Therapy Toronto: Psychotherapy Self-referral Service for Toronto and the GTA

Malcolm Welland MA, RP, CTP Dip.,Clinical Member OSP

I am a Registered Psychotherapist and a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. My orientation toward how I think therapy works best is nicely summarized by C. G. Jung, who wrote that therapy is not a method for putting something into us that wasn't there before; it's a process for removing obstacles from our own unique path of development. The "method" Jung sees as not being conducive to therapy is the idea that there can be a standardized technique, and that as clients we should fit into some programme.

I believe that Jung is right in saying therapy works best when we as clients are treated as unique individuals. My role as your therapist is to help you rebuild your life by giving you the necessary tools to remove those obstacles.

Here are some helpful "tools" I offer for this process:

1. A Psychodynamic (Jungian) orientation is helpful to get a fuller picture of who we are and what we want. If we assume we have an unconscious part to our minds, then there is always some part of our experience we don't understand or we react to in an inappropriate manner because there is something else going on in us. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. This orientation gives us the tools to see how we create obstacles for us and how we can be more aware of our inner dynamics.

2. Experiential Dreamwork Building upon Jung’s theory that the Psyche expresses itself in images this approach centres around an experiential exploration of dreams rather than an analytical interpretive one. By fully experiencing the inherent energy within images and allowing them to be held in a bodily awareness one is able to develop a different viewpoint and therefore a deeper understanding of the dream.Such an approach allows the dream "to speak" which not only enhances our relationship to the unconscious but also contributes to a collaborative standpoint which can be therapeutic.

3. Brief and In Depth (BID) is a brief therapy of 6-12 weeks using Experiential Dreamwork approach to address the pressing issues in our lives. It begins with a dream incubation which prompts the unconscious. Over the remaining weeks, the sessions are focused around discussing and working with dreams experientially using an embodied approach. This method is a true working with the unconscious which provides an in-depth clarity to one’s most pressing questions, and concerns.

4. An Existential orientation reminds us of what the basic elements of our life are. This orientation helps us see what can be rebuilt or accommodated in our new direction and what cannot be changed. If we know this dimension of our lives it encourages us to draw from our strengths especially when we think we don't have any.

5. A "Focusing" approach is a simple and powerful way to work with the body because often we carry in our bodies, difficulties, problems, confusions, or a "stuckness" in a certain way unique to our psychology. Focusing encourages us to listen at a deeper level to what the body is communicating. When combined with Hypnosis or Embodied Dreamwork the work is at a much deeper level.

6. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) I am trained in EMDR which is a powerful well researched approach to working with forms of trauma as well as difficult memories, experiences and emotions. By engaging the left and right brain to process where the client is stuck, an adaptive solution or resolution emerges so the person can move forward in their life.

7. Hypnosis / Trance Work is helpful because it permits us to work easily and quickly with the non conscious aspects of our experiences. Hypnosis was a foundational stone is the early years of psychotherapy. It is very much akin to Jung's technique of Active Imagination whereby, similar to a reverie or day dream state, you can gain access to the unconscious in a more structured and focused way. It encourages us to take an active role in exploring our own inner processes and it can be a helpful way to work with the body to get clarity about what we are stuck about.

8. ACT Practitioner (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) This is a meaning oriented approach. It is a powerful integrated combination of approaches drawing from many of those listed above such as Existential therapy, Mindfulness, Focusing as well as others to enable a person to face the difficulties in their life, to determine what changes can be made and to move toward those ideals and values that hold the greatest meaning.

My Background

Before becoming a psychotherapist, I had a career as an educator, teaching at both the Secondary School and Community College levels in Toronto and Guelph. Interested in the questions of culture and cultural diversity, I completed graduate work in Religion and Culture through Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

I became interested in questions of culture because of the 4 years I spent living and working in Papua New Guinea as a CUSO volunteer. One of the biggest impacts of this time was how much I was able to see and question the long unchallenged values and social structures of my own Western lifestyle and culture.

At the same time, I volunteered with Hospice Wellington and the Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, co-facilitating bereavement groups and working one on one. Having been a committed Vipassana meditator for many years, I also completed instructor training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

I completed psychotherapy training at the Centre for Training in Psychotherapy in Toronto and training in Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy from the Focusing Institute (New York). I am also a qualified Hypnotherapist through the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and am also trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing). I am a clinical member of the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists (OSP).

Location

My office in central Toronto is located here at The Yellow Brick Road 258 Dupont at Spadina in the Annex, close to the Dupont TTC subway station. I also work with clients online.

My other articles on therapy and some of the ideas expressed above are available at my subdomain.

The psychotherapists appearing on this site are independent. They are not employed nor controlled by therapytoronto.ca. therapytoronto.ca is acting solely as a listing service for the convenience of those seeking the services of psychotherapists.