoallergenic) dog, who is just delighted to greet you when you arrive for an in person therapy appointment. Typically, in session, she says hello for a few minutes and then likes to nap. (Charlie gets lots of walks so isn’t high energy in session). If you’d like to snuggle with her, she loves this, and she’s learning how to do this – she loves affection but gets hot with a lot of body contact!

If you’re not comfortable with Charlie in session please let me know, she is very happy to be her crate where she’ll nap. Or we’ll work out another solution to support you.

I recognise both the deep historical and current racial injustices and trauma experienced by many people. I’m committed to my own personal and professional anti-racist work – a lifelong practice of learning, unlearning and relearning; an exploration of my assumptions, beliefs and behaviours of how I have and do contribute to the de-humanisation and other-ing of marginalised communities – including (but not limited to) BIPOC, LGBTQ and faiths.

Services

Individual psychotherapy

Perhaps you’re aware of emotional wounds that won’t heal, or you feel stuck in patterns of thoughts, behaviours and ways of relating that are harmful or unfulfilling, or feel overwhelmed by the demands of life. Perhaps you see you’re not living in the fullness of you, living disconnected and keeping yourself small.

Individual psychotherapy offers you a safe relationship and space to pause, reflect and connect with yourself . Em will work sensitively and collaboratively to understand you as a unique individual with a unique story, explore how this impacts you and holds you back so that you can move towards fulfilling and satisfying relationships where you enjoy being you.

Fee

Initial Consultation $230, 50min appointment

Individual psychotherapy $180, 50 minute appointment

Appointments 5pm onwards: $210, 50 minute appointment

Getting started

Complimentary 15 minute telephone consultation

This gives you the opportunity to tell me a little about yourself and what you’re looking for in therapy. I can tell you some more about therapy and answer any questions you have.

Initial consultation

This gives you the opportunity to tell me more about yourself, why you are pursuing therapy and what your goals are. This helps better understand your history and your needs. It’s a time for us to get to know each other a little and to explore if going ahead with therapy feels right.

Stepping into therapy

I always ask people to commit to 6 therapy sessions (usually weekly). This gives a good time for you to put your foot in the water of therapy, and for us to develop a therapeutic relationship. It also gives us time to do some valuable therapeutic work. After the 6 sessions, we’ll review your therapy needs and make a plan that’s right for you.

Find your healing

Our relationship with ourselves is one of the most important relationships we have yet often gets the least attention and care. It’s also critical we validate and understand harm that has been done to us, we don’t live in isolation and so are impacted by the actions and choices of others, both individually and systemically.

As a Psychotherapist my aim is to work collaboratively with you so together we can create a safe and secure place to compassionately understand and explore your uniqueness, experiences, situations, struggles, pain, fears, wounds, motivations, protective patterns, needs and how you want to heal and grow. My approach is deeply relational, we’ll have conversations that are warm, respectful and honest where my goal is that you feel heard, seen, understood, valued and honored. I’m committed to trauma informed care – in a nutshell this means I understand and am committed to ongoing learning about trauma, its impact both individually and collectively, and the different ways we can heal from trauma, and integrate this into our life story so it lives in us with less distress.

You may be struggling, for example, with pain or trauma from your childhood or present life circumstances; narcissistic abuse, betrayal, depression, anxiety, grief, a life transition, parenting challenges or dissatisfaction in yourself or life.

Maybe you’re wanting to grow and feel overwhelmed or stuck in knowing what next steps could be. Perhaps you know you want to work on boundaries but just don’t know how to start. It may be that something doesn’t feel right in a relationship but it’s difficult to name it.

You may simply know that you’re hurting and want the pain to end.

Wherever you are, the process of therapy meets you where you’re at right now.

With compassionate curiosity my aim is to support you in healing and growing in understanding yourself and experiences with clarity, loving acceptance of your imperfections, celebration of your strengths and beauty, so that you can live with more ease, awareness, compassion, joy, resilience, authenticity and loving connection with others and yourself.

Reviews

Em has a wonderful genuine warmth and compassionate energy. I felt comfortable with her right from the start.

Em gave me such kind understanding, she believed in me when I couldn’t believe in me. She helped me see I am worth loving and being treated well.

I am forever thankful I chose Em to be my therapist with me as I recovered. I felt supported, accepted and challenged when I needed to be. Her soft and fierce compassion has helped me heal.

Em gave me a safe place in my life to open up, be honest with myself and look at my pain.

My decision to invest in therapy with Em was the best investment in me that I've ever made. It was tough and at times I wanted to quit. I'm so happy I kept going. Em has helped discover who I am, what my strengths and challenges are, as well as learn new ways of relating to others.

With Em I learnt that having healthy boundaries and taking care of myself opened the door to joy that I didn't think was possible.

The first step of healing starts here

Acknowledging you’re struggling and seeking help is courageous and can take enormous strength. We understand and are here for you. Book a complimentary 15-minute phone call so that me may start this journey of healing together.